![]() “With Flow State, I hope people discover the music we recommend as art, inspired by something that someone lived through, created while searching for something.” And we’ll all flow-t on okay. “I love bossanova music and still whenever I tell someone this or I put on an Astrud Gilberto song, people instantly associate it with elevator music and dismiss it.” “When good music made by inspired artists is put to use by greedy managers to increase profits, people come to hate it. Overall, he’s hoping to avoid the danger inherent with work music-that is, as we theorized in our piece on Muzak, that the stressful nature of work can conceivably rub off on great tunes, essentially sullying them. And if all that works, “perhaps even provide non-music things to help people focus.” This includes adding new features for premium users, like building out a digital library, as well as creating community features, like an internet art project in which all subscribers attempt together. He has big future plans for the newsletter. “For some people, if there's three seconds of voice in a 60 minute mix it throws the whole thing off.”Īs for how it’s all chosen, Marcus estimates about half the recommendations come from memory-he’s an admitted “music fiend.” The rest comes from scouring the internet and friend recommendations. “I didn't realize that many people share my abhorrence of the human voice in work music,” Marcus says. If there’s a common theme, though, it’s that it shouldn’t have vocals. “We're learning about what music different people like to work to, which is one facet of a great mystery: musical taste.” “For our subscriber Rodrigo, he likes wall of sound and blackgaze metal,” he says. “For me, what we're searching for is music that creates an atmosphere of profundity.” But it also comes down to personal preferences, which of course vary wildly depending on the person. What makes a good work flow playlist? Why do so many fail? “It depends on the person,” Marcus suggests. ![]() The general success of the newsletter nudges an interesting question. There’s also an option to subscribe to a premium version, which opens special access to the Monday edition of the newsletter, and comes with a custom playlist. By mid-February, roughly two months later, it had over 4,000 subscribers. It seemed to strike a chord (pun intended and immediately regretted). He figured a newsletter was the best way to convey this kind of information. Though there are plenty of blogs and playlists devoted to “work music,” they often seem to miss the mark.įlow State was a chance to try to create a meaningful, intentional collection of work music, with perhaps more emphasis on the music than the work. He started it in December, after the company he was working for got bought out, and he suddenly had some extra time to work on side projects.Īs Marcus tells us, he was having trouble finding decent music to work to. The links typically feature all streaming platforms, when possible, though sometimes go out to YouTube videos and Soundcloud links for rarities.įlow State is run semi-anonymously by a guy based in New York named Marcus, with occasional help from his friends. A sampling of some of the songs in the list since we first subscribed shows a wide range of taste: a digital backup of a rare cassette from composer Brian Hand the post-rock genius of Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden (in mourning, following the passing of Mark Hollis) the found-sound ambient synth washes of Celestial Trax and the ahead-of-its-time pumping disco beats of Patrick Cowley. The selections are usually ambient works, quiet but not too, somewhat relaxing, usually with a fast enough tempo to keep someone from falling asleep, but not so fast to be distracting. It’s simultaneously informative and boosts one’s productivity-this essay likely wouldn’t have been written without it. The newsletters don’t just consist of stray sounds emanating from an eternal void, but provide something more human. In a recent email, for example, describing the drone music of Pausal: “Avifaunal sounds like Beethoven slowed down 80% and played in a rainforest.” Every weekday morning, it sends a batch of albums (or playlists, or mixtapes.) of perfect music to work to, usually around two hours worth, designed to get you into a productive, er, flow state.Įach newsletter also includes a quick summary of the featured music, offering useful background info and insight into its composition. One of the best work playlists out there currently is a newsletter called Flow State. They’re like a nice afternoon caffeine boost, without having to deal with a rude barista. ![]() ![]() Basically, they’re heavily curated collections of music designed to assist people needing a little extra gumption. A current obsession-call it a trend, if you must-are flow state playlists, which have become kind of a thing in the last few months.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |