Give me stuff to listen to at work!

[bartholen_v1legacy]

My current job for the time being involves myself sitting on a computer, doing tasks that require sharp concentration, but next to no intellectual processing whatsoever. After nearly dying of boredom in the first two days, I've been listening to various things to not feel like my soul is getting slowly beaten to death with plastic spoons. Thing is, when you're on a computer for 7,5 hours a day, you'll burn through quite a lot of stuff in just one day. And you can only listen to classical music for so long before it too becomes white noise.

So I'd ask you fellow Escapists to give suggestions on what to listen to. Anything goes: music, podcasts, radio programs, interviews, whatever. Just recommend whatever the hell. I listened to Rossini the day before yesterday, and today I listened to hardcore underground political rap (Immortal Technique, check him out). I also checked out the pilot episode of Welcome to Nightvale after I'd been recommended it. It didn't really set my world on fire. I thought it was trying a bit too hard to seem surreal and weird. Does it smooth down in that respect in later episodes?

I'd especially like to know if there are good podcasts about science and history. I've been thinking of applying to Uni to study history once I'm done with my current studies, and my interests are slowly shifting.

Come at me bro!

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Look up Thank You Scientist's album Maps of Non-existent Places. Proggy, metal-ish-y and jazz-fusion-y stuff. Cool instrumentation going on. As far as song recommendations from the album, "My Famed Disappearing Act" and "Suspicious Waveforms."

 

[BloatedGuppy]

So I'd ask you fellow Escapists to give suggestions on what to listen to. Anything goes: music, podcasts, radio programs, interviews, whatever.

http://serialpodcast.org/

Addictive as hell and free.

Serial has been both culturally popular and critically well-received. Serial was ranked at No. 1 on iTunes even before it débuted, leading iTunes rankings for over three months, well after the first season ended. It also broke records as the fastest podcast ever to reach 5 million downloads at Apple's iTunes store. David Carr in The New York Times called Serial "Podcasting's first breakout hit." The Guardian characterized it as a "new genre of audio storytelling".

Introducing a PBS NewsHour segment about Serial, Judy Woodruff noted that it is "an unexpected phenomenon", and Hari Sreenivasan mentioned it has "five million downloads on iTunes, far more than any other podcast in history". In the interview that followed, David Haglund of Slate observed the solitary experience of listening with earphones adds to the intimacy of the podcast form.

Calling the characters "rich and intriguing", The Daily Californian noted similarities to the film The Thin Blue Line (1988), and described the podcast as "gripping" and the story as "thrilling", while applauding the series for giving "listeners a unique opportunity to humanize the players".

Slate‍ '​s reviewer pointed out that Serial is not escapist and went on to note: "Someone in the show is not telling the truth about something very sinister. That's the narrative tension that makes Serial not only compelling but also unlike anything I can remember watching or reading before."

The Baltimore Sun commented on the inherently riveting subject matter: "We seemingly never tire of the everything was perfect until... narrative" of a crime-drama, and noted that the top-notch reporting and podcast format yield "a novel twist on the investigative long-form piece".

 

[Frezzato]

Not sure just how much you can concentrate with spoken words entering your ears, but as far as science-y podcasts go, Radiolab is pretty damn good.

There are others of course, like The Story [http://www.thestory.org/], which, sadly, has ended. It's definitely more focused on human interest stories, and of course, you have This American Life.

.

As far as comedy goes, people here always recommend Jim Sterling and Rooster Teeth, but I prefer to listen to professional comedians (there's no other way I can think to phrase that), so that involves:

Professor Blastoff (Tig Notaro, David Huntsberger, Kyle Dunnigan)
The X-Files Files by Kumail Nanjiani
The Indoor Kids (Kumail and his wife Emily)
The Nerdist Podcast (Chris Hardwick and friends, over 500 episodes! They've interviewed everyone from GabeN to Arnold Schwarzenegger)
The Dork Forest (Jackie Kashian has great interviews and stories about a WIDE variety of interests with her guests)
How Did This Get Made? (Jason Mantzoukas from The League, Paul Scheer, and June Diane Raphael critique the worst movies ever made)
You Made it Weird (with Pete Holmes)

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I always recommend The Bugle

https://soundcloud.com/the-bugle

John Oliver and Andy Zaltzmann, mostly satirical news/political/current affairs/bullshit/diabolically bad puns.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I'd suggest Audio books, specifically why not go to audiable and pick up a copy of On Basilisk Station By David Weber, the Honor Harrington books should be able to keep you busy for a long time.

Also if you want something different in the form of a podcast, or have read the Honor Harrington stuff already try going to GRC.com [http://www.grc.com] and starting up listening to Security Now! [https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm]

 

[SweetShark]

"Jill, did you find music for tonight?"
"No yet Boss. Wait a Moment...."


"Yes, now I am ready"

 

[QuietCupOfTea]

I'd like to recommend two podcasts. Neither of them are really about science or history, but they're both interesting to listen to.

The Cracked Podcast: http://www.earwolf.com/show/the-cracked-podcast/

The Hello Internet Podcast: http://www.hellointernet.fm/

 

[rednose1]

Just discovered K.A.A.N, and lov'n his work right now.

Yea, had to go and listen to everything when I first heard him. Dude is just damn good.

 

[lacktheknack]

<youtube=baKA1B5Ymuo>

Really, anything from "Selected Ambient Works Vol. II" by Aphex Twin is fantastic working-and-listening material.

 

[Barbas]

Try the Ricky Gervais Show if you can download it. Otherwise, if NSFW stuff isn't a problem, see if you can get a hold of The Dismal Jesters.

 

[Andy Shandy]

While I've never listened to it myself, one history podcast I see universally recommended is Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, so that might be something worth checking out.

 

[Blue_screen]

Well if you like history you might want to check out Crash Course World History. Funny and insightful.

 

[Objectable]

Ever hear of Welcome to Night Vale? It's basically Tales from Wobegon combined with Lovecraft.

 

[FPLOON]

How about listening to Fluid Minds?

Spoiler: This Song Needs More Cowbell

Their album The [AS] MixTape is worth the full listen to, if I do say so myself...

Spoiler: Full Album

You can <link=https://fluidminds.bandcamp.com/album/the-as-mixtape>download it for free, if you want... Don't like the lyrics/vocals, but dig everything else?

Spoiler: Full Instrumental Album

Then, get the <link=https://fluidminds.bandcamp.com/album/as-mixtape-instrumentals>instrumental version for free, if you want...

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Might I recommend Stick to Your Guns? Some catchy metalcore/hardcore with positive vibes...

 

[TranshumanistG]

I often get back to this playlist when working on something:
Touhou Remix ~ Lunatic Playlist [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7A91CDBF5A9947F3]

When I want a bit more of a chillout Zen mood, I sometimes play this:

When feeling a bit down down this year I've often listened to the Little Busters album by the Pillows. It's whimsical but finely crafted which lends it a soothing effect. Too bad they removed the playlist from YouTube. Good luck finding another one.

If you either need to block out the background noose and get the blood in your head pumping or want to just concentrate on the music, I recommend Maximum the Hormone. Their music brings a lot of energy and interesting variation, whenever I feel like the song is about to go stale, it changes up with in an interesting way. Just don't pay too much attention to the lyrics. Here is a sampling:

 

[GabeZhul]

For podcasts, I recommend the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. It is a podcast about scientific skepticism (duh) with thematic segments and occasional interviews. It covers a lot of skeptic interests, from medical quackery and UFOs to creationism in schools and conspiracy theories, but instead of dealing them as generally it talks about them through the weekly news items and is centered around their scientific plausibility instead of just "debunking" (which is actually something of a dirty word in the skeptic community). It also has a relatively constant structure with specific segments (like recounting what scientific/skeptic related event happened the on the date the episode airs or, more recently, talking about a scientist who is seemingly forgotten despite their wide-reaching contributions to modern life and science) and each episode ends with a little game called "Science or Fiction", in which the host presents three weird news items/facts, two real and one fictitious, and the ho-hosts have to figure out which one is the fake. It's fun.

Another science/skeptic podcast I can recommend would be Skeptiod. It is a shorter weekly podcast done in an audio essay format that explores one particular topic each week, and it has a very wide scope, from marketing scams and cryptids to ghost stories and logical fallacies. The original author was sadly arrested for wire fraud a while ago (sadly, since the fans who picked up and continued the podcast after him do a mixed job), but it is a really good primer on a lot of "common knowledge" that people take for granted and are more often than not complete baloney.

Both of these podcasts have a huuuuuuge backlog (the SGU in particular just had their ten year anniversary last week), so if you decide to pick them up they will have you covered for a while. On the other hand I do not recommend audiobooks. I usually listen to podcasts as well during work because audiobooks require much more attention, and unless you are doing a job where small slips of attention won't get you in trouble, you want to stick to something that won't distract you that much.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I could link my Spotify playlist, though judging by your OP, you'll likely burn through it in a day. Plus, it's exclusively heavy metal so it may not be your thing. https://play.spotify.com/user/rulerofasgard/playlist/73DvdwqxuLHNXo8O4EPpfY if you're interested.

Failing that, you could look up some audio books on Youtube. I'd recommend The Blade Itself, because I unabashedly love that book and because it's narrated quite well.

Spoiler

That's only the first part, despite what it may be titled, though it seems easy enough to find the other parts if you're interested.