Your Favorite Writing Music?
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The formative years of my ever-evolving musical taste were in high school, like so many other people. That was eons ago in a decade some people call the 1990s. I guess that pegs me as young or old depending on which side of the fence you stand.
In between marathon listening sessions of Smashing Pumpkins or The Cure, I began to discover an abstract among all the music I gravitated towards. That common ground was an appreciation for blissful soundscapes and ambient textures. It wasn’t much later that I delved into electronic music, and as often happens during such explorations, you go to the source. For the ambient genre that would be none other than the grandfather of ambient himself, Brian Eno.
I love ambient music, because it doesn’t distract me or steal the thunder from my writing sessions. A worthy student of his, and another favorite of mine is Cliff Martinez. I first discovered the music of Cliff Martinez when I saw the movie Traffic in the theaters. I sat there with the audience, lodging corn hulls in between my gums, bathing my teeth in high fructose corn syrup and phosophoric acid, I thought to myself, “This sounds like Brian Eno.” When the credits rolled, Cliffy’s name rolled across the screen and the rest is history.
I didn’t follow Mr. Martinez’s career very closely as it happened.
Then I saw the 2002 Solaris. Again the mournful soundscapes greeted me! By this time, I was gleeful that Mr. Martinez happened to show up in a lot of films I enjoyed. So when I popped in the NARC DVD one fateful day, lo and behold what greeted me but yet more Eno-esque bliss? “This must be that Cliff Martinez again.” By this time I had started collecting his albums, eager for the next.
The last Martinez soundtrack available is Wicker Park. Cliff Martinez has since done a few other film scores, which unfortunately aren’t available yet. When they are, you can be sure that I’ll snatch them up and fire the mp3 play button during some future writing session.
Give Eno or Cliff a listen, and tell me what you think. We all gravitate towards certain styles and music.
What helps you write? What is your favorite writing music?
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February 15th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I seem to end up writing to whatever my 15 year old daughter has playing. It makes for interesting times.
February 16th, 2007 at 2:32 am
Anything with a good beat. Though lately I haven’t been able to write at all with music going on — I think I have too much going on in my head.
February 16th, 2007 at 5:14 am
Gah! You stole my idea! Lol. Not really. I was just planning to write a blog about writing and music, and any such connection.
For me, I either don’t listen to music at all, or I’ll listen to music that doesn’t necessarily grab my attention away from the writing. This means stuff without words. I tend to be greatly influenced by soundtrack composers such as Gregson-Williams, John Williams, Han Zimmer, Danny Elfman, and the like. I also listen to a heck of a lot of classical and modern classical. I’m quite fond of Sibelius, Mahler, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky (sp?), and a whole sleue of others. It’s hard to mention any modern classical composers. I think the orchestrated world has sort of collapsed and not a lot of great names are around anymore. There’s Sousa, of course, but not too many others that you could mention in conversation and someone would have heard of (sort of how Mozart works…everyone knows who he is even if they have never heard his compositions).
February 16th, 2007 at 6:45 am
Patty, what does your daughter listen to? And if you could put something of your own on, what would it be? Maybe you need to introduce her to some classics. ;)
KG, try something a little more low key, if you’ve got any.
SMD, I didn’t steal it. It’s part of the collective musicalsaurus or something. Post your own version, I’m sure it’ll be different.
February 16th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
What I listen to while writing depends on what I’m writing. I might throw in a CD of love songs, or listen to 80s music, or jazz. Many times I have to have complete silence, a habit I’ve developed in my day job.
February 16th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Hey Eric
Good post. Right now, writing a thriller, I’m listening to the soundtrack of the Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Identity. For darker moods, I’ll reach for the Silence of the Lambs soundtrack. Then there’s my mini Hitchcock collection - the theme from Vertigo, North by North West, and of course Psycho….
Best
Ian
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:23 am
nightmares on wax,smokers delight, got me a first more than once….philip glass airports music, and an album called caravan, by koreses quartet….