I don’t listen to music while writing. It’s too distracting. But it’s good for getting into the right mood just before starting. While writing By the Feet of Men, for example, I listened to a lot of Boards of Canada and Tangerine Dream because it’s coldwarm and apocalyptic with a touch of hope. During the long, tortured sessions for Static Age, my failed sketch of toxic masculinity, it was mainly Queens of the Stone Age’s first album, Misfits and Minutemen. Rock and/or roll.
Here’s what’s tugging on my aurals in this poured-concrete January:
Yves Tumour feat. Croatian Amor - Economy of Freedom
Radiohead - Ill Wind
Chrome Sparks - Juno Lion
Ty Segall - Alta
Jeff Tweedy - The Red Brick
Sons of Kemet - My Queen is Anna Julia Cooper
Pye Corner Audio - Deep Space Probe
Lara Sarkissian - Tell Me, Where Do the Butterflies Live
Low - Dancing and Blood
Ichiko Aoba - テリフリアメ