Music while working
January 22, 2025 6:55 AM   Subscribe

I enjoy listening to mostly wordless music while I work from home at my desk job -- what are your recommendations?

My taste in this category while I'm working tends to be a mix of orchestral, electronic, and minimalist. I especially like soundtracks and music scores, so composer suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance. Some of my current favorites (Spotify links):
posted by wicked_sassy to Media & Arts (37 answers total) 40 users marked this as a favorite
 
Max Richter (most famous for On the Nature of Daylight)
Sigur Ros Untitled (example: #4)
posted by pangolin party at 7:03 AM on January 22 [4 favorites]


Not to abuse the edit window: "Untitled" has voices, but I believe the language is made up.
posted by pangolin party at 7:06 AM on January 22


I like Ritchie Hawtin, who is sometimes known as Plastikman. He's minimalist, a little grating, builds to a drop sometimes but not in super predictable ways.

Sigur Ros is also good but a little too swoony, emotionally high key for me.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:12 AM on January 22


instrumental, experimental, electronic [: freemusicarchive /bandcamp]
posted by HearHere at 7:12 AM on January 22


If you don't mind paying for a subscription, then I recommend (and use myself) Hearts of Space for exactly this purpose. It's basically the archive of a public radio show that's been going on for 30 years or something like that, devoted to what the host calls "space music". It's a pretty broad interpretation.

I pay for the mid-level tier which is $60/year (USD) and which gives access to 11 different "channels". Each channel consists of a dozen or so shows from the archive, and they rotate which ones are available, so there's always plenty to listen to. The channels I listen to most often are Electronic, Ambient, and Contemporary Instrumental.

It definitely contains stuff by Brian Eno and Philip Glass, which you mentioned, not sure about the others but I don't always pay attention to who the artists are.

One specific composer you might like (who I learned about from Hearts of Space) is Ludovico Einaudi.
posted by number9dream at 7:16 AM on January 22 [2 favorites]


GoGo Penguin is a trio with piano, upright bass, and drums. Most tunes vary in energy and tempo. (Tiny Desk)

Some other recommendations I like to work to: Boards of Canada, Tycho, Plaid, and The Album Leaf.
posted by jimfl at 7:20 AM on January 22 [2 favorites]


My perennial answer to this is Tortoise. Anything before 2016 won't have lyrics. YouTube has some full concerts.
posted by hydrophonic at 7:24 AM on January 22 [4 favorites]


I tend to like moody, ambient or 'minimal" music for writing. I'll tolerate vocals in languages that I don't speak well, if they're softer. I also like some genres of electronic music for this.

* Lustmord - sometimes called one of the progenitors of "dark ambient", which makes other people mad. I've been listening to the Much Unseen is Also Here album on repeat the last few days.

* Arvo Pärt - minimalist classical composer, a lot of vocal music and minimalist orchestral and piano works. Many pieces that are good for working/writing, although some are more bombastic. Listening to the opening piano of "Waves," I was immediately reminded of his Für Alina compositions.

* Eleni Karaindrou - greek composer who has done some excellent soundtracks, I'd try the Medea album.

* El Remolón - electronic music producer who does a lot with latin american music. Most is in Spanish if it has vocals. Try the Asimetrico album.

* Ulver's ATGCLVLSSCAP - a little different. They're usually not very minimal (lord no), but this is a more minimal post-rock kind of sound for them .

Game soundtracks are hit-and-miss for this but when they're good they're often just what I'm looking for. Cyberpunk 2077 is perfect. Assassin's Creed soundtracks depends on the game. Origins is great almost all the way through, while Valhalla has quite a few tracks that I have to remove from the writing playlist.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:35 AM on January 22 [3 favorites]


You might look into music by Yutaka Hirasaka. My partner claims he literally heard it in an elevator at a fancy-but-hip hotel, which I doubt, but that's the vibe
posted by potrzebie at 7:46 AM on January 22


I like some of Jim Guthrie's video game soundtracks. "Sword & Sworcery LP" for example.
posted by backwards guitar at 7:56 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]




I like the Stranger Things soundtrack (all synth) for this exact purpose.
posted by Ragged Richard at 8:24 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]




Anything by Steve Reich, the Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor collaborations including The Social Network soundtrack, and the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack
posted by knile at 8:32 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]


You might like the Flow State and Cloud Collecting substacks.
posted by box at 8:36 AM on January 22


I'm on a New Age jag, reliving that late-80s musical style that was most popular on the Windham Hill label. They produced six hour-long videos compiling their best songs, which you can find in the Internet Archive. Here's one of my favorites, Water's Path.
posted by Rash at 8:38 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]


For symphonic music, I've lately been enjoying the works of Thomas Bergersen (YT link: Humanity).
posted by SPrintF at 8:39 AM on January 22


If you like Philip Glass, The Illusionist soundtrack is freakin' lush.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:42 AM on January 22


I didn't think much of Philip Glass' symphonic versions of David Bowie music EXCEPT Sons Of The Silent Age, which is incredible.
posted by Rash at 8:42 AM on January 22


If you don't mind a self link, Mr. Platinum just released a very Eno inspired ambient album that might be perfect for you, Music for Train Stations Vol 1. I use it for background music all the time! (Bandcamp)
posted by platinum at 8:43 AM on January 22


Electronic: Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Klaus Schulze. Not all tracks by the first two are fully vocal-free; you have to check. TD scored quite a number of soundtracks.
Minimalist jazz: Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett and quite a lot of others on the ECM label. KJ tends to hum though, which gets a bit annoying at times.
posted by Stoneshop at 9:11 AM on January 22


Hania Rani's early work is wordless, I think. Her recent work has her singing in english. However, the middle period has her singing in a language I don't know, so it's "instrumental" to me as the voice is not distracting. My favorite of hers is this concert.

You might also like the composer Lepo Sumera, but his stuff is hard to find. Here's his daughter playing his most famous piece, Piano Piece 1981.

If you're fine with non-English, you may also like Wim Mertens, who is Belgian, I believe.

And since you mention Philip Glass (my favorite is The Hours), I'll suggest Lubomyr Melnyk and Michael Nyman.

For electronic, my go-to is Roll the Dice.
posted by dobbs at 9:25 AM on January 22


Some others: the husband and wife duo, Celer, Pauline Oliveros, Stars of the Lid, Richard Skelton.
posted by dobbs at 9:48 AM on January 22


I like SomaFM’s Groove Salad.
posted by kiblinger at 10:16 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]


Both Nine Inch Nails and Mogwai put out a fair number of soundtracks. They're mostly instrumental and quite good.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:56 AM on January 22 [2 favorites]


Stereolab’s dots and loops isn’t wordless but the vocal mix combined with lots of it being in french makes it work for me as music to work to.

Also for this purpose I love interesting solo piano like Adam Benjamin’s Alphabets & Consequences and Myra Melford’s Life Carries Me This Way with songs like Attic.
posted by umbú at 11:16 AM on January 22


Hammock or The American Dollar.
posted by gottabefunky at 12:14 PM on January 22


One of my favorite bands for this sort of thing is Explosions in the Sky, who did the soundtrack for Friday Night Lights.
posted by suelac at 1:28 PM on January 22 [2 favorites]


- Four Tet
- Surya Botofasina
- Marcel the Shell soundtrack
- Cascata di Malbacco by John Caroll Kirby
- Nala Sinephro
- Kamasi Washington
- Olafur Arnalds
- Yann Tiersen
- Joe Hisaishi (composer for lots of Studio Ghibli movies)
posted by Isingthebodyelectric at 3:49 PM on January 22


I endorse many which have been mentioned already, especially Max Richter, Ólafur Arnalds, Arvo Pärt, Ludovico Einaudi, Joe Hisaishi and Steve Reich.

Specifics: Richter's Recomposed, which reimagines Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Reich's Music for 18 Musicians.
Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack for Okuribito (Departures).
Ólafur Arnalds's re:member album.
Ludovico Einaudi's In a time lapse album.

I also adore cellist and composer Peter Gregson and will limit myself to recommending just three of his works, many of which are on high rotation for me.
Bach's cello suites reimagined
A Little Chaos soundtrack
Lights in the sky
posted by Athanassiel at 5:06 PM on January 22


Sarah Davachi
Arushi Jain
Kali Malone
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Christina Vantzou
posted by box at 5:29 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]


I'm also a Thomas Bergerson fan, as well as his earlier work with Nick Phoenix as Two Steps From Hell.

I was surprised when Apple Music told me my most-listened to album of 2024 was the Enola Holmes soundtrack. I also enjoy Hans Zimmer's pipe organ-heavy soundtrack to Interstellar. Also, Christopher Tin's song cycles, which are generally not in English, or are so atmospheric that it doesn't matter: Calling all Dawns, The Drop That Contained The Sea, The Lost Birds, as well as several video game soundtracks.
posted by lhauser at 7:54 PM on January 22


Possibly it has too much talking, but if you like soundtracks you might like The Score. It’s a radio show, a compilation of classical music in film. Hosted by Edmund Stone.
posted by LittleLadybug at 9:54 PM on January 22


Outer Wilds - Soundtrack to a video game

Joep Beving - Modern Dutch composer

Explosions In The Sky - My #1 favorite post-rock band and the thing I'm most likely to listen to while working. They managed to restrain themselves from including any vocals at all.
posted by J-Garr at 11:51 AM on January 24


I love listening to music from the Dinner Music substack while working. Some of the tracks have words, but they’re very grooves and vibes-based and have helped me discover other, similar music. There’s a lot of fabulous non-American/English music as well as older and obscure gems I never would have discovered on my own.
posted by bookish at 9:34 AM on January 28


Carbon Based Lifeforms are the zenith of beautiful concentration music for me. I'd describe them as the soundtrack of the best sci-film that hasn't been produced yet.
posted by shimmerbug at 7:34 PM on January 30


Vitamin String Quartet does covers of popular music.
posted by Eikonaut at 2:21 PM on January 31


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