The Writing Playlist Thread

[seigfried007]

Post links to playlists you use here.


1) Tell us what kinds of music are in the playlist.

2) Tell us what what kinds of scenes, stories, and/or genres you've used them for. If you've used them for specific works, feel free to mention that.

3) Why do you use this playlist?

*More questions might be added later
*If it would fit better elsewhere, feel free to move it

I figured the forum could use an all-in-one playlists-for-writing thread. I've seen a lot of separate threads revolving around music through the years here, and really wanted one good spot people could go to to find something that might suit their WIP.

It's been my experience that a good soundtrack can be a lifesaver and serve to get one "in the zone," but a bad one can distract a writer and hamper the work.

[seigfried007]

This is my Pinocchio playlist. I pretty much only listen to it on shuffle.

There's a lot of electronica, some trap; a bunch of 80's-90's acts like Garbage, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, Wolfsheim, and Revco. Some Billie Eilish, Glass Animals, Celldweller, Qemists, Blue Stahli. Lots of Enigma TNG.

I use it when writing on said novel-in-progress. It would probably be good for other science fiction or darker fantasy, especially if one's going for a gnarlier, darker, more adult vibe. There's definitely a more aggressively sexual connotation to some of the songs on this list--and also some swearing--so sensitive ears shouldn't listen in (though most is family friendly). For writing science fiction, I've found that synth-heavy genres, electronica and rock can be very good for getting in the zone and staying there.

[seigfried007]

Viking is a Verb playlist.

This is a lot of more traditional Scandinavian/Nordic/Icelandic folk music. DAnheim, Heilung, Skald, Wardruna mostly.

Good music for writing some historical fiction or raiding a Saxon monastery, but I've used it mostly for driving and writing reports. Music I can't understand is often better for me when I'm writing because lyrics can be very distracting sometimes, and I've found this playlist to have the energy I'm looking for without giving me a migraine (or exacerbating one that's already there).

I sometimes even listen to this while writing Pinocchio, even though it doesn't fit at all. Viking sci-fi? Nah, but good music is good music, and I can write to this stuff.

[bdcharles]

Ok

Viking is a Verb playlist.

This is a lot of more traditional Scandinavian/Nordic/Icelandic folk music. DAnheim, Heilung, Skald, Wardruna mostly.

Good music for writing some historical fiction or raiding a Saxon monastery, but I've used it mostly for driving and writing reports. Music I can't understand is often better for me when I'm writing because lyrics can be very distracting sometimes, and I've found this playlist to have the energy I'm looking for without giving me a migraine (or exacerbating one that's already there).

I sometimes even listen to this while writing Pinocchio, even though it doesn't fit at all. Viking sci-fi? Nah, but good music is good music, and I can write to this stuff.

Nice one. Who’s the girl that does the theme for the show ‘Vikings’? Fever Ray, is it? She’s awesome. More modern though, I spose.

[seigfried007]

Ok

Nice one. Who’s the girl that does the theme for the show ‘Vikings’? Fever Ray, is it? She’s awesome. More modern though, I spose.

Please fill us in on what you listen to. This isn't supposed to be a me sitting around myself talking to myself kinda thread.

If you let YouTube do it's thing and generate playlists based on these songs, Fever Ray will come up. The lead of Wardruna (Einar Selvik) I believe does the whole soundtrack for Vikings. He certainly did Ragnar's death scene (Snake Pit Poetry). There's another man he sometimes works with to make something far more "rock" also, but I'm never able to get to that like button or spy the name of said songs in time. *Now* I gots a playlist and know how to add them if they ever crop up again.

I haven't watched any of the great Viking shows but got into the music because of a "vocal coach reacts" video on Heilung's LIFA show. For a "metal" band, they have almost no metal in the show. Wish they'd come to the States because their live shows are killer and actually have different (more badass) versions of their album songs. Krigsgaldr especially has some marked changes to its studio vs live renditions.

***Edit: the studio version of Alfadhirhaiti is also quite different (and vastly underwhelming by comparison to the LIFA version, which is so manly, you'll pop out a third testicle just listening to it). Studio link will take you to another Viking playlist I found today--it's lighter, more ambient. I'm trying to write to it now.

[ArrowInTheBowOfTheLord]

For the current novel I'm working on I like either (un)black metal or classic Judas Priest/Iron Maiden. Some albums I've gone back to are Tophet by Frost Like Ashes, Live in Leipzig by Mayhem, and The Defeat of Satan by Antestor.

My go-to for horror/surreal is the band A Hill to Die Upon. Amazing but underrated blackened death metal (or deathened black metal...whatever). Here's their Holy Despair album, which I probably use the most for writing, though Omens and Via Artis Via Mortis are also good.

I have a Halloween playlist which is also good for horror, but has a more fun feel. It's mostly metal but there's also some goth and emo. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/23...IEmJMHLf6ID2QQ

I also have a Sci-Fi playlist, but it's been a while since I've used it. There's punk, alternative rock, a little light metal but nothing too heavy, and some weirdish stuff. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4k...GU8z17CXxzNr4R

[Ralph Rotten]

Since movies like Guardians of the Galaxy are introducing today's kids to a lotta great old tunes, you can find the soundtracks on YouTube.
Here is one of them:

[BornForBurning]

For that oppressive, choking-hellfire-stench-of-blood-demon-burning-in-your-soul feel, old 80s Bathory can't be beaten. If I had to give any band the most evil award, they'd get it. Listening to Bathory is realizing that all those warnings you got about 'evil music' from your parents really were real...

When I want to write cyberpunk, I usually listen to a combination of classic 80s and classic/cosmic death metal. If what I'm writing has more of a horror bent, the new Tomb Mold record has been just wonderful.

For non-metal, my go-to album for writing classic pulp horror is definitely the Evil Dead 2 soundtrack. Fast, punchy, good variety of heroic swells and creepy atmospherics...doesn't get much better than this when it comes to orchestral, in my opinion. Honorable mention to the Hellraiser theme. It's the perfect 'evil rebirth' background music. Sad, morbid, and grotesque.

Finally, I just love the Dissection album Storm of the Light's Bane. When I write, I always find myself going back to it. Melodic, morose, epic, uplifting, evil and cold as hell. This record is beautiful music.

[seigfried007]

I used to write to Godspeed You! Black Emperor back in the day. Last half of "Static" is still pretty amazing (really suspenseful, terrorizing music), and I'm rather partial to "Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls." Anything from them or Mogwai is likely going to be a treat to write to (especially late at night in a quiet house when you can really turn your imagination loose). Spent a lot of all-nighters writing to these guys. Very good for certain kinds of (generally dramatic, anxiety-inducing and creepy) vibes. Don't have to deal with much lyrics either, which is a plus sometimes. Just walking around in broad daylight and listening to these guys on headphones is a trippy experience.

Black Hill is amazing and far more subdued. Very nice, generally relaxing, pretty, acoustic post-rock that's usually good for headaches. I don't fall asleep to it, but it puts my husband to sleep. I haven't disliked anything this artist has put out solo/in collaboration yet, but I do prefer some collaborations to others, and certainly some records for writing. No lyrics whatsoever--just really pretty instrumentals.