Top 10 CD's for Creative Thinking

[nemu]

Hi all,

Just wondering if any of you have a Top 10 List of favorite music to listen to while in "creative mode". Usually while Kitsy and I are working on our strip we'll "listen" to the TV or just about anything thats in my collection really.

Whats your favorite set mix of music? Or is it just anything goes?

Looking forward to your responses!

aloha!

[Vince]

It varies for me; I like to listen to music which suits whatever scene I'm visualizing at the time. On one of my pics, I mentioned listening to 80's pop because it's the kind of mood I wanted. Sometimes having appropriate music for an appropriate mood works as it always has (e.g. piano for lonely, brooding nights), but sometimes ironic use of music can be inventive and innovative. (of course, overdoing this simply makes that cliche.)

For sheer drawing and painting free-association doodle fun, though, electronica is my bread-and-butter. Any kind. I admit to being an electronica junkie.

[Roseparchment]

i totally agree with vince on the electronica; i've been listening to a ton of goldfrapp lately while i've been drawing. also, postal service and death cab, of montreal, the faint, and the arcade fire are my other drawing-music staples.

[nemu]

Theres nothing like some good electronica to pull you through a long session! I enjoy Aya - Strange Flower and just about anything from Naked Music. I'm also a fan of Yoko Kanno's Ghost in the Shell OST's which are quite good too.

[jdalton]

I can't watch TV and draw at the same time, but I do listen to music a lot. My current favourites are Radiohead, and this British Asian music stuff that I've just discovered. J-Pop (which I've also been known to listen to) has got nothing on remixed bhangra. Nitin Sawhney rocks!

[nemu]

Back in the mid-90's My ex-girlfriend studied abroad in England for a semester. She raved about the music scene there as just about any given night you could go somewhere and hear live music (GOOD live music!) While she was there she saw acts like Portishead, EchoBelly, Stone Roses, and a few others.

In early 2000 at my old job we stumbled upon Daler Mehndi. At first we thought it was funny but after a while we were kinda hooked and would play him at least once a day. For J-Pop stuff I really like The Indigo for smooth Jazz / Acoustic sound, Mari Iijima has a really nice contemporary sound, and of course Utada Hikaru.

I too can't watch TV while I'm working. Usually I'll end up listening to the TV. Every now and then I'll glance upwards and realize that Kitsy is no longer drawing but watching TV instead! So we kinda try to just do music or maybe a concert DVD or something we've already watched if we're gonna have the TV on while working.

[dora]

Anything by Boards of Canada, the Lost in Translation soundtrack and Vetiver's Vetiver are my current choices. They set me in the right mood for drawing.

[Ian Jay]

I can't write when I'm listening to music. It's weird. I need to hear the voice in my head to write, and music puts a halt to that.

Drawing, though... when I draw I usually listen to something smooth that sounds the same from song to song, so I don't mind missing parts of songs. Thievery Corporation and Broken Social Scene are big for me right now.

~IJ

[Nunumi]

For me it's Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade. Sometimes Gorillaz or Mars Volta when I'm doing brainless jobs (such as coloring frames O_o) I luv to listen to Miyazaki's movies soundtracks too ^^ inspiring. And also a nice Japanese band called Bump of Chicken.

Oh and I almost forgot Interpol! ^__^

[ssava]

My God...how old I feel....sigh.
All I read was "blah blah blah blah Gorillaz blah blah blah"

Ha ha....I have NO clue as to any of these bands (except Gorillaz of course)

Are you guys naming obscure bands? Or would the average person know them?

For the record...I have my mp3 list which ranges from Joe Satriani to Jason Mraz, Seal, John Mayer, Def Leppard, Gorillaz (duh), and a ton of 80s and 90s singles.

I just can't find good new music anymore with all of the gangsta rap on every station.

Any suggestions for a 30 something guy????

[Vince]

I actually have some Neil Diamond and Elton John mp3s too. Can't go wrong with anything from The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, or The Police. My oldest mp3s -- barring classical music and folk/traditional music, for obvious reasons -- would probably be Billie Holiday and stuff from The Temptations.

[Jehucampos]

Explosions In The Sky is what I listen to when sketching and drawing. Lyrical music seems to hinder my creative thinking, i guess because I pay too much attention to the lyrics and think about them.

[Stuart L]

To anyone interested in alternative like I am you might find the following helpful

"Apologies to the Queen Mary" by Wolf Parade
"LP3", "Ratatat" by Ratatat
"Oracular Spectacular" by MGMT
"Illinois" by Sufjan Stevens
"You Forgot It In People" by Broken Social Scene
"Something For All of Us..." by Brendan Canning
"...Burn, Piano Island, Burn" by Blood Brothers
"Reality Check" by The Teenagers
"Siamese Dream" by The Smashing Pumpkins
"The Life Aquatic Sessions" by Seu Jorge

I don't think I've gone a day in the past 3 weeks without some delicious Wolf Parade.

[jcaffoe]

man, I've had LP3 on repeat for the last 3 months...such a great album.

and their live show was AMAAAZING

gotta love Ratatat

[Stuart L]

Dude did you see them just recently when they came to the Henry Fonda? That was my, uh...fourth time, but yes you'd think they'd only be good in studio being electronic. NO friggin way!