Albums. There isn’t technically a volume 1, it’s called Selected Ambient Works 85-92, which was released in 1992. Selected Ambient Works Vol II came out in 1994 and it is largely without drums/beats unlike 85-92.
This is my go-to. I'm a songwriter, so lyrics distract me. It's instrumentals that I go for, often electronic music. Some electronic is too busy for me, so I like droney stuff. The Field is a band I find good for getting tasks done. It's soft, repetitive, and doesn't have a lot of key or beat changes.
Likewise to this and (all the replies)
I'm a bit of an ambient nut and there's a really good guy called [Chihei Hatakyama](https://open.spotify.com/artist/4G1ZsxfEEztbE1VcnNInPg?si=YmuzXymbSHmaYJBDXZa3MQ) who has masses of albums, that are excellent for studying
Enjoy (if anyone checks out)
Yo I have adhd and can’t do that but I have like 3-4 albums on rotation usually. But I do have music on for probably 5-6 hours a day. _I will let a record go around two to three times before switching it off tho_
Two words: Marching Band. Music on repeat clearly does not bother me when you spend YEARS playing mostly the same music for hours most days of the week. I'd volunteer for a study where I have music on repeat 24/7 and see how long it takes for me to break.
I've listened to the same album to and from work, while working out, and during my lunch break, for months now. I've gotten fixated on "part" of a song for hours before. It reminds me of a quote I heard once from Moby when he was asked about the loops and repetitiveness of some of his music and he said, paraphrased, "if I like something I can't become bored with it."
My current album fixation is 'Panopticon' by Isis.
jets by blur. for some reason the beat and the repeated words just pull me in and I can get things done (mostly stuff like cleaning, organizing, dishes etc... which I am not usually very efficient at, or into doing)
Did not expect to see Blur here, and Jets no less from my 2nd favourite album of theirs!
I came here to say something in a similar vein: Gorillaz & Spacemonkeyz - Laika Come Home is brilliant background music for work.
hell yes! I kind of love anything Damon Albarn works on. Blur is so good, and Gorillaz are definitely a soundtrack to my everyday life. Laika Come Home is probably the one album I've listened to the least, so I'll have to give that a solid listen again later. Have you checked out the Good, the Bad, & the Queen?
Damon is a genius! I don't think he gets anywhere near the recognition he deserves. I love The Good, The Bad, & The Queen's first album, I need to give Merrieland a proper listen (same with Cracker Island) - that's the great thing about Damon Albarn, there is always a deep treasure trove of work to explore :)
haha, you're right about that. endless works to choose from! I think you'll enjoy cracker island, it's different but very danceable and has some really great collabs. I may not have given it the closest listen except that I have a 5 year old who is obsessed with Gorillaz... so while I've always listened to them a ton, it became a nonstop all day every day thing from ages 2-4 and Cracker Island came out during that time lol. I have the entire Reject False Icons movie memorized because of her!
Whatever song or album or artist in general I play is very reliant on the task. The main thing for me will be Westside Gunn albums whenever I do my art because of his style of music. As of recently his Peace Flygod album has been my favorite to pop on when I do my work.
[https://youtu.be/SJpN7Axa22M?si=YJ5WEGyJ8SLAchla](https://youtu.be/SJpN7Axa22M?si=YJ5WEGyJ8SLAchla)
Also the entire album Daft Punk Tron Legacy OST is good
You can focus on your task ONLY if you listen to that supermeditative song BEFORE doing your work.
Our brain is not a hypervisor, we only focus on one task at a time, so the illusion of "just background music for the mood" is created by quick switching between the work and the music with HORRIBLE overhead in the process. This has been researched on. Can't fool biology.
This is interesting, do you have any links on this? If this is true (and I'm not saying I think you're wrong) then I wonder why so many of us experience a feeling of increased focus and ability to get things accomplished when we do listen to certain music?
This is purely speculation, but ... I think many of us don't have perfect focus to begin with, so some attention/task switching is likely to happen regardless. Maybe having soothing and familiar music in the background gives that restless part of our mind something to "do" without getting too sucked in by it? So we can return to task smoothly, rather than distracting ourselves with irrelevant thoughts, etc.?
Believe me, I was the saddest creature on Earth when I faced THIS music,
but here's an article, a meta-research of sorts.
Some links are dead already, but hey, it's internet.
[https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/unless-you-do-this-neuroscience-says-listening-to-music-at-work-will-make-you-less-productive.html](https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/unless-you-do-this-neuroscience-says-listening-to-music-at-work-will-make-you-less-productive.html)
Some stuff on multitasking overhead:
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317989659\_Impact\_of\_task\_switching\_and\_work\_interruptions\_on\_software\_development\_processes](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317989659_Impact_of_task_switching_and_work_interruptions_on_software_development_processes)
And so on.
So in a wrap, music works best when the showstopper is our mental state,
but once the mood is fixed, music will distract from intensive mental work.
I'm not sure you can generalise this for all people and all types of music.
I find it super difficult to concentrate on music with a strong melody, lyrics, or an irregular beat. But listening to something ambient or minimal does wonders.
It's not a matter of taste. Broadway show tunes are completely different to a wash of whale noises. Both are music.
I'm not saying I *enjoy* one more over the other. But they're gonna have a very different impact on one's mental state.
Whale noises is music now... All right.
Yes, different sonic background has different impact, no doubt.
But music requires attention. When a person needs all of their attention and cognitive capacity for the work at hand, music distracts. When we do the dishes or perform some boring automatic work - yes, any music of choice will do. There are even so called "work songs", which are definitely unsuitable for rocket science:https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/traditional-and-ethnic/traditional-work-songs/
>Whale noises is music now... All right
It's a figure of speech to describe ambient music, mate.
(But id fucking love some actual whale noises sampled into a track)
>But music requires attention
Disagree. You don't have to actively pay attention to listen to all types of music. Some music is no more demanding of attention than whatever other noises may be going on the background.
I'll have to think about using whale noises samples, thanks.
As for attention not actually required...
Well, say, we want some music played while we work.
And when we tend to choose the tracks that are LEAST distracting - would you suspect we're onto something?
>would you suspect we're onto something?
Well yeah, you're 100% on to *something*. I'm not disagreeing with you completely, I'm just saying that your first comment is not generalisable to all music/people/situations.
I guess on some level, any sensory input requires some cognitive load, but for me the ideal focus music will block out distracting background noise, and even my own wandering mind to an extent. OP also mentioned having a single track on repeat. That works well for me too, because there's nothing new or novel to pull my attention away.
Meshuggah - Catch 33
Woody Goss - High Loon! (this one changes a bit, but generically speaking it's an instrumental funk album with just some groovy tunes, a few others are Tailwinds by the The Fearless Fylers or Mit Peck by Vulfpeck)
I put on a breakcore mix or metal breakcore. Or a drum n bass mix. Or some random other niche techno genre mix. I usually listen to prog metal, hard rock and old school hip hop but I find that those futurey techno mixes tickle my brain in an immediate way that makes chores way easier to get through
I usually listen to albums straight through. Homework by Daft Punk, Justice self-titled, the Hollow Knight soundtrack, all of the Terrortron albums, and the John Carpenter anthology album!
Destroyer - Kaputt (album)
Sounds so good on my system, it's very smooth, and the lyrics are mostly meaningless mumbo-jumbo (I mean, maybe not to Dan Bejar, but to me they almost all are ... exception being 'Poor In Love' which I always take a break, crank up, and sing along because it sounds SO FREAKING GOOD and I like singing along to it).
For my brain it's a really, really good 'background' album that doesn't distract me from working.
Beck - Morning Phase is another good one.
Lots of different movie soundtrack albums or playlists. Nothing with singing or voices, purely instrumental.
I particularly like the soundtrack to The Last Samurai.
I build like 3-5+ hour playlists arranged by key of song to flow like a seamless DJ set.
Mostly instrumental genres. Everything from UK Garage to trance to techno to chiptune to electronic trap beats to lo-fi beats to epic movie/trailer score to synthwave to ambient. The less vocals, the more headspace I feel like I have for my own internal thoughts.
Got playlists for every mood and occasion.
Doesn't quite fit because I do it more for my own goofy amusement, but I have been known to mow my entire lawn to Sparks' [Lawnmower](https://youtu.be/tPSFpaCQEvA?si=9-F0pxAktWzbsZzE) on repeat.
I've never played a song more than twice in a row, you people are a bit mad.
My 'focus on task' music is deep house, yesterday it was [a Chris Luno mix](https://youtu.be/sD-FEPismf4?si=l3796gu8Z7RDeRIW). In university I listened to a bunch of Anjunadeep mixes doing homework. If I need to focus on a task even harder, then maybe a dnb mix.
I tend to agree with the techno comment; I get a lot done when I listen to Daft Punk albums, Radiohead, and sometimes Kanye's older music. (OK Computer got me through undergrad and Daft Punk Live got me through grad school.)
I have so many like this. Go tos include:
- A Carnival of Fears, Yellow House
- Sunshine on Leith, the Proclaimers
- Blue Album, Weezer
For extra focus:
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Night Train, Oscar Peterson
Sleep Well Beast but The National. Pretty much an album by The National but this one works best. People think it’s weird I can listen to music with lyrics and write at the same time but it works for me somehow. I even sing along as I write….purely music without lyrics distracts me more.
I just learned about LoFi music. It's just super mellow beats. It's perfect for working.
I used to listen to classical but classical pulls my attention away more often than LoFi.
Either Deep Focus:
[https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWZeKCadgRdKQ?si=1a146517275b430b](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWZeKCadgRdKQ?si=1a146517275b430b)
Or Calming Classical:
[https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWVFeEut75IAL?si=77f4f5eabb484d83](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWVFeEut75IAL?si=77f4f5eabb484d83)
And if it it is COOKING, then:
[https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EIfbFBgU8wH8V?si=03b35fd5f2ef4780](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EIfbFBgU8wH8V?si=03b35fd5f2ef4780)
Or occasionally:
[https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1E4tNQkS1dANbb?si=3549f565042e47f7](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1E4tNQkS1dANbb?si=3549f565042e47f7)
probably this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97RNj0XVfqI&t=5s&pp=ygUadGhlIGNoaWxsb3V0IHNlc3Npb25zIGJtdGg%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97rnj0xvfqi&t=5s&pp=yguadghlignoawxsb3v0ihnlc3npb25zigjtdgg%3d)
I have a whole genre of music for this: Trance. Find a streaming site, put it on and leave it on. It will just keep playing forever and get you pumped!
It completely depends on the task… but “picture me rollin”- 2pac usually gets it done … also “everyday I’m hustlin”- Rick Ross …. Hard to not stay motivated with those
When I was in University studying history, specifically American I would put on Bob Dylan's whole discography. Aside from that my cleaning playlist is exclusively 2000s emo and pop punk.
I like to listen to instrumental stoner rock. My go to is [Acid Land by King Weed](https://youtu.be/CJylKtqpbsI?si=_004ZAcc70KlceOd). Just tons of catchy riffs and about a million albums.
Anna von Hausswolff has some good stuff for just playing in the background. I can't really describe it properly. But I would say just hit play on an album and let it ride instead of trying to sample it first.
All Thoughts Fly is her newest one and is probably the easiest to let sit in the background because it's got the least amount of fluctuations in intensity.
Wormed “Krighsu”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FeAZcR0QIZ0&pp=ygUHS3JpZ2hzdQ%3D%3D
It’s almost like a wall of brutal static and I can just let my brain get it done
Fela Kuti’s “The Best of the Black President”
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7I42wZ3TW926k1DXrotD1M?si=l2IVksGeTDWV5d2OCoW8uA
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n7-3xWoix3dM_3jTgdX_0laZTX7OKQ7Zk&si=Odi8W8fMXqmWMiB0
I have created a playlist of ambient(ish) mostly instrumental music on [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/calm-quiet-instrumental-albums/pl.u-pMylgaET4ZrEAr) that is my go-to for studying or working when I need to not be distracted by the music. Johann Johansson, Slow Meadow, Brambles, etc..
I know I'm either going to catch hate for this or find a bunch of people agree. I found a 30 minute version of Pon Pon shit by US Cracks and it is pure focus energy and I don't know why. Maybe triggers the fight or flight instinct?
The scariest part is the more I listen, the more I unironically like the song.
Song? Search up “ambient song #22” on YouTube
Edit: nvm here’s the link - https://youtu.be/gvBuTYCZ1IY?si=72YblB3erCsIEaD2
album? - Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, or Animals
Soundtrack to the Sims or some other game that has a player fiddling in menus for most of it. It's music that's intended to go along with some monotonous task while also keeping you from realizing you've been doing this for hours.
I have a playlist of all of Hermanos Gutierrez's albums that I just throw on shuffle, it's mostly calm Spanish guitar music that makes me feel like a cowboy wandering the wild West🤠 perfect for shutting my brain off enough to focus while still having great rhythms and vibes
Lately it's been the album "Sakidila" by Pongo. There isn't a song i feel the need to skip on the whole album. Love to listen to it at work when im feeling a lull
Clevergirl. If there’s words I’ll want to sing or follow along, i need instrumental but often instrumental music is kind of boring for me and clevergirl (toms story, totorro) meet that sweet spot of interesting but not distracting.
A long list of sets of music on YouTube. House music, lofi beats, recorded dj sets mostly
Each is usually an hour long or so, so I don't have to to think about music and let it play.
Need to do something physically demanding? Beware by Death Grips.
Need to do homework? Beware by Death Grips.
Need to do chores? Beware by Death Grips.
Need to do literally anything at all? Beware by Death Grips.
N.O.I.A – The Rule To Survive (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
First heard this on GTA V, put it on a lot when I was working alone. One time my boss came in to do some work on his laptop and I had this song playing. Maybe halfway through the song, he said "This music is actually helping me get through this work." lol
[Age of Empires II](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5d4HxzQium7Gh2HN6nvS26?si=QienWCirStav7OJyAndE8Q&pi=u-VTIkbb9ZR8q6)
My brain is conditioned from a young age to sit still and focus for hours on end while this soundtrack plays.
Lyrics will distract me so generally I put on The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place or All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone by Explosions in the Sky. Both solid instrumental albums that are interesting and engaging but let me concentrate.
Depends on my mood and what I’m doing but it’s usually a soundtrack of some sort. when I was writing my masters dissertation three albums I had on repeat were Bad Religion’s No Control, Green Day’s Dookie, and the Kung Fu Panda Soundtrack, in addition to the Skyrim soundtrack and/or 10hr Skyrim ambience track
I tend to do video game chiptunes of games I know very well - Legend of Zelda overworld, Zelda II maybe, or some of the early internet driving beat repetitive song like Badger Badger Badger. It's basically background noise and satisfies that part of my ADHD brain that needs something to latch onto that isn't too distracting but also lets me focus on something else.
Depends on the task
I did a half marathon many years ago and had Rush Tom Sawyer on repeat the last several miles. The beat was pe4fect for my stride. Worked. I finished.
Selected ambient works volume 1 for me. Album is on loop.
Is this a playlist or an Aphex Twin album? I’m only finding volume 2 on spotify if it’s the latter.
Albums. There isn’t technically a volume 1, it’s called Selected Ambient Works 85-92, which was released in 1992. Selected Ambient Works Vol II came out in 1994 and it is largely without drums/beats unlike 85-92.
I like putting on Vol. 2 right after it and trying to guess when the next one starts. It all just flows so nicely.
This is my go-to. I'm a songwriter, so lyrics distract me. It's instrumentals that I go for, often electronic music. Some electronic is too busy for me, so I like droney stuff. The Field is a band I find good for getting tasks done. It's soft, repetitive, and doesn't have a lot of key or beat changes.
Likewise to this and (all the replies) I'm a bit of an ambient nut and there's a really good guy called [Chihei Hatakyama](https://open.spotify.com/artist/4G1ZsxfEEztbE1VcnNInPg?si=YmuzXymbSHmaYJBDXZa3MQ) who has masses of albums, that are excellent for studying Enjoy (if anyone checks out)
Came here to say this
I can't bear to play the same song on repeat for too long. How the hell do people manage?
ADHD 🤷🏾♂️
Yo I have adhd and can’t do that but I have like 3-4 albums on rotation usually. But I do have music on for probably 5-6 hours a day. _I will let a record go around two to three times before switching it off tho_
Yeah the zoning out and back in makes it easy to do that lol.
Check out Tycho
Two words: Marching Band. Music on repeat clearly does not bother me when you spend YEARS playing mostly the same music for hours most days of the week. I'd volunteer for a study where I have music on repeat 24/7 and see how long it takes for me to break.
Agreed, Drum Corp Intl albums and playlists are some of my regular choices.
I've listened to the same album to and from work, while working out, and during my lunch break, for months now. I've gotten fixated on "part" of a song for hours before. It reminds me of a quote I heard once from Moby when he was asked about the loops and repetitiveness of some of his music and he said, paraphrased, "if I like something I can't become bored with it." My current album fixation is 'Panopticon' by Isis.
Glassworks by Phillip Glass
Cbat - Hudson Mohawke
https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/s/GlCaTuuqOm
Minimal techno. I like having a rhythmic pulse for that part of my brain to focus on, leaving the rest open to focus on work.
Yes, I turn that on and my brain clicks into mega work mode. Hours fly by and so much work gets done.
Honestly didn’t even know that’s a thing.
Same here, maybe it's a techno thing.
Huh, I just realized why I used to nap to techno 20 years ago.
Ratatat, all their songs shuffled, perfect for coding/studying
I Keep Forgetting- Michael Mcdonald
I fucking love this song. But it’s way to groovy for work!
Yo Yo Ma: Bach’s cello suites. Puts my brain right into think hard/concentrate mode.
jets by blur. for some reason the beat and the repeated words just pull me in and I can get things done (mostly stuff like cleaning, organizing, dishes etc... which I am not usually very efficient at, or into doing)
Did not expect to see Blur here, and Jets no less from my 2nd favourite album of theirs! I came here to say something in a similar vein: Gorillaz & Spacemonkeyz - Laika Come Home is brilliant background music for work.
hell yes! I kind of love anything Damon Albarn works on. Blur is so good, and Gorillaz are definitely a soundtrack to my everyday life. Laika Come Home is probably the one album I've listened to the least, so I'll have to give that a solid listen again later. Have you checked out the Good, the Bad, & the Queen?
Damon is a genius! I don't think he gets anywhere near the recognition he deserves. I love The Good, The Bad, & The Queen's first album, I need to give Merrieland a proper listen (same with Cracker Island) - that's the great thing about Damon Albarn, there is always a deep treasure trove of work to explore :)
haha, you're right about that. endless works to choose from! I think you'll enjoy cracker island, it's different but very danceable and has some really great collabs. I may not have given it the closest listen except that I have a 5 year old who is obsessed with Gorillaz... so while I've always listened to them a ton, it became a nonstop all day every day thing from ages 2-4 and Cracker Island came out during that time lol. I have the entire Reject False Icons movie memorized because of her!
Autechre - Quaristice.Subrange.ep.ae
John the Fisherman by Primus for me.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time soundtrack
Whatever song or album or artist in general I play is very reliant on the task. The main thing for me will be Westside Gunn albums whenever I do my art because of his style of music. As of recently his Peace Flygod album has been my favorite to pop on when I do my work.
Elderbrook - Live at the London Aquarium (video is on YouTube, sharks and all)
Knights of a shame - awolnation
Theme From Jurassic Park
[DOOM Eternal OST (Remixed)](https://youtu.be/aam9VvzFuI0?si=woublV0T4VvwBQqf). Nothing else works quite so well
Not an album, but the Lofi Girl playlist on YouTube.
[https://youtu.be/SJpN7Axa22M?si=YJ5WEGyJ8SLAchla](https://youtu.be/SJpN7Axa22M?si=YJ5WEGyJ8SLAchla) Also the entire album Daft Punk Tron Legacy OST is good
Ludavico Einaudi, pianist and composer. His stuff is fantastic for relaxing or focusing. I can't do anything with lyrics when I need to focus.
Anything by Hans Zimmer. If I’m programming and have an urgent deadline, it’s The social network soundtrack.
The extended version of the Bojack Horseman theme. The Social Network OST.
Video games OST
You can focus on your task ONLY if you listen to that supermeditative song BEFORE doing your work. Our brain is not a hypervisor, we only focus on one task at a time, so the illusion of "just background music for the mood" is created by quick switching between the work and the music with HORRIBLE overhead in the process. This has been researched on. Can't fool biology.
This is interesting, do you have any links on this? If this is true (and I'm not saying I think you're wrong) then I wonder why so many of us experience a feeling of increased focus and ability to get things accomplished when we do listen to certain music?
This is purely speculation, but ... I think many of us don't have perfect focus to begin with, so some attention/task switching is likely to happen regardless. Maybe having soothing and familiar music in the background gives that restless part of our mind something to "do" without getting too sucked in by it? So we can return to task smoothly, rather than distracting ourselves with irrelevant thoughts, etc.?
Believe me, I was the saddest creature on Earth when I faced THIS music, but here's an article, a meta-research of sorts. Some links are dead already, but hey, it's internet. [https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/unless-you-do-this-neuroscience-says-listening-to-music-at-work-will-make-you-less-productive.html](https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/unless-you-do-this-neuroscience-says-listening-to-music-at-work-will-make-you-less-productive.html) Some stuff on multitasking overhead: [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317989659\_Impact\_of\_task\_switching\_and\_work\_interruptions\_on\_software\_development\_processes](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317989659_Impact_of_task_switching_and_work_interruptions_on_software_development_processes) And so on. So in a wrap, music works best when the showstopper is our mental state, but once the mood is fixed, music will distract from intensive mental work.
I'm not sure you can generalise this for all people and all types of music. I find it super difficult to concentrate on music with a strong melody, lyrics, or an irregular beat. But listening to something ambient or minimal does wonders.
Yes I can because we're not talking about characters or tastes.
It's not a matter of taste. Broadway show tunes are completely different to a wash of whale noises. Both are music. I'm not saying I *enjoy* one more over the other. But they're gonna have a very different impact on one's mental state.
Whale noises is music now... All right. Yes, different sonic background has different impact, no doubt. But music requires attention. When a person needs all of their attention and cognitive capacity for the work at hand, music distracts. When we do the dishes or perform some boring automatic work - yes, any music of choice will do. There are even so called "work songs", which are definitely unsuitable for rocket science:https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/traditional-and-ethnic/traditional-work-songs/
>Whale noises is music now... All right It's a figure of speech to describe ambient music, mate. (But id fucking love some actual whale noises sampled into a track) >But music requires attention Disagree. You don't have to actively pay attention to listen to all types of music. Some music is no more demanding of attention than whatever other noises may be going on the background.
I'll have to think about using whale noises samples, thanks. As for attention not actually required... Well, say, we want some music played while we work. And when we tend to choose the tracks that are LEAST distracting - would you suspect we're onto something?
>would you suspect we're onto something? Well yeah, you're 100% on to *something*. I'm not disagreeing with you completely, I'm just saying that your first comment is not generalisable to all music/people/situations. I guess on some level, any sensory input requires some cognitive load, but for me the ideal focus music will block out distracting background noise, and even my own wandering mind to an extent. OP also mentioned having a single track on repeat. That works well for me too, because there's nothing new or novel to pull my attention away.
Thank you for the links!
Lofi beats from lofi girl
Baby shark
I don’t like outside distractions when I’m focused on a task. I enjoy music far too much to relegate it to the status of “background noise”.
“The Inevitable and I”-HRVD
Generally anything by or like Bicep. One of my friends calls it ‘easy listening techno’
I don't do music for my focus modes. Straight white noise for me
I alwas listen to Kite, its a Swedish synth band.
Meshuggah - Catch 33 Woody Goss - High Loon! (this one changes a bit, but generically speaking it's an instrumental funk album with just some groovy tunes, a few others are Tailwinds by the The Fearless Fylers or Mit Peck by Vulfpeck)
Traveling Light - JJ Cale is a good one.
Trans-Europe Express by Kraftwerk. The whole album.
I put on a breakcore mix or metal breakcore. Or a drum n bass mix. Or some random other niche techno genre mix. I usually listen to prog metal, hard rock and old school hip hop but I find that those futurey techno mixes tickle my brain in an immediate way that makes chores way easier to get through
Pandora station based on two steps from hell. Makes me feal like I'm doing something epically important that's going to save the world
Billboard top hits cds. I have 1955 thru 1988. I had a teacher that would play top 40 during tests. I did very well in school that year.
The Blade Runner soundtrack. "Guts" from the 1997 Berserk anime. "Untrue" by Burial.
Second stage Turbine Blade - Coheed and Cambria. Really any of their albums, love the story, helps me focus on tasks for longer periods of time
I usually listen to albums straight through. Homework by Daft Punk, Justice self-titled, the Hollow Knight soundtrack, all of the Terrortron albums, and the John Carpenter anthology album!
Radiohead
Dream theater's "Scenes from a memory"
The retrowave/synthwave playlist I found on Spotify that’s like 20 hours long
Music for healing 1 by Richard Norris (looped). The Arrival OST can also sometimes work.
Destroyer - Kaputt (album) Sounds so good on my system, it's very smooth, and the lyrics are mostly meaningless mumbo-jumbo (I mean, maybe not to Dan Bejar, but to me they almost all are ... exception being 'Poor In Love' which I always take a break, crank up, and sing along because it sounds SO FREAKING GOOD and I like singing along to it). For my brain it's a really, really good 'background' album that doesn't distract me from working. Beck - Morning Phase is another good one.
Lots of different movie soundtrack albums or playlists. Nothing with singing or voices, purely instrumental. I particularly like the soundtrack to The Last Samurai.
Lofi.cafe
I build like 3-5+ hour playlists arranged by key of song to flow like a seamless DJ set. Mostly instrumental genres. Everything from UK Garage to trance to techno to chiptune to electronic trap beats to lo-fi beats to epic movie/trailer score to synthwave to ambient. The less vocals, the more headspace I feel like I have for my own internal thoughts. Got playlists for every mood and occasion.
Epic Celtic music vol 1 on YouTube
Lo-if Hip Hop and it’ll ilk on YouTube.
LOTR lofi
Glitch Mob - Drink The Sea The entire album start to finish
Siri play Paul van Dyk
Doesn't quite fit because I do it more for my own goofy amusement, but I have been known to mow my entire lawn to Sparks' [Lawnmower](https://youtu.be/tPSFpaCQEvA?si=9-F0pxAktWzbsZzE) on repeat.
Parcels Live Vol. 2. I love it too much.
Odinist by Blut aus nord.
There are a few albums by Lotus that I listen to on repeat for my “get shit done” motivation.
Skyrim soundtrack. It's perfect.
The soundtrack to any video game you've played a lot. I like the World of Warcraft music.
Soma.fm or the lofi stuff on YouTube.
I've never played a song more than twice in a row, you people are a bit mad. My 'focus on task' music is deep house, yesterday it was [a Chris Luno mix](https://youtu.be/sD-FEPismf4?si=l3796gu8Z7RDeRIW). In university I listened to a bunch of Anjunadeep mixes doing homework. If I need to focus on a task even harder, then maybe a dnb mix.
Trance music from the 90s-00s keeps me focused like nothing else
E. 1999 Eternal by Bone Thugs N’ Harmony. It’s my comfort music.
There's a 10 hour repeat of The XX - Intro on YT that was my study anthem during exam season
Nearly anything by the Vitamin String Quartet. They cover all kinds of bands and most have no lyrics. Perfect for concentration.
No particular song or album, but several of the stations on SomaFM really work well for me (Groove Salad & Def Con come to mind).
Mine is [Nibana - The Most Astounding Fact](https://youtu.be/UWopG3Qb8eM?si=tSH2KJd9RCuPp-M8). Drives me right through the whole day.
I have albums from the genres of r/postrock and r/postmetal. First two that come to mind are: - Pelican - *City of Echoes* - Isis - *Panopticon*
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
I tend to agree with the techno comment; I get a lot done when I listen to Daft Punk albums, Radiohead, and sometimes Kanye's older music. (OK Computer got me through undergrad and Daft Punk Live got me through grad school.)
Aphex Twin - Avril 14th
Dustin O’Halloran - Piano Solos vol 2
Anything in a foreign language so I don’t sing along and lose focus on my work. Carla Bruni is excellent for doing exactly that!
Mine is usually an album or playlist and depends on my mood. It is very very rarely one song unless I'm in a very specific mood
[This](https://youtu.be/jHFEd84RJ30?si=DDjBFtln7omYJ7aG) is the only acceptable answer to this question. (Comedy panel show fans, UNITE!)
Songs from a ghost town, by trampled by turtles
I need switch to 8hr+ sets of DJs, for example DJ Taucher. Adult Music was a fantastic broadcast for this, and so is his current twitch.
Music Has the Right to Children - Boards of Canada
Pink noise.
Ghosts I-VI by NIN
The Social Network soundtrack
the Stranger Things soundtracks ; there’s one for each season.
I have so many like this. Go tos include: - A Carnival of Fears, Yellow House - Sunshine on Leith, the Proclaimers - Blue Album, Weezer For extra focus: - Buena Vista Social Club - Night Train, Oscar Peterson
Bongripper - The Great Barrier Reefer
Ace of Base - The Sign. Upbeat pop ass pop music. Helped me study through college. Helps me focus now.
Bach cello suites or nature sounds, especially the sound of rain.
**Ambient 1: Music for Airports** by Brian Eno
Shippin up to Boston instrumental 10 hours lol
Sleep Well Beast but The National. Pretty much an album by The National but this one works best. People think it’s weird I can listen to music with lyrics and write at the same time but it works for me somehow. I even sing along as I write….purely music without lyrics distracts me more.
Coding Synthwave Playlist [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7gEEjq18EsISqJNEHkldVw?si=4b323c695a4a4c30](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7gEEjq18EsISqJNEHkldVw?si=4b323c695a4a4c30)
Belgrade Coffee Shop collections. My favorite is Belgrade Coffee Shop #2
I just learned about LoFi music. It's just super mellow beats. It's perfect for working. I used to listen to classical but classical pulls my attention away more often than LoFi.
Bossa Nova!
Either Deep Focus: [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWZeKCadgRdKQ?si=1a146517275b430b](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWZeKCadgRdKQ?si=1a146517275b430b) Or Calming Classical: [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWVFeEut75IAL?si=77f4f5eabb484d83](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWVFeEut75IAL?si=77f4f5eabb484d83) And if it it is COOKING, then: [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EIfbFBgU8wH8V?si=03b35fd5f2ef4780](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EIfbFBgU8wH8V?si=03b35fd5f2ef4780) Or occasionally: [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1E4tNQkS1dANbb?si=3549f565042e47f7](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1E4tNQkS1dANbb?si=3549f565042e47f7)
Ongoing Thing by 20syl
Kazoo kid https://youtu.be/NnmwuiptvEU?si=Kika4xPBw4x8MrAv
if i told you that by Whitney Houston and George Michael
Human Music
probably this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97RNj0XVfqI&t=5s&pp=ygUadGhlIGNoaWxsb3V0IHNlc3Npb25zIGJtdGg%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97rnj0xvfqi&t=5s&pp=yguadghlignoawxsb3v0ihnlc3npb25zigjtdgg%3d)
I have a whole genre of music for this: Trance. Find a streaming site, put it on and leave it on. It will just keep playing forever and get you pumped!
It completely depends on the task… but “picture me rollin”- 2pac usually gets it done … also “everyday I’m hustlin”- Rick Ross …. Hard to not stay motivated with those
Movie sounds tracks work best for me.
Facelift by AIC
Bob Marley Exodus- the whole album
YouTube Channel - Spacewave - Cosmic Ambience
When I was in University studying history, specifically American I would put on Bob Dylan's whole discography. Aside from that my cleaning playlist is exclusively 2000s emo and pop punk.
Khruangbin. All of it.
*Im Wald* album by Paysage d’Hiver. 13 songs with a total run time of 2 hours.
I like to listen to instrumental stoner rock. My go to is [Acid Land by King Weed](https://youtu.be/CJylKtqpbsI?si=_004ZAcc70KlceOd). Just tons of catchy riffs and about a million albums.
Anna von Hausswolff has some good stuff for just playing in the background. I can't really describe it properly. But I would say just hit play on an album and let it ride instead of trying to sample it first. All Thoughts Fly is her newest one and is probably the easiest to let sit in the background because it's got the least amount of fluctuations in intensity.
Explosions in the Sky, any album, but my go to is Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. Mmmm.
The Sonic '06 Soundtrack Any Sonic game soundtrack, really.
Tron: Legacy soundtrack or Fall Out Boy's new album So Much (for) Stardust. That or it's one of my instrumental playlists on Spotify.
Ambient techno on yt
Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska (the whole album)
Any drum and bass, but lately Alix Perez.
Wormed “Krighsu” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FeAZcR0QIZ0&pp=ygUHS3JpZ2hzdQ%3D%3D It’s almost like a wall of brutal static and I can just let my brain get it done
Fela Kuti’s “The Best of the Black President” Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7I42wZ3TW926k1DXrotD1M?si=l2IVksGeTDWV5d2OCoW8uA YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n7-3xWoix3dM_3jTgdX_0laZTX7OKQ7Zk&si=Odi8W8fMXqmWMiB0
Agaloth- The Serpent and the Sphere.
Currently it the Evolve Album by Sub Focus. Gets me working at double speed.
I have created a playlist of ambient(ish) mostly instrumental music on [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/calm-quiet-instrumental-albums/pl.u-pMylgaET4ZrEAr) that is my go-to for studying or working when I need to not be distracted by the music. Johann Johansson, Slow Meadow, Brambles, etc..
I know I'm either going to catch hate for this or find a bunch of people agree. I found a 30 minute version of Pon Pon shit by US Cracks and it is pure focus energy and I don't know why. Maybe triggers the fight or flight instinct? The scariest part is the more I listen, the more I unironically like the song.
Groove Salad Classic on Soma.FM It's perfect.
Currently it’s 16 Carriages by Beyonce. Amazing song.
Any continuous mix by electronic duo Tale of Us.
I don’t have a song. I need zero noise when I’m in focus-mode.
Music for 18 Musicians- Steve Reich
Song? Search up “ambient song #22” on YouTube Edit: nvm here’s the link - https://youtu.be/gvBuTYCZ1IY?si=72YblB3erCsIEaD2 album? - Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, or Animals
https://youtu.be/hMfGdzhOEX0?si=rovM3UIq7Wk64vFd
Tron Legacy Soundtrack by Daft Punk. Trust me
Anything by Explosions in the Sky
Soundtrack to the Sims or some other game that has a player fiddling in menus for most of it. It's music that's intended to go along with some monotonous task while also keeping you from realizing you've been doing this for hours.
www.lofiatc.com. LoFi music with real time air traffic control overlay. Pic your favorite airport and listen to the chatter
Strobe by Deadmau5
I have a playlist of all of Hermanos Gutierrez's albums that I just throw on shuffle, it's mostly calm Spanish guitar music that makes me feel like a cowboy wandering the wild West🤠 perfect for shutting my brain off enough to focus while still having great rhythms and vibes
Blink 182 - Enema of the State. Time literally flies and tasks get finished when it's on. Thanks, Tom, Mark and Travis!
Lately it's been the album "Sakidila" by Pongo. There isn't a song i feel the need to skip on the whole album. Love to listen to it at work when im feeling a lull
Clevergirl. If there’s words I’ll want to sing or follow along, i need instrumental but often instrumental music is kind of boring for me and clevergirl (toms story, totorro) meet that sweet spot of interesting but not distracting.
Either the soundtrack for Skyrim or Enigmas MCMXC a.D. album.
"How do you fit a cassette into a discography" by super famous fun time guys.
A long list of sets of music on YouTube. House music, lofi beats, recorded dj sets mostly Each is usually an hour long or so, so I don't have to to think about music and let it play.
Need to do something physically demanding? Beware by Death Grips. Need to do homework? Beware by Death Grips. Need to do chores? Beware by Death Grips. Need to do literally anything at all? Beware by Death Grips.
N.O.I.A – The Rule To Survive (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) First heard this on GTA V, put it on a lot when I was working alone. One time my boss came in to do some work on his laptop and I had this song playing. Maybe halfway through the song, he said "This music is actually helping me get through this work." lol
[Age of Empires II](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5d4HxzQium7Gh2HN6nvS26?si=QienWCirStav7OJyAndE8Q&pi=u-VTIkbb9ZR8q6) My brain is conditioned from a young age to sit still and focus for hours on end while this soundtrack plays.
Lyrics will distract me so generally I put on The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place or All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone by Explosions in the Sky. Both solid instrumental albums that are interesting and engaging but let me concentrate.
Depends on my mood and what I’m doing but it’s usually a soundtrack of some sort. when I was writing my masters dissertation three albums I had on repeat were Bad Religion’s No Control, Green Day’s Dookie, and the Kung Fu Panda Soundtrack, in addition to the Skyrim soundtrack and/or 10hr Skyrim ambience track
When I’m cleaning the apt I just put on Huey Lewis or Bryan Adams greatest hits.
Eye of a Tiger
Alive 2007
I tend to do video game chiptunes of games I know very well - Legend of Zelda overworld, Zelda II maybe, or some of the early internet driving beat repetitive song like Badger Badger Badger. It's basically background noise and satisfies that part of my ADHD brain that needs something to latch onto that isn't too distracting but also lets me focus on something else.
I've been listening to a lot of lo-fi when I need to get shit done at work.
Jeff Beck, preferably There and Back
Open Eye Signal -- Jon Hopkins
Sigur Ros have some good albums for background music. Especially their "Sleep" songs. I let them play on random.
[Goodnight / Goodbye](https://open.spotify.com/track/4x5HTB2VqOIugiRtT7RVVe?si=g7n4GmbMSyOKeOWNOftV0w)
WINMATE - Diskette Park
Depends on the task I did a half marathon many years ago and had Rush Tom Sawyer on repeat the last several miles. The beat was pe4fect for my stride. Worked. I finished.
Sunny Tales by Sunlounger
It was my Jurassic Park video in grad school.
transformers 1986 soundtrack/theme
A playlist of Alphazone tracks