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Peter Benjamin (they/them)
Peter Benjamin (they/them)

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What Genres Do You Listen To?

I enjoyed reading the following article by a fellow Dev.to'er:

And I wanted to share with the community what I listen to.


I have different modes for when I'm coding, hacking (e.g. bug bounties), working (e.g. writing emails), or just doing mind-numbing chores.

The following is what I jam to for each of those modes.

Coding

No distractions. No lyrics. Soft tracks are ideal, but not too soft that I would fall asleep during late-night coding sessions.

Genres that meet these criteria: Chill Step, Deep House, Liquid Trap

Spotify playlists:

Hacking

Get pumped and get in the mood 😈 with upbeat jams. Fast, electronic beats with sick bass drops are ideal. Lyrics are fine too.

Genres that meet these criteria: Drum and Bass, EDM, Trap, Dubstep, Nightcore

Spotify playlists:

Working

Upbeat, poppy, but not-too-fast tracks hits the spot for this category.

Genres that meet this criteria: ePop

Spotify playlists:

Chores

Podcasts, actually. Word? 🤓

Wait. Hear me out.
Because of the inherent nature of chores, I don't need focus on the minutiae of the task. Instead, I take these opportunities to catch up on the many technical/coding/engineering podcasts.

Genres that meet these criteria: Podcasts

Spotify actually has podcasts you can listen to, but I will shamelessly plug my collection of awesome-podcasts 😅

Miscellaneous

Every once in a while, I get a craving for something entirely new and different, but they still tend to fall within broader categories.

Genres that meet these criteria: Synthpop, Remixes, Hip Hop, but with a twist 👩‍🎤👨‍🎤

Spotify playlists:

I love getting exposed to new music, so what do you listen to?

Top comments (40)

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thomasjunkos profile image
Thomas Junkツ

Melodic death metal anyone? Black metal?

It really depends. I am very syncretistic in my taste. My spectrum ranges from Chillout to Dubstep, from Pop to Rock and (Death-) Metal. But I too enjoy good Old School like NWA.

If somebody hacks my Spotify account he may wonder if I am a whole family instead of a single person 😂

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pbnj profile image
Peter Benjamin (they/them)

I feel you. I’m the same way. In my Spotify account, I’ve got pop folder, rock folder, hacker folder, coding folder, acoustic/instrumental folder, yoga folder ...etc

I could keep going, but I’ll stop embarrassing myself now. 😂

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dylanesque profile image
Michael Caveney

Yes! Black Metal is my jam when coding, especially Funeral Mist, Behemoth, Marduk, and Spectral Wound!

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puritanic profile image
Darkø Tasevski • Edited

I'm listening to a really wide range of music too 😄From country to blackest black metal. Depends on the mood I guess.

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thomasjunkos profile image
Thomas Junkツ

Yes! Sometimes it has to be Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir :D

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yorodm profile image
Yoandy Rodriguez Martinez

CoF!!!!! That brings back memories...

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stereoplegic profile image
Mike Bybee

Prog metal. Just posted about the new Haken FINALLY dropping.

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__shadz_ profile image
Chardenal Matthieu

Industrial techno, Psytrance, Hardstyle, Hardcore, Frenchcore !!
If it's under 150BPM, it's not worth :D

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pbnj profile image
Peter Benjamin (they/them)

Wow. Two new genres for me to try out: Industrial Techno and Frenchcore!

Thank you!

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__shadz_ profile image
Chardenal Matthieu

Hey ! I hope you like it ;)

Here some suggestions :

  • Frenchcore : Dr.Peacock / Sefa / Radium / The Sickest Squad / Angerfist (hardcore dj but he do some frenchcore too !)

  • Industrial techno : I just discovered this genre 2weeks ago so I don't know the big name in the scene yet ! But usually I just go to soundcloud, search for industrial techno playlist and lets roll :)

Here's a good site to find any set in any genre u want => lsdb.eu/ they got everything u need ;)

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rsondak89 profile image
rsondak89

Hardstyle gets me in the zone and helps me concentrating ;)

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biros profile image
Boris Jamot ✊ /

I don't listen music when I work.
When I'm OoO, I listen to classic rock, pop, electro, hardtek & hardcore.

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pbnj profile image
Peter Benjamin (they/them)

Do you find music distractive while working?

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biros profile image
Boris Jamot ✊ /

Yes, it is.
And I need to talk with my colleagues very often.

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pbnj profile image
Peter Benjamin (they/them) • Edited

Ah, yes, this reminded me of when I worked in a completely open floor plan with 20+ other engineers (because collaboration!) and some music would be playing on external speakers. Some engineers put on headphones (without music necessarily - just to cancel noise), which had the reverse effect on collaboration. It was the most unhealthy environment I've been in.

I totally see your point!

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biros profile image
Boris Jamot ✊ /

I don't work in an open space (I couldn't). We're only 3 in my office, but we need to talk very often with my team mates, and not only about work :)

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jfrankcarr profile image
Frank Carr

I listen to a wide variety of music although I tend to avoid most manufactured pop and dance tunes. A lot of the music I listen to will tend to be strongly guitar oriented in some way since I play guitar. Another preference is toward more raw and rootsy music, like country blues and punk, rather than slickly produced songs.

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socratesdz profile image
Sócrates Díaz

I prefer rock and metal (the Beatles, Dio, Guns 'n Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc), but very often I listen a mix of a lot of genres (pop ballads, rap, hip-hop, techno, bachata, salsa, etc).

Sometimes, I like to listen to totally new genres (for me at least), and for that I check out this page: Every Noise at Once. It's an incredible work of data analysis where you can listen to practically every genre of music.

There I've discovered genres like ambient trance, fallen angel and new tribe. It's pretty interesting, check it out! 😁

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pbnj profile image
Peter Benjamin (they/them)

Wow. That’s awesome. Definitely bookmarking that!

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tammalee profile image
Tammy Lee • Edited

It doesn't matter too much as long as it's the same few songs over and over again. The noise gets tuned out when I slip into a focus-state. Which... is why I can't listen to podcasts when I code.

Here's a screenshot of my spotify playlists. Haha!
spotify playlists

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

When I'm doing something that needs great focus I usually listen to a song I know on repeat. The genre is either rap or classic rock or anything else I just like. I let my discovery services help guide me. Recently it was songs off of Jay Z's Blueprint 2 over and over and over.

I guess that's my "hacking" mode. In code mode, I sort of listen to whatever, and it's usually a bit chiller.

I totally am with you on podcasts for chores. A lot of work doesn't actually need that much brain power and I definitely don't mind having people chatting it up in my ears while I work.

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jordan33h profile image
Jordan

Basically Tech-House, UK Garage, Shallow/Getto/Bass House, and little bit Techno, Acid 303, 808 909, Jungle Terror, Tribal & Percussions, Futuristic.

Not That Boring List:
youtu.be/TQoDUuvu3_c
youtu.be/h27sFzkp6oQ
youtu.be/amlef8dvEHA
youtu.be/5fjV0Qh6oTE
youtu.be/JGJoGtt3n5Y

Something Else
youtu.be/hR2DhxM9eRY

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coolnerdcool profile image
Michel

Lately, I've discovered that in order to give a better performance while writing code or thinking for problem solutions music is really distracting so I rather not listening during that time. But I will definitely listen to a lot of this playlist later.

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scottishross profile image
Ross Henderson

It depends on what I'm doing. If I am deep in thought, or in the flow, or generally just getting a lot of work done I look up mixes of Trance / Progressive House / PsyTrance etc. Some of my favourite YouTube channels for this are:

If I'm researching, doing admin work or generally testing new concepts, I generally go to Deezer and listen to my Flow, which is a selection of favourited songs and songs the Deezer thinks are similar. I have found several new artists like this.

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rpeacan profile image
Ryan Peacan

If I'm struggling to focus, I've honestly found the "lofi hip hop music - beats to relax/study to" playlist on Spotify to be very useful for helping me focus without distracting me. Not my style of music necessarily, but it works.

If I'm already feeling focused, I like listing to post-rock or post-metal. Russian Circles, Caspian, Pelican, or Explosions in the Sky are some great bands to have on in the background and get you pumped, although certain Explosions songs can put me to sleep...

For when I'm not coding, Brand New, Kevin Devine, alt-rock in general, or some embarrassing post-hardcore from my teen years will find it's way onto my Spotify.

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keptoman profile image
mlaj
  • Russian hardbass
  • Movies & games soundtracks
  • Multiple styles of hard rock & heavy/melodic/death/power metal
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yorodm profile image
Yoandy Rodriguez Martinez

Rock, rock, and then, more rock.

  1. Radiohead
  2. A perfect circle
  3. Deftones
  4. RATM/Audioslave.

And when I'm feeling lazy.

  1. Pantera.
  2. Sepultura.
  3. Slipknot
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donaldng profile image
Donald Ng

Radiohead that's my jam!

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lincolnsand profile image
LincolnSand

Grindcore, Death metal, Black metal, thrash metal, powerviolence, crust punk, discore (Confuse, Gai, etc.), harsh noise, & experimental. And some folk and small amounts of jazz and 70's synth.

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dvddpl profile image
Davide de Paolis • Edited

black metal like Taake, Limbonic Art, early Burzum when i dont want to be too distracted.
more melodic black metal like Vintersorg, Emperor, Solefald, Falkenbach, Cor Scorpii when I feel i can follow more the tunes.
if doing coding chores I can go hard with Anaal Nathrak, Obscura, Beyond Creation
if i feel groovy then stuff like Clutch, Kvelertak
but it´s not always only metal. sometimes the office is noisy, and I want to be isolated but not with too much noise in my head and then i put on some synth ambient techno stuff like Ogre Sound, VHS Glitch, Electric Universe..