zerosum dirt(nap)

There’s a good thread going on over at Hacker News today regarding music for coding sprints. It’s interesting to see that a number of people, like me, have trouble concentrating when listening to music with prominent lyrics, whereas others thrive on it.

A lot of people also seem to really dig electronica. I guess that’s no big surprise. It’s never done much for me, personally, although there are a few electronic pieces I do really like (NIN’s Ghosts being a recent example). Being an ex-hc/metalhead I gravitate more towards melodic post-rock stuff and the occasional poppy masterpiece.

Here’s some stuff in my current work playlist:

• Explosions in the Sky
• Mogwai
• Castor
• My Bloody Valentine
• Elliott
• Pinback
• Isis
• On The Might of Princes
• Jesu
• Portishead
• Dredg
• National Skyline
• Pelican
• Low Frequency In Stereo
• Radiohead
• There Were Wires
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor
• Mouth of the Architect

Yes I know some of these bands have lyrics. But they’re so fuzzed up or unintelligible that my brain doesn’t seem to process them while working, so all is good. And in the case of bands like Elliott and Pinback and Dredg, the vocals are prominent but somehow almost feel like more of an instrument. Also seems to work. Kind of strange, I guess.