Open Discussion: What’s Your Work Playlist?

I’m listening to a lot of Akira Yamaoka and sipping my third mug of coffee, trying to figure out the next step in this project I’m working on. After a couple of hours of letting iTunes bounce around on random, I felt like I needed to focus, and something about Yamaoka’s Silent Hill scores seemed to be the antidote for my creative blockage.

A couple of weeks back, Eddie talked about setting up a routine for your creative process, and it’s only recently that I’ve realized that Yamaoka has served as a creative trigger for me.

In my case, putting one of his soundtracks doesn’t spur my creativity, but it does put me in a space where I feel prepared to get work done. And this particular choice works for me because the highs of his music aren’t especially distracting (even the tracks with lyrics are mellow enough that they don’t cause creative static).

Rap is out – also Queen. Both cause me to focus too much on the craft of the music and not enough on my own work. For that matter, most of the noise and industrial stuff I typically listen to is out as well. It took me a while to land on Yamaoka as my go-to guy for getting work done.

Sometimes, I’ll just pace listening to one track in particular, « Wounded Warsong, » because for the project I’m working on specifically, it fits the mood and tempo, and in a way, it frees my up to allow the next beats to sort of flow organically.

For those of you out there who listen to music while you work, what’s on your playlist? What gets you in the mood to create (and what are some of the no-no’s when you’re working)?

Let us know in the comments!