[TAG] Music whilst you work....

[Thomas Adam]

On Wed, Jun 28, 2006 at 09:50:11PM -0400, Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
> Well, I'm a musical ignoramus compared to you, Mike, and Jimmy at
> least - it was weirdly fascinating to see you guys discussing all
> these groups I'd never heard of (hell, entire musical genres I'd
> never heard of!) the last time, but I'm afraid I just don't speak the
> language. Though I would certainly not mind learning it. I just have
> no idea of where to even start.

One of the nice things about music like this is that there is no correct
place to start -- just pick somewhere and run with it.   I blame my
father for my current music tastes.  During the era of 1965 - 1968
essentially, spawned a whole underground of psychedelic music which has
been one focus of mine, and something my dad was more apt to reveal in,
given it was his era (I was twenty years too late by the time I was
born).

Pick any band at that time, and follow a trail.   You'll always find a
link, even things like joining Kevin Ayers, Roy Harper, Wilde Flowers,
Caravan and Pye Hastings together.   (All proponents of the Canterbury
Movement in England, along with many other small and esoteric bands.)
It's very difficult for me to suggest a place to start, and I am willing
to send you over some purchased CDs for you to listen to -- you may or
may not like them, but there's no loss to me in doing so.

> Most times, I don't listen to anything at all when coding - well,
> except the creaking noises my brain makes. However, if I actually
> think of it before I start - rare as that may be - I do find music
> helpful... in some strange way that I can't describe.

Hehe, perhaps true of most people.  (For instance, I am listening to the
album "Music From Big Pink" by The Band).

> If I'm just cranking a short script, I want something fast and
> aggressive; "The Best of Van Halen" (with "The Drill Song" on repeat
> for a couple of loops) comes to mind. Southern rock will do, too:
> ZZ Top's "Cheap Sunglasses", or almost anything by Molly Hatchett.

Hehe, I can see you being a ZZ Top fan, actually.  I'll forget you
mentioned Van Halen though.  :P

> I also have a few odd favorites that could work: about half the
> tunes from the "Blackhawk Down" soundtrack ("Hunger", "Barra Barra",
> "Mogadishu Blues"), Green Day's "Brain Stew", Nine Inch Nails' "Head
> Like a Hole", Bad Religion's "Punk Rock Song", and so on. Stevie Vai's
> "Paganini" is an excellent example of that genre.

"Brain Stew" is a fine track by Greenday.

> Strange contrast, now that I think about it.

Very, but if it works for you...

> Haven't heard of a single one, sorry. :\

Hehehe.

> > And if I am doing general stuff (such as emails, IRC):
> >
> > `` Gorky's Zygotic Mynci Incredible String Band Nick Drake Gryphon
> > Yo La Tengo ''
>
> Ditto for these.

Eh?  Never heard of Nick Drake?  I'll have to correct that.

-- Thomas Adam

-- 
"If I were a witch's hat, sitting on her head like a paraffin stove, I'd
fly away and be a bat." -- Incredible String Band.