I still can't find anything better to program to than Nujabes. I'm going to give this a genuine shot, but Jun Seba really left his mark on me for life. I find myself listening to his albums and songs at least twice a day.
I think it's because of his repetitive beats, smooth strings and soft instrumentation. There's a reason there are 10 hour 'homework' edits on youtube for almost all of his songs.
While we are at it, the following is a selection of musicians whose work for me is both sedative and promotes focus (an oxymoron?). Ambient music usually garners a few sniggers, "this is what they play in spas" "whale music" etc, however in my experience can be an incredibly rewarding and effective method of relaxation and enjoyment.
I'm glad you like it :). I think ambience and soundscapes should still have interesting musical elements. If it only works as background noise, then I get bored by it.
I've also listened to Isis quite a lot, mostly "Oceanic", which is great. There is a pretty good remix album of "Oceanic" that opens with a remix by Fennesz.
As a track is named, the former is bleak, uncertain, beautiful; both melancholic and uplifting with despairing wails and wavering cries of tears and joy. The second is the more known GY!BE album, which is just as good.
Nowadays, I just listen to whatever strikes my mood (I can tune most stuff out), but the ones I listed above were particularly good for focusing during essay writing.
I work to much of the same type of music, although I tend to group instrumental post-rock/post-punk (e.g. isis, pelican, russian circles, mono) with some electronic (e.g. ratatat) and small amounts of punk (tragedy/hhig, neurosis). Compared to what I usually listen to, the brain.fm focus channel didn't do anything for me.
Stars of the Lid makes some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It's ambient, made with strings and heavily processed guitar. The songs develop into these breathing like rhythms that just push some sort of button in me.
I can listen to it while working, or just on its own really loud to make the details come out.
Oh, these are fantastic... spent the last hour sampling them. Thanks for the Headphone Commute tip!
While we're listing things, and on a quite different note (much more "pop" - perhaps too distracting given the context of this post), I'd add the Fez OST (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYL-5N08JtA)... it's like chiptune Vangelis, and lovely for working and/or on a plane.
If you're a fan of such relaxing, ambient fare, I would strongly recommend you check out the fantastic compilation release, 'I Am the Center' [1]. It's got some fantastic selections, including an Eno piece, spanning 1950 - 1990.
I don't use spotify. But you're right, your playlist has a lot in common of what I like.
I usually use http://www.jango.com which allows me to create my own radio station by specifying a few artist names, and it will play tracks similar in taste to those artists. I know there are other sites like that, but I'm not sure if spotify has a similar feature. The thing is I don't like playing a fixed playlist over and over, I prefer things being a bit more random, although following the same taste.
Checkout "Christ." as well. 3rd early BoC member, he's sort of struggling but his music is amazing. He's one of the only artists to ever get an encore from John Peel.
(The album the second one is on, overall, is on quite regular office rotation here. Even when it's noisy, it's quite heavily beat driven which at least personally keeps me in the zone.)
There's so many good tracks on that album that it's hard to pick out any specifics as being better than the others. But one of my favourites would be Telephasic Workshop:
Man, completely agree. I fell in love with his work years ago and will never stop listening.
Not to compare these, because they're not even the same genre when you get down to it, but while poking around on Google Play Music the other day I found a series of tribute albums to Nujabes by Soul Jazz Collective:
Just finished watching Samurai Champloo, where I first learned about Nujabes. I was saddened when I discovered the artist died in 2010. Great music! RIP
I literally broke down and cried my freshman year of college when I heard the news. I was a massive fan of his at the time and I really was devastated. I binged on his music for a couple days and eventually was at peace with it all; its touching to me that his music can have that effect. RIP Jun.
So much inspiration in this thread. I mentioned this further down the page, but it's a hobby of mine to ask what music people work to.
This is a goldmine for me.
Thanks a lot for posting, and for trying it out. Would love to hear your feedback, or anyone else's from this thread. Email me any time. Just my first name and brain.fm.
Next week I go back to working on more music themes. We hired a new guy a month ago and he's ready to take over the app, so, this is perfect timing.
Let's see what me and the AI-guy can come up with. :)
For people who liked Arurian Dance, check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkk6m14htzw (it's where the original sample from, which itself was an adaptation of the Pavane pour une infante défunte by Ravel)
Yeah, that's actually the track I had in mind when I wrote "almost". But most of his music gives me a really pleasant/chilling/surreal vibe that I haven't found anywhere else.
I used to do it to heavy metal. I joke it keeps the little nagging hyperactive creature inside my brain entertained so it doesn't mess up the rest that's trying to work.
I immediately imagined an Inside Out-like scene where one feeling is trying to concentrate and an army of other feelings plays tuba, rides bikes, cooks, sings, asks about opinions...
Don Slepian makes nice ambient/new age music, and is notable for having made it algorithmically at Bell Labs in the late 70s, where he was artist-in-residence.
At most workplaces, you don't have silence. And even if we had, don't know about you, but absolute silence makes my wind wander more than with a background music.
When I started listening to techno/electro music I quickly found about Nujabes (I am more into the Japanese scene) but later he got into a traffic accident. What a pity to this world.
I was so incredibly sad when I found out that he wasn't around to make more. I haven't found another artist that appeals to me like him. Rest in peace Jun Seba.
sergiotapia imagine in 5-10 years you leave a comment like this and then come back and write ... wow crap the AI is soo much better than the talented artist I loved for life! I just wanna go back to his stuff for nostalgia sometimes but honestly it's not even close. Can you imagine that?
I think it's because of his repetitive beats, smooth strings and soft instrumentation. There's a reason there are 10 hour 'homework' edits on youtube for almost all of his songs.
Counting Stars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-tTmSY4m4M
Voice of Autum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvcQWJaaQDw
Arurian Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6E9WMM0vko