Lothere Music

Submitted by PenelopetheFox on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 13:32.

Does anyone listen to music while reading this? I don't normally but I've discovered that the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack puts a weirdly sinister spin on the new party chapters. And while that is probably true of anything you read while listening to that album, Lothere feels particularly bizarre and uncanny with that music playing.

General Discussion

Can you seriously read and

Submitted by Lothere on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 16:34.

Can you seriously read and listen to music at the same time? It has to be super-mellow instrumental-type music for me to manage that. I think music with words engages the same part of my brain as reading or something.

While writing I don't usually have much luck either. I can't usually start listening to music until the chapter is written from beginning to end and I'm down to cleaning up the prose.

However, music definitely inspires me with the story, because I always listen to music while taking pictures. You can usually tell when I'm in the game by going to last.fm and checking out my profile page. If I'm "now listening to" something, and I'm not at work, I'm probably in The Sims.

I don't know the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack at all... now I am intrigued. I know I said this party was going to end in a dramatic and somewhat catastrophic way, but I don't mean like balls of fire and chainsaws slashing and mass cult suicides or whatever that music makes you think of...

I ought to go through my music collection and do a once-and-for-all list of what songs inspired which chapters, since it comes up occasionally.

Here, meanwhile if you're interested you can download "Sumiglia" mp3, which I wrote about in the "Elven Polyphony" post over at Verso. I don't think the version from the Ab Eternu album is easy to find, and I think it's the best, so I'll ~~pirate it~~spread the love.

No, I can't be distracted

Submitted by Devin on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 16:40.

No, I can't be distracted when I'm reading Lothere.

Really? I'm the exact

Submitted by PenelopetheFox on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 17:07.

Really? I'm the exact opposite. If it's music that I'm very familiar with (regardless of whether or not there are words) then it actually helps me to focus. If the music is new to me, on the other hand, it is distracting.

It depends on what I'm

Submitted by Cassie on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 18:20.

It depends on what I'm reading. If I'm reading something that I really want to focus on (like Lothere) I sometimes use music. If, on the other hand, I'm doing a massive amount of reading, music is essential. Otherwise I end up staring into space and face-planting half-asleep into my book. I'll just put my laptop on my bed and settle in for, like, 3 hours of reading Don Quixote.
Generally it depends on my mood, though.

Hm, if depends. I have a

Submitted by Twistedchic911 on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 18:55.

Hm, if depends. I have a playlist that shuffles and I always put it on as soon as I log on to the internet. I have over 70 songs (I know I'm a music junkie, but I NEED these things!) and really if I'm reading then I manually go for the softer things, like songs by Dear Juliet, or songs by dashboard confessional, it depends. Usually, my ideas on certain chapters like the party for example usually are influenced by the song that pops up at that moment. Like it a comment from one of the characters can go both ways (chiken necks!) it could just be a chicken neck or something else. But if it's good literature, then I don't even notice. But everytime the Saturday night fever song pops on (I'm a woman's man, no time to talk) I always think about Imin or Leofric. Don't judge me!!

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Smile Don't Frown, Look Up Don't look Down
oh you heart stealer, don't shy away, tell me your name!

I am a severe music addict -

Submitted by Cassie on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 19:01.

I am a severe music addict - I have over 8 days of music on my iTunes, which is playing a lot of the time that I'm on the computer. And I really do listen to all that music on a regular basis. It's a deeply important aspect of my life. I'm more passionate about it than almost anything else. I especially need music playing if I'm writing (papers or creatively) or doing work reading.

Only 70 I have 360 songs on

Submitted by Devin on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 19:14.

Only 70 I have 360 songs on my nano.

Oh my gosh, what do you pay

Submitted by Twistedchic911 on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 19:17.

Oh my gosh, what do you pay for your songs?! I've had limewire problems (viruses don't use them CROOKS!) and now I can't get it for free, so 70+ is steep if you have to pay, especially for me, I'm poor as it is.
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Smile Don't Frown, Look Up Don't look Down
oh you heart stealer, don't shy away, tell me your name!

Personally, I use CDs. Lots

Submitted by Cassie on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 19:20.

Personally, I use CDs. Lots and lots of CDs, which have accumulated over the years, that add up to about 3000 songs. And I have stuff on my ipod that I don't even have on my computer, like every album U2 recorded and about 9 hours of Nine Inch Nails. (From my goth phase...sigh.)

I use LimeWire but I also

Submitted by Devin on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 19:27.

I use LimeWire but I also have an antivirus program installed on my computer.

I still buy CDs though..

On another note, I like that

Submitted by Cassie on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 19:39.

On another note, I like that we can now stalk our dear writer's progress via her music listening.
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I'm romantic, literary, cynical, and a diehard Alred Sebright groupie.

NIN is goth? Damn! I have

Submitted by Lothere on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 19:58.

NIN is goth? Damn!

I have -- wait -- 9.4 hours of songs in my iTunes but I hardly paid for any of them. For a long time I listened to Pandora (before they started blocking Canadian IPs) and if you had the old version of Flash and knew where to look on your hard drive, you could grab any mp3 they played you. You just had to rename. Lately I do it the hard way and record stuff manually as it passes on last.fm. (I mean with my computer, but you know. Clicking start and stop.) This is exactly what I did 15 years ago when I was a goth and didn't know it and recorded the radio onto cassettes. Or maybe I was emo and didn't know it. I was definitely something.

I also have a ton of CDs left over from my jazz phase, my Celtic phase, my medieval polyphony phase, etc. But I've hardly ripped any of those except from my massive collection of Smashing Pumpkins. (is that goth? or what?) I don't have any music-playing equipment aside from my computer, so CDs are just too much trouble. I am also passively boycotting CDs until I am sure that there won't be any DRM preventing me from playing them on Linux or ripping them or whatever. Probably there won't be CDs any more before uninformed me notices that happens.

And how can you all read while listening to music??? Seriously I am ed. It must be just me. Also Don Quixote is awesome.

And has anyone heard the new Portishead? I want without having heard, but still.

That is all, I have a chapter to finish! Interesting forum post though.

I love listening to music,

Submitted by Sonia on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 20:22.

I love listening to music, but not whilst reading, it's too great a distraction.
However, with our computer installed in the bedroom (only place it would go), and my dear hubby working permanent nights, I've got to be super silent throughout the day when I'm online. (No facilities for headphones unfortunately)

So that's normally the best time for me to catch up on chapters and Sim quietly myself.

On a different note, I've noticed a very different pattern that has formed with many Sims story-writers.
It appears that a few of us, at around about the same time, all had some form of writer's block, or hit a plateau with our creativity. Perhaps through work, health/family issues etc. (who knows)

Yet, all of a sudden, we've all found our muses again, all around the same time.

In my case I was working too hard and it affected my health. The long rest gave me back my love of Simming, and my muse suddenly crawled back out of the woodwork.

Portishead is great! I've

Submitted by PenelopetheFox on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 21:31.

Portishead is great! I've been listening to them frequently over the past few months. Them and Radiohead. Have not heard the new album. But now that I know of it, it is a need.

Well, I guess NIN isn't

Submitted by Cassie on Thu, 06/19/2008 - 07:31.

Well, I guess NIN isn't *really* goth, per se. But I was into them when I was sort of feeling the goth thing a little bit. I could never be a full-on goth, though - I'm afraid of the dark and I hate scary movies.
Also, Pandora is awesome! I had no idea you could get songs from it like that...that's so cool.
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I'm romantic, literary, cynical, and a diehard Alred Sebright groupie.

Okay, so according to music

Submitted by Verity on Fri, 06/20/2008 - 10:44.

Okay, so according to music terminology expert bf NIN is industrial rock but that isn't really it either. I wouldn't know, I just know that I like them.

And seriously, you guys listen to music and read at the same time . I am soooo bad at multi-tasking like that. I occasionally listen to very easy classical music, something like Bach when I am reading an article because I read somewhere that listening to some classical music actually makes your brain work harder. Particularly Mozart since there are so many harmonies to follow so your brain has to work quite hard to follow the music. Apparantely it is good to listen to before an exam. I have before, I don't know if it made a difference though. But I really need quiet to read in general. I think I am just bad at tuning out background noise (which is why I was thinking it would be hell to be an elf and hear all conversations). My friends know that we can't have the TV on in the background if they want to actually talk to me... I can't help but watch and get distracted even if it is something I don't really like.

I feel like mega-lucky with music at the mo. My boyf is working for a company that are developing a new online music player called Spotify (the website is here http://www.spotify.com/). It is the most awesome program ever! The basic idea is that it is an online radio with most music available there. You can either get it for free and have some ads that play every so often or subscribe. So it is like the radio except that you choose the music (you can have playlists or just listen to random songs of a genre or a time period). Or you can subscribe and there will be no ads. It hasn't been released yet and I'm not sure when it will get to North America (I guess most of you guys are living there). It is really awesome at the moment since I am a beta-tester and there aren't any ads yet, so it is just all music, ever (well not all but lots, they are a bit lacking in Australian music... no Whitlams... best band ever!).

I have started making a list of songs that inspire me about my characters (and I intend to write down any that make me think of Lothere too). I can't remember what songs I wrote down now (which is why I made the list :smile : ) except And all that could have been from Nine Inch Nail's album Still makes me think of Radomir. *sniffle*.

And btw I swear so much of

Submitted by Verity on Fri, 06/20/2008 - 10:59.

And btw I swear so much of Nine Inch Nails makes me think of Radomir (sorry to talk about my characters here Lothere ) I mean he is one tortured guy. They give me a lot of inspiration in general for writing. Also lately, the knife (a very cool Swedish band... if you haven't heard of them you should look them up). And my new favourite singer, Regina Spektor. She is totally quirky and sings part of her songs in Russian and French. Her song Apres Moi has haven given me a lot of creepy inspiration. I don't know why, it is just a freaky song.

"Be afraid of the lame
They'll inherit your legs
Be afraid of the old
They'll inherit your souls
Be afraid of the cold
They'll inherit your blood
Apres moi, le deluge
After me comes the flood"

I don't know... I really love it. It is so eclectic. If you can find it do! Wonderful music. Her song Samson makes me want to cry every time I hear it. Here... on youtube... go there! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p62rfWxs6a8 and here is her website http://www.reginaspektor.com/

Anyways enough spamming this forum with music I like. I just wanted to share the awesome with you guys

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