What to listen while working?

I was known to have the worst music taste ... buy I've been working on it.
While I'm working I can listen to just about anything, just different things for different jobs, simular to you.
While brainstorming it just has to be something very familuar ... something I can sing along with, without realy listening.
While working, something up beat... can be anything from Kraftwerk, Britney (not to much britney though...), quarashi (icelandic band, can find them under US iTunes music store), prodigy to something else.

Other music: Franz Ferdinand, New Order, Flaming Lips, Aqua (used to love them :) ), Lee Hazlewood, Jeff Buckley, Kim Larsen ... want more?

...but I often find music distracting when I'm trying to get serious work done. I get into listening too much and lose my focus.

The funny thing is, though, I can have my TV on over my shoulder, playing reruns of Law & Order, Seinfeld, Friends, NYPD Blue, and stuff like that, and it doesn't distract me nearly as much. If I need a break, I just whirl around in my chair, watch for awhile, then spin back around to my Mac.

beck, tool, radiohead, etc. ...also like some of the ambient radio stations in iTunes

more edge to it, to get me going, especially in the morning like chevelle, korn or sinch... the punisher soundtrack never fails... not very girlie i know..

i find it hard to concentrate with receptive music.. it's best left for those saturday nights..

It really all depends on what I'm working on, and how I'm feeling.

Photoshop and salsa work very well together for me. (The music, not the food). The upbeat tempo and melodic lyrics pick me up, but do not distract me.

Dancy/pop music tends to be a little too distracting (stuff that makes you want to sing along), so that's reserved for the everyday clerical paperwork stuff.

Okey. my list >
Inspirational:
De Phazz, Thivery Corporation, Legowelt, Bangkok Impact, Hong Kong Counterfeit, Porn Darsteller, Dj Krush, Aphex Twin, Orgue Electronique, Cafe Del Mar, Various Chill, Adult, DMX Krew
Workhorse:
John B, Dj Shadow, Bad Company, Optical, Ed Rush, Dave Clark, John Digweed
Booster:
Linkin Park, Bad Religion, Offspring, Squadra Blanco

Of course if I had a really cool blog going like I will someday here i could just point you to my itunes playlist.

....Arcade Fire, Built to Spill, Elliott, Joe Henry, Modest Mouse.

For now, here is a tune that might fall into the brainstorming category, was listening to them this morning. Crooked Fingers

http://www.deejay.it (italian)
http://www.105.net/home (Italian)

http://kccnfm100.com/listen/ ( killer Hawaiian station)

more hawaiian ones:
http://streamaudio.com/radiostations/list.asp?type=state&criteria=HI-Hawaii

I think some Bay Area music sets the scene for me. Any Lyrics Born or Blackalicious hip-hop will start the brain flowing as their lyrics are so full of ideas and word plays (similar to De La Soul). Some vintage Faith No More for something a bit more energetic.

Sometimes some soundtrack music is perfect for staying in the background. Baraka, Unbreakable, Amelie and Vanilla Sky all work great here. There's also a great iTunes station in the electic category called Imagine Avenue Radio which plays famous film themes with snippets of film dialogue and comedians mixed in.

Although if you want to get pysched up for a job, the 10 minute long Sinnerman by Nina Simone is perfect. All these available from iTunes

afterglow.ie

Mos Def is pretty cool, get my juices flowing. Then there's always Damien Rice. Can't get enough of that guy.

They do covers of old school NES games. Also some stand up comics routines are good. Along with some cheesey 80's music like Stan Bush and good old Vince DiCola (Rocky IV).

Add all that with a mix of Satellite radio running on my computer.

if i need to do a lot of mind bending coding i found that soundtrack or classical music is a good choice. i have a hard time coding when listening to words on music or npr.

however, if it's light coding, or if i'm designing, some good chill electronica like zero 7 or kruder & dorfmeister. urban world music is also a great choice for creative work.

at crunch time however, there is just nothing like chemical brothers.

Inspirational:
Le Tigre, Ladytron, Miss Kitten, Fischerspooner, Electric Six, Benny Benassi, Goldfrapp, Vostok are all great sources of inspiration for me.

Workhorse:
I've really been stressing over a certain project lately and I'm finding that more ambient music by artists like Múm, Delirium, Autechre, Telephone Tel Aviv, Boards of Canada or Mlada Fronta tends to calm my nerves and keep my mind more focused on the task at hand.

Booster:
Lately it's been a lot of hard noisy European EBM and Industrial like Combichrist, Grendel, KiEv, Noisex, Hocoico, Amduscia, Suicide Commando, Feindflug, Aslan Faction or Tactical Sekt. Icon Of Coil is always good for a boost too.

therapy? what else?

QOTSA, le peuple de l'herbe, ACDC, dead kennedy's, godfathers, smithereens, django, classical, tosca, EODM, sly&robby, mad professor, deus, red zebra, cabaret voltaire... anything that pleases my ears and tickles my mind frankly.

A band i like very (VERY!) much is Karate; a nice relaxing, somewhat melancholic type of music... Dave Matthews, William Shatner, the Dutch band Bløf or maybe Bugge Wesseltoft(!). All very good to sooth the stressed worker! :-)

Booster-music could be Danko Jones, Pro-bot, Mastodon, Beastie Boys, The Haunted and, heck, maybe even some good-ol' Slayer! ;-)

John Frusciante for inspiration, Radio 4 when I need to get my shit together!

Maybe some Beastie Boys, Depth Charge, Thelonious Monster or GlobalPopConspiracy.com radio channel. There'ss a million things really, just depends on my mood.

i like instrumental stuff like 'ernest ranglin' to work to..

// i notice you said above:

"I mostly like to listen to music with good lyrics, like Morcheba.."

- have we heard the same morcheeba? possibly some of the worst lyrics i have ever heard! ..

though joking aside -obviously people have hugely varied opinions when it comes to music, but for great lyrics i look to the likes of bob dylan..

No one listens to Drum and Bass or House/Speed Garage?

If you want smooth relaxing tunes, check out Digitally Imported.com and their Chillout stream. Pure soothing tunes.

Prodigy have some great tracks that really get you in the mood for getting some work done i.e. 'One Love', 'Voodoo People', 'Hayclon & On & On', 'No Good', 'Mindfields' and 'Diesel Power'.

Massive Attack is always good as well.

I suppose its best to have very little lyrical content.

My drug of choice is a good variety of metal. When I really need to get a pile of work done I put on some Motorhead, but when I'm looking for some inspiration, it's usually something in the speed/techno metal category like Fear Factory or Static-X.

It really depends on the situation.. But i listen mostly to rock and melancholic music i.e. David Gray, Damien Rice (as mentioned above), Bigbang (norwegian band with amazing lyrics), Kent (swedish indie-rockish band) and so on. The list is long, but music is always a great inspiration.

What do you think about metal stuffs like Shadowsfall, Slipknot? I know these are for teenagers, but I get so much inspiration from them. I also like Static-X and Paradise Lost.

i usally listen to noise things from lee ranaldo. it really washes my brain clean and lucid, though others go crazy listening to this guitar-massacre.

No music while working... matter of fact, I put duct tape over the mouths of anyone nearby!

For me, I often don't want to think about what I'm listening to, so in iTunes I'll pick a genre and shuffle it. Or I'll listen to Internet radio when I feel my collection is lacking. Then it depends on whether I want "slow" or "fast." For slow, somafm.com works wonders. Sounds like you would really get into their Groove Salad chillout station; I know Morcheeba and Zero 7 are on their playlist. You can get to it through iTunes radio. For fast, I like di.fm Deep House.

for inspiration:
lyrical stuff - 90's alt rock - definitely the smashing pumpkins - beautiful lyrics, radiohead - great sound, godo lyrics, beatles - love is a good inspiration, zwan (see pumpkins - billy corgan lead singer of both), our lady peace
for workhorse:
bubblegum punk - 00's punk - blink-182, system of a down, harder smashing pumpkins music, yellowcard, greenday, weezer, chicks on speed, all types of happy hardcore, ash
for booster:
anything fast - happy hardcore, blink, yellowcard, jack off jill, scarling, ash, billy talent and definitely the smashing pumpkins, and zwan

personally i prefer belfast underdogs, like Watercress, Tracer AMC or Guided*

but you won't find them on any P2P network. ping my email and i'll get some oggs or mp3s to you somehow...

My painting instructor told me once to stop listening to music while I painted. He said that when you listen to music, you involuntarily move in rhythm with the music, which doesn't necessarily work with whatever you are painting at that moment. He said that he preferred to listen to talk radio shows that were so stupid as to defy rational comprehension, shows like Rush Limbaugh. That way, his higher brain centers were jammed up with rubbish, leaving his visual centers to concentrate on painting.

www.wfmu.org

greatest DJs on earth (all volunteer). All shows are on archives, so if i need a pop of death metal to get my edge on - I listen to Professor Dum-Dum; If i need soulfood - Sinner's Crossroads; and idiot laughter on tough days - Seven Second Delay. And many, many cool in betweens.

I sometimes find lyrics a distraction, so I usually listen to music with non-English lyrics.

Thank whatever deity you praise for giving us the Mac, iTunes and random play. When something comes on I enjoy, I switch random off and listen to the whole album. When it finished, back to random and see what the music fairy brings next.

Hard work and instant peace of mind come from almost any of the Pat Metheny albums and when the going gets tough, Underworld wil always come through - they're especially good for those days of stress transfer, when you're on deadline and the client can't make his/her frickin' mind up. Otherwise apply Tom Waits' Swordfish Trombones in liberal dollops ;-)

I just have about 1200+ songs on my work computer of all sorts playing 24/7. Lots of techno, trance, dance and classical. Like Ivan said, repetitive music. If there is a song I don't like, I just push the next button till I find one for the mood I'm in at that moment.

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While working, trance house, or slow electro are the best for me. What is good with trance is that it's repeatidly, some parts of the song boosts you and other parts are boring so you focus on your work. If possible there shouldn't have many high sounds, because it destracts you.