I am a big fan of listening to Drone Zone on SomeFM while programming
Hit me with your favourite streams, albums or artists
I don’t really like thinking about what to listen to, so I use di.fm (an internet radio for electronic music) and just enjoy the endless stream of music. Some of my favorite channels:
- Electro Swing - my absolute favorite, energetic and fast but improves focus
- LoFi Hip-Hop - like the popular YouTube mixes but better curated and higher-quality
- Liquid DnB - this is the middle ground between relaxing LoFi and energetic “Matrix” style coding music
It was really hard to find music I enjoy but I can also concentrate while listening to it. These 3 channels have been the absolute best for me in this regard. I hope you will like them too.
If you’re into ambient stuff: https://musicforprogramming.net/
in addition to the lofi/ambient, something I’ve really been enjoying recently is this lofi stream with random live air traffic control talk overlaid https://www.lofiatc.com
No one mentioned lofi girl? The youtube channel’s study stream is amazing for helping me focus on coding.
All about electronic music for me when coding, like the liquid drum and bass mixes from this guy https://youtube.com/@themanfromdelmonte, or pretty much anything from Cercle https://youtube.com/@Cercle
I have 2 categories, either Classical Music ( actually my preferred classical programming music is The Legend of Zelda: Concert 2018 by Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and I’m not entirely sure it qualify as “Classical” ) or 80-style hard rock (Like the soundtrack for Peacemaker)
Soundtrack for Furi (the game) is incredible: Youtube link. Also see other (synthwave) music by Waveshaper, Carpenter Brut, French 79, The Toxic Avenger, …
After years of trying different genres I found the best music for me: instrumental metal.
My go to artists are:
- Andromida, for something hardcore
- God is an Astronaut, for something melodic and chill
- Outrun the Sunlight, TANK86, Modern day Babylon for the times when I want to listen to something else
- anything that Spotify recommends
And my recent discovery: The HU. Mongolian band playing a mix of folk/rock/metal with a lot of throat singing. Since I don’t understand Mongolian and throat singing is very uncommon for me, I just treat it as another instrument, and it can easily get me in the zone.
Nice suggestions! If you want something chill, I recommend David Maxim Micic or Plini. If you want something more technical, Polyphia and Intervals are all amazing.
Nice, new music for my collections, thanks a lot!
Anything with upbeat tempo, i have a 5 day playlist of metal music i just shuffle…
I mostly play classical music:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX17GkScaAekA?si=Ape3CKxfSzKGdSPSPgt9aA
On that note (haha 🎶), I enjoy the “Pop Goes Classical” playlist on Spotify if I want to listen to something familiar and recent in pop culture, but played using classical instruments without distracting lyrics:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWUPafHP1BJw1?si=k5VFZi7uR7WCpPamvEKneg
If it’s something original like Mozart or Vivaldi, I get too enthralled with the classical scores, so backgrounding pop melodies over piano or string instruments is a compromise.
Nice. I’ll give that a try. Thanks for the rec :)
In addition to LoFi that others have recommended, I’d also suggest Chillstep. Chillstep is mellow, rhythmic, but without all the artificial scratchs and pops common in LoFi.
This is a playlist I tried to replicate from memory of the playlists I loved to listen to back before Google bought and closed down Songza, a curated music streaming platform:
BTW, if anyone could provide a better genre classification of this playlist, or similar albums/artists, I’d be grateful! I had to piece this together from sampling song radio suggestions and auditory recall, as I can’t recall names, nor bothered to make note of them when auto playing from Songza back in the day.
- lofi girl
- x-team radio
- Coding Mode playlist on Spotify
Aphex Twin for me.
Something about those snare rushes just tickles my brain the right way and helps me to focus.
On Spotify I often listen to “Dance Covers”, it is a mix of known songs with a higher bpm or increased base.
It has the perfect beat range for my taste :)
I’ve been enjoying One Wayne G by Mac DeMarco
Katana zero soundtrack amazing music and game
