video game music is designed to pump you up without breaking your concentration.
almost anything with lyrics in it is a no go for me if my goal is to have background music to relax/study to. also lofi.
Instrumental heavy metal.
Post rock for me. It’s a wide genre that is sometimes classical in nature to punk metal.
Selected Ambient Works
90s electronic, Autechre
Incunabula, their debut album as Autechre, is also fantastic:
I love 90s electronic for concentration. But I’ve gotten into Tycho recently.
Tycho is great! Check out Emancipator as well!
When I really need to concentrate I put on music in a foreign language. Mainly German because I’ve found a lot of German bands I like. Some of my favorites that sing mainly in German:
- Wizo
- Die Ärzte
- Die Toten Hosen
- We Butter Out Bread With Butter
Techno and heavy metal.
Honestly, I cant listen to anything while trying to concentrate. Music distracts me when I’m trying to focus on a mental task. Now if I’m doing physical labor or whatever, much easier. 80s music for sure. New Wave, synthpop. Good stuff.
Usually none, sometimes classical music, Viennese Classic especially
Same, none of that low-brow Bratislava Classic, pee-yooo
Krautrock
Years ago I got a disc called Sounds of Slashdot. It was at a con, I think.
Anyway it’s got some “gamemaster” “lost tribe” thing among some musical tracks on the CD. I have No Idea what it is, but I put it on and the sounds fucks with distractions and I can enter the Flow more easily for work. It’s a great trigger.
I need to find more of that.
Always Emancipator. Safe In The Steep Cliffs is excellent.
Emancipator fucks heavy. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an artist capture the feeling of misty forests and snow so perfectly. Just nature really. Safe in the Steep Cliffs and Dusk to Dawn are so evocative.
Drum’n’Bass
The first Sims game soundtrack
well not for concentration, but my ambient music is a mix of lemon demon and rain world
Anything without vocals so that it doesn’t force me to actually think about it, just vibe.
Lately Chikoi The Maid (maidcore rock) or Gnome (the Father Of Time album, just-riffs-rock?) to some dnb/techno stuff, depends on the mood and how hard I need to focus - faster is better then.
When I was in the office, always metal. At home I’m more likely to listen to classical, but still metal if I need to be totally focused.
