This has been asked before, but I'm curious about some current recommendations. My playlists range all the way from movie soundtracks through old school jazz and classic rock all the way to contemporary Italian pop. Occasionally, Bach, too.
What brings you into a focused state?
I have been enjoying Nier Automata's game soundtrack recently. EDM, Porter Robinson and related is also a favorite of mine. Citypop, jpop, latin pop, and kpop all help too. The music feels familiar but I don't get distracted by the words because I don't speak the languages well or at all.
When I need to focus for a long time, I put on a live performance of an artist I like and know the songs of. Daft Punk's Alive 2007, Porter Robinson's Worlds, and Yo Yo Ma's performance at the 2015 BBC Proms of Bach's Cello Suites are my main three. DJ Sets from things like Ultra, EDC, Coachella, BBC Radio One are nice as because the songs flow really well from one to the next.
I found that slowing down music has helped it be less distracting to me. Not all music will sound good, but slowed classical generally does. 75% to 80% speed playback of the Cello Suites is really nice.
I am enamored with, what feels like, youtube originated genres. "Dark Academia" is a vibe and playlist genre that has helped me discover a lot more classical and adjacent music. I enjoy the playlist titles and creative writing in the comments too.
I usually play some rain sounds from https://lifeat.io, Lily Pond is my favorite.
Play the rain noise and some music with no lyrics at a fairly low volume, and it really works well.
But one trick I learned back in my college days that worked well was to play a single song on loop. It doesn’t really matter what the song is, though ideally it is something you enjoy (though not one of your favorites as you don’t want to wear yourself out on it). After a loop or two your brain gets used to it and it goes in the background and you stop noticing it.
I have a subwoofer in my office and sometimes having a driving deep beat (Rezz) helps me focus much better. For me when I am able to physically feel the music there is a significant boost in my focus. When I can kind of dance or nod to it a bit while typing is a sign that I am at peak focus.
Aphex Twin really is magical for me. Sometimes the discord of something like syro u473t8+e[141.98][piezoluminescence mix] on a loop really helps me zone. Sometimes a more relaxed track like To Cure A Weakling Child works well. The ambient stuff like Xtal and Heliospan are great for relaxing and doing more creative tasks.
Jpop really improves my mood and something about interpreting the lyrics and singing along especially to the kind of repetitive cute nonsense of kawaiicore improves my creativity a lot. Its a good way to cleanse my musical palette.
The autoplay feature is pretty good and usually finds a similar track so the music keeps going after the track you're listening to ends.
Still haven't found a service as good as soundcloud to minimize distraction so you stay lost in what you're doing.
Music that tries to sing me a complex English narrative is too distracting to work as background material. Rammstein is one example of a clever workaround, since I don't understand German.
I also really like most of Aim to the Head Mixes[1] on YouTube
Before that, lots of post-rock sprinkled with some infected mushroom according to my mood that day
--- 1: https://youtu.be/mKhQwfiDAfs
I used to use YouTube but it's a bit distracting for me so I have created a 6 hour playlist that I hope to make 20 hours
More recently, I’ve been listening to my local NPR station which plays classical for majority of my work day. At lunch, they have FreshAir and later in the afternoon All Things Considered. Depending on how focused I need to be, I’ll find something else to listen to during the non-music periods.
One thing I’ve noticed is I find it hard to listen to anything with words or lyrics if I need to focus but instrumental music (classical, jazz, electronic) helps me focus.
btw, before it was mainly chillstep mixes from YT or Spotify... I still listen to this stuff here and there.
When debugging slow paced, classical.
Prefer no words as they distract. And will often get stuck in the brain 'never want to give you up, let you down ....' argggg
Artist radios starting on Bluetech, or any of his albums.
Playlists which match the keywords “Ambient Guitar”
Playlists which match the keywords “Space Ambient”
Non distracting, no vocals, can select a few different streams.
Bands: 36, Marconi Union, ...
Genres: classical, jazz