Sweet Code Music
June 29, 2006
I know a lot of programmers who listen to techno, trance, hardcore, or other electronic music while coding. The repetition, fast beat, and lack of pop hooks have a hypnotic effect which seems to make it easier to focus on problems on a granular level. The problem is the music is pretty sterile, and after a few years of listening to techno at work I got pretty sick hearing bleeps and bloops. Also, as techno became more popish, finding stuff became more difficult.
Two other genres are worth exploring.
Traditional celtic music is a good alternative. Jigs and reels have a driving beat and tend to be built around repetitive musical phrases, but are varied enough to not be completely mind-deadening. Unfortunately, Celtic albums are frequently infected with shmaltzy, over-emoted ballads. So you have to watch your step.
My current favorite, though, is hard funk. There’s a lot of funky music, but the harder here, the better. It all grooves, but hard funk is practically nothing but groove. So far, the best albums I’ve heard for this (in order):
* James Brown, _Dead on the Heavy Funk_
* James Brown, _Love Power Peace: Live_
* Parliament, _Mothership Connection_
* Funkadelic, _Maggot Brain_
Can anyone make any other suggestions? (He asked, expecting “Laundro”:http://olympus-mons.com/ to speak up…)
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June 29th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Let me clear my throat…. ahem!
;)
Some of my favorite harder funk records:
Betty Davis - Betty Davis
Fela Kuti - Live with Ginger Baker
Parliament - Rhenium
Rufus and Chaka Khan - Rags to Rufus
Others:
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (if you like the soul-side of funk)
Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information (recently reissues by David Byrne’s label - definitely funky… but not HARD a la Curtis)
By the way, that live JB record will be buried with me when I die. Holy funk.
June 30th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Thanks for the recommendations, I’ve put some in the queue for my next emusic downloads.
July 4th, 2006 at 2:41 am
Well, when i am looking down the microscope counting pollen, I find some ole’ bluegrass pretty good, on one level it’s probably got just as fast or a faster beat than techno and the lyrics just make you smile. The “deliverance” soundtrack is a prime example
July 4th, 2006 at 11:33 am
There’s a sickeningly good compilation of greasy, dirty funk called “Soul Fire - The Majestic Collection” on Truth and Soul records. It’s 95% instrumental, heavy on the wah and organ, and sounds like it was recorded in ‘73 for an obscure Blaxploitation flick.
King Sunny Ade’s “Juju Music” is pure bliss.
JB’s “The Payback” would make an outstanding addition to your collection.
And I second Laundro’s “Curtis” recommendation… all good stuff!
July 5th, 2006 at 8:13 am
That comp sound great Flood… I’ll have to check it out…
July 5th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
Bluegrass is great, but albums are frequently interrupted by slower-tempo pieces. A couple of my favorites for coding are by Cumberland Gap, but it’s getting so I can’t listen to those — I like the lyrics too much, and find myself mentally singing along.
July 6th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
cheeka-wah-wah, flood’s ‘Soul Fire’ is in the Yahoo music engine.
http://yme.music.yahoo.com/ymeNav/ymu/album/18656468
December 28th, 2006 at 10:27 am
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