Before diving head first into any long endeavor, selecting theme music is not only appropriate but a necessity in life.
The miraculous powers of good music can help you through the tough times and make you want to dance during the good. And somewhere in-between, a great track will always afford a five minute and twenty seven second break between Photoshop layers.
For my next adventure (see Being Carl Spackler) I headed to EMusic to check out their advertised 50 free songs trial.
Soon after signing up for an account (which I can cancel within 30 days) I was thrown into the depth of their 200,000 plus song inventory of mostly independent artists.
At first this was a little disorienting, having just come from the Apple Music Store where almost all of the bands are brand or household names.
It didn't take too long to find four acceptable albums (49 songs) that I'm very pleased to have discovered and quickly downloaded. For your own future enjoyment, I recommend:
Solex - Low Kick and Hard BopPizzicato Five - Five by Five
Ladytron - 604
Fantastic Plastic Machine - Fantastic Plastic Machine
I should caution that while EMusic is a fantastic service, and an incredible deal, if you're a huge Prince fan or you just can't go a day without hearing from Culture Club then this is not the service for you.
Now that the official project music is selected and qued — I'm ready to code like the wind. Just after I grab a decaf iced latte.
Have any theme music of your own?
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
Thanks for the recommendations! Here's one of my all-time favorites... Rustic Overtones has disbanded now, but their music lives on thanks to EMusic. Check 'em out.
In the mornings, when I am barely awake, iTunes dishes out the tones of Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Sarah Vaughn and Billie Holliday (many of these I got from eMusic).
In the afternoons, after the juice has been turned on, it's Skillet, Supertones, Relient K and the like.
For some reason, I do my best coding to Steely Dan. Yes, I know, this dates me in the most horrible fashion. But there's just something about that eclectic mix of rock and jazz, the seedy, underdog characters, and wry humor that I can't get enough of.
Give me some Travis, Train, Collective Soul, and some Metallica to spice things up any day.
If you like Fantastic Plastic Machine, check out Tipsy! They are on EMusic. A good start is 'Trip Tease'
Huge Prince fan. Can't stand Culture Club.
For a task like this, you need a big playlist or multi-disk CD player so you aren't up-and-down interupting the coding. CDs need to be quality tune-idge all the way thru. I to get a mixture of genres with artists like:
How's that for diverse?
Physicians have documented unpredictable reactions to widely unrelated styles of music. Including, but not limited to, palpitations, back pain, hypoesthesia, appetite increase, myalgia, asthenia, malaise, rhinitus, hypertonia and male sexual dysfunction.
drat, drat, drat! Greg? Can you all for a Preview in your next release?
Lou Reed, The Clash, The Kinks, Camper Van Beethoven, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Cake, John Prine, Grateful Dead, Offspring, Mettalica, The Meat Puppets, Niravana, Pearl Jam, Dixie Dregs...should I go on?
Won't those songs "disappear" after you cancel your account?
I canceled the account and they stayed put so I guess not. Of course I was sure to burn them to CD first.
Boysen, yes I'll add the preview option.
I like to listen to the James Brown box set, "Star Time", when working on a time consuming task. But you'd be surprised how far the Japenese radio netcasts (via iTunes) will bring you. It's like being bjorked and jackoed with a little PeeWee Herman on the side.
>being bjorked and jackoed with a little PeeWee
>Herman on the side.
Wowzers! That conjures all sorts of unpleasant images. Bjork scares me, but I love a few of her uptempo songs.
Radiohead's "Airbag" of couse.
where's the info for the link you promised on google.wankers
Currently rocking a iTunes playlist I call 'June Gloom' --- 1) The Soundtrack of Our Lives, 2) Psychedelic Furs (demos), 3) Phaser, 4) [new] Radiohead, 5) Codec & Flexor, 6) [new] Wire, 7) Bob Mould, 8) Star Children, 9) [new] White Stripes, 10) Germs, 11) Bowie's Scary Monsters, 12) New Order circa Everything's Gone Green EP
Placebo: "Pure Morning" & "Commercial for Levi" & "Special K"
solex, pizz, and fpm are some of my favourites. if you like them, try: Takako Minekawa, Cornelius, Beta Band, DJ Me DJ You, Tipsy.
My own soundtrack involves: Mouse on Mars, Stereolab, Tortoise, Yma Sumac, and Four Tet.