Some writers require complete silence in order to write. This doesn’t work for me: I’ve tried it in the past, and whenever I put myself in seclusion, with no background noise at all, I fall asleep instead.
Just randomly listening to music can be counter-productive, because some music just doesn’t fit with whatever it is you’re trying to write. I get a lot of mileage streaming something I can mostly ignore (i.e., techno shoutcast channels and whatnot) but when I want something more portable and a little more engaging I create an official playlist.
For those of you who may be interested in what an official playlist for Pay Me, Bug! might look like, here it is:
David Bowie – Cat People
Fields of the Nephilim – Psychonaut
Killing Joke – Jana (Hallucinogen remix)
Killing Joke – Drug
David Bowie – The Heart’s Filthy Lesson
Hate Department – Release It
Lofidelity Allstars – Battleflag
Nine Inch Nails – March of the PIgs
Nine Inch Nails – Starfuckers, Inc.
Ministry – Burning Inside (12″ Remix)
Devin Townsend – Material
Devin Townsend – Namaste
Gravity Kills – Here
Big Black – Keronsene
Big Black – Stinking Drunk
Big Black – Bazooka Joe
Lola Ray – Automatic Girl
Laibach – Two Of Us
Chumbawumba – Mary, Mary
Foo Fighters – All My Life
Fugazi – Great Cop
Pixies – Tame
The Dismemberment Plan – Secret Curse
Soul Coughing – I Miss The Girl
The Soft Boys – Insanely Jealous
Grace Overthrone – Defeat
Filter – Hey Man, Nice Shot
Filter – Stuck In Here
Filter – So Cool
Einsturzende Neubauten – Haus der Luege
The Eventual Font Named Bruno – I’d Never
His Purse – Moon Mining Disaster
If you want to re-create this playlist, you might be out of luck: The Eventual Font Named Bruno and His Purse hearken back to the glorious mid-to-late 90s, when independent groups would post mp3s on the MP3.com, and as far as I know they’ve disappeared completely.
