Reports from the experiment
The soundtrack behind four thousand commits and counting. Music isn't background — it's part of the work.
For deep-focus sessions when I need to disappear into the code. No lyrics, no surprises, no narrative arc — just a steady current to ride for three or four hours at a time. The trick isn't the music itself, it's how invisible it becomes once it's on.
Foo Fighters · Red Hot Chili Peppers · Aerosmith · Guns N' Roses · Queen · The Beatles
Fito y Fitipaldis · La Fuga · El Canto del Loco
Vicentico · Mon Laferte · Natalia Lafourcade · Los Retros
Billie Eilish · Dua Lipa · Charlie Puth · Angèle · The Chicks · Charli XCX
Hillsong
“Music isn't background.
It's part of the work.”
Architecture days, gnarly refactors, anything where I need to disappear for three hours.
When the deadline is real and the queue is long. Loud, fast, with a chorus you can lean on.
Past 9 pm, when the family is asleep and the bug is finally yielding.
Slower work. Reviews. Writing. The cup of coffee while the file recompiles.
If you saw my Spotify Wrapped, you'd see these on it. Year after year.
If the work is recursive or the file is unfamiliar, words steal cycles. Save the songs with words for when the task already makes sense.
The room can be chaos — kids, doorbells, blender. The headphones decide what the workday actually sounds like.
Easy work: low. Tricky work: loud enough to drown out the doubt. There is no third rule and there is no fourth.
There may be other quiet pages tucked into the corners. Keep poking.