Music For Office Workers

A selection of concentration-friendly playlists by Drowned in Sound's @seaninsound

[seaninsound]

[musicforofficeworkers]

Music for Office Workers #8

Decided I needed to freshen up my I-can’t-concentrate-today playlist, so here’s the latest edition of MFOW. There are a few playlist staples like Nils Frahm, worriedaboutsatan, and Johann Johannsson (from his Oscar nominated Theory of Everything score), plus lots of 2015 releases that were new to me that I discovered via the ambient/drone thread on the DiS forum.

[seaninsound]

I think Olafur Arnalds features on four of the seven Music for Office Workers playlists - probably three tracks released by the Erased Tape label on each one too. It’s hardly surprising that his minimal techno vs piano/modern classical album is a great concentration-enhancing listen. It’s one of those cold but uplifting records, that gives you the sorts of chill(s) that propel you forward…. Stream it now.

[musicforofficeworkers]

Music for Office Workers #7 This is sort of the work in progress 2014 edition but has plenty of lush things from the recent past like Efterklang and Chromatics (whose Kill for Love finally popped up on Spotify earlier this year). Subscribe here.

[musicforofficeworkers]

Music for Office Workers - #6 This playlist sort of made itself. It opens with that mammoth Jon Hopkins tune and sprawls out with the opening track from Fordlandia, before tumbling through a mixture of Gemma Hayes and Sparklehorse and Four Tet. Subscribe here.

[musicforofficeworkers]

Music for Office Workers - #5 - 2013 Edition With less time and perhaps inclination at the time to make playlists on Spotify this 2013 edition features a lot of great ambient music I discovered through the DiS community, alongside some of the quieter moments from some of my favourite albums of that year including Foals, Chairlift and Darkstar (easily one of the most under-rated albums of recent times!). Subscribe here.

[musicforofficeworkers]

Music for Office Workers #4 - 2012 This playlist pulled together a lot of the music recommended by the Drowned in Sound community in 2012 in the ambient and modern classical threads. The twenty minute long 'Summer of the Cat's Eye' by Motion Sickness Of Time Travel was one of my favourite pieces of music that year, alongside that haunting Crystal Castles track. This playlist also features Disintergration Loops as its centrepiece, it's long but if you've never heard it before it's well worth leaving on until you fall under its spell. Subscribe here.

[musicforofficeworkers]

Music for Office Workers #3 The third edition saw things go a little darker and softer. The Max Richter track half-way through is very much the heart of it. It has this gorgeous euphoric moment from a barren world of strings, and sort of set the tone to build to and move on from. Subscribe here.

[musicforofficeworkers]

Music for Office Workers #2 The second edition featured a few tracks with words, but kept to a similar downward or widescreen-but-gentle aesthetic. Subscribe here.

[musicforofficeworkers]

Music for Office Workers - #1

The playlist that started the series was mostly something to work to. I was struggling to concentrate and wanted familiar but wordless music to wash over me whilst I bashed away at the keyboard. Blown away by the success of it (several 1000 people tweeted links to it), they became an irregular series of playlists.

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