Music to Code By: June

Instead of focusing on a single band or record in a Music to Code By post, I’m going to try something a bit different this time. For me, there are two kinds of coding. The first is deep thought: architecture design, solving a difficult algorithmic problem or hunting down a tricky bug.

Explosions in the Sky — Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (Amazon MP3, iTunes)

Explosions in the Sky is an instrumental band whose music tends toward the cinematic. While guitar plays a base role in the music, it isn’t the focus as it is with artists like Joe Satriani. Songs also tend to be longer. Of their two releases, each has only one track coming in under four minutes, with the average song lasting around seven minutes. Expect more of a musical journey than your typical radio-friendly song.

You, You’re Awesome — Good Point, Whoever Said That (free on their website!)

You, You’re Awesome is an electronica band, also mostly instrumental. Vocals play a role on some tracks, but it’s one part of the whole and generally unintelligible. The music fills the space, but doesn’t demand my attention, so it works well for thinking work.

The second kind of coding isn’t “development” or “creation,” but mechanical tasks: simply getting code into an editor (copy-paste-modify of old code) or repetitive execution of SQL statements to fix up some minor data corruption. When I’m doing this kind of work, I don’t mind music that demands more of my attention. Often, the higher energy helps motivate me to finish what is otherwise tedious, boring work.

Sleigh Bells — Treats (Amazon MP3, iTunes)

I always appreciate a female-fronted band on the loud end of the spectrum (see also: The Donnas). The style of Sleigh Bells is defined in large part by the mix: the low end is turned up intentionally high so that it clips, resulting in a harsh sound. I don’t like the loudness war (it ruined Rush’s Vapor Trails and Metallica’s Death Magnetic), but it works for me here. It helps that the low end is actually a relatively small part of the sound, so the clipping isn’t aurally overwhelming. It’s also clearly the artist’s intent. Rush and Metallica both have an established style and the clipped sound doesn’t fit it.

Standouts: “Tell ‘Em”, “Infinity Guitars”, “Crown on the Ground”

Forget Cassettes — Salt (Amazon CD, iTunes)

This is one of those bands that never received the widespread attention it deserves. Every time a track comes up on shuffle, it is mandatory that the volume goes way up. Unfortunately, with nothing new since 2006, it seems the band has moved on to other projects.

Standouts: “Venis On”, “Quiero, Quieres”, “My Maraschino”

Update: Listen to Sleigh Bells and Forget Cassettes on Spotify!