Tonight Chung-chieh Shan encouraged me to blog more. Since I’ve never actually blogged, blogging more shouldn’t be that hard.
When I’m hacking on miniKanren the right music really helps me get into a state of flow. When working in public, sometimes I rock out a little too much (usually when my code finally works)–random people will walk across the restaurant or coffee shop to ask what I am listening to, and will usually ask for a song list. Before tonight, I would just list a few songs off the top of my head. Now I can do better.
For my own convenience, and potentially for your listening pleasure, I’ve created a YouTube channel of music I hack to. Much of the music is electronica or chill or ambient or some such thing, with a few chiptunes and catchy pop-ish songs thrown in. If you like a song, let me know and I can point you to more music in that style. If you don’t share my tastes, post your own hacking list, and I’ll include a link on this page. Since YouTube videos have a habit of disappearing, I’ve included song and artist names and YouTube links below. If a song is taken down, a quick Google search will usually find another version. Please let me know if you notice a broken link.
I’m always looking for new coding music; if you have any suggestions, please let me know! I find that chill, quasi-repetitive music I can put on repeat works best. The sorts of songs that don’t have “seams” at the ends, if that makes sense. For example, I listened to Air’s La Femme D’Argent for hours at a time while working on my dissertation (1,700+ listens, according to iTunes). Under the Sea by Digby Jones is another song I can code to for hours. To paraphrase Alan Perlis, one song I can listen to 1,000 times is much better than 10 songs I can listen to 100 times each. If I become too aware of a song while coding, which invariably happens during a long coding session, I immediately change to another one I can forget about consciously.
I also listen to a selected subset of these songs to moderate my mood, or to pump myself up before a big talk, especially if I’ve had little sleep the night before.
Thanks to Hillary Davis, Al Bertrand, Sean ‘Day[9]’ Plott, and Astrid ‘MalyCocka’ Chodura for pointing me to great music. And thanks to Chung-chieh Shan, Lindsey Kuper, and Matt Might for encouraging me to blog.
Fuck Buttons - The Lisbon Maru
LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 Part 3
DJ Shadow - Giving Up The Ghost
Trentemøller - Take me into your skin
Amon Tobin - Kitchen Sink - Clark Remix
Appaloosa - The Day We Fell In Love
Emancipator - Safe In The Steep Cliffs
Emancipator - Soon It will Be Cold Enough to Build Fires
Shpongle - Nothing Is Something Worth Doing
The Future Sound of London — Papua New Guinea
Disco Science- Mirwais - Snatch
Tomorrow People - La Femme D’Argent - cover
Clint Mansell - Welcome To Lunar Industries - Moon OST
Clint Mansell - Sacrifice - Moon OST
Clint Mansell - Two Weeks & Counting - Moon OST
Clint Mansell - We’re Going Home - Moon OST
Boards of Canada - Everything You Do is a Balloon
Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy
Pavement - Father To A Sister Of Thought
Carbon based lifeforms - Interloper
Dub FX - Love Someone - live, 10/10/2008
Dub FX - Flow, Feat. Woodnote - live, 4/18/2009
Tangerine Dream - Love on a Real Train
Tangerine Dream - The Dream Is Always The Same
The Crystal Method - Trip Like I Do
Junkie XL - Love Like A Razorblade
The Gorillaz - 19-2000 - Soul Child Remix
Sneakers OST - Planning the Sneak, Composed by James Horner, Feat. Branford Marsalis
Crazy Penis - 3 Play It Cool - The Outernational Sound
Glenn Morrison - No Sudden Moves - Original Mix
Digital Insanity - Unreal Superhero 3
Foster the People - Broken Jaw - Live from SXSW
Amsterdam Acoustics & The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Satellite
Ellen Allien & Apparat - Do Not Break
Memoryhouse - To The Lighthouse - Millionyoung Remix
The Bravery - An Honest Mistake
Record - Tekk Me the Truth - live at Opolis 8/20/10
The Whitest Boy Alive - Gravity
Digital Orgasm - Moog Eruption
Kostya Veter - Ad Astra - Original Mix
Kill The Noise - Building Blocks
Appaloosa - The Day We Fell in Love - Acid Girls Wept Remix
Yelle - Que Veux-tu - Madeon Remix
Battlefield 1942 Theme - loading music
Fenech-Soler - Demons - Sigma Remix
MLP: Friendship is Magic - Ponies are ravers - Extended/Reworked
The Killers - All these things that I’ve done
Mass Effect OST - Uncharted Worlds
Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot - Bonnie And Clyde