I'm a fan of anything by Zoe Keating. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TTX0ryyoac

"Into the Trees" is my default coding music.

Big fan of movie and game soundtracks for coding. Regular rotation at the moment consists of Man of Steel, Batman Trilogy, Inception, Mass Effect 3, Skylander Giants and a lot of classical music esp the planets or anything else from civ 4!

Final shout out would be music that Adam Curtis has used in his documentaries such as Power of Nightmares. He uses lots of good modern instrumental pieces. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/4202789.stm is a starting point.

I have for years found that if I really needed to concentrate deeply on a programming project, I tend to be immensely helped listening to Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky". Yes it is (was?) mainstream, and yes it has been cliche'd into the ground in countless movies that used it for overtly happy scenes. But regardless, it helps me. (If the ELO original is too mainstream for your tastes, you might like the version by The Delgados.)

More generally, I find that light classical music, especially Bach, is pleasant to have playing while I work.

Anything else may or may not help, and it's pretty random. A song that helps a lot one day may be a distraction on another day. For just "listening" to music, I mostly enjoy jazz, but that often doesn't really help me much to focus on programming.

Take a look at http://musicforprogramming.net/, you might find something you like there.

I personally use di.fm or soma.fm and pick a channel that suits my mood, usually something a little more downtempo and free of vocals.

Stars of the Lid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaSi7Gut7xM , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et_lDyRymrw , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OycCEDxQFoA

Tim Hecker - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jXbnydhNjU

I usually listen the related broadcast in Grooveshark http://grooveshark.com/#!/writhem/broadcast

Try this out, it's Keith Jarrett live at Köln http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a7xoYZZE4s

He's great! Hadn't heard of him before.

Thanks for the share.

Trance, specifically the weekly "A State of Trance" hosted/mixed by Armin Van Buren. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_State_of_Trance

There are like 600 episodes, each is a 2 hour mix. Great to just turn one on and not fidget around with the next track.

Another one of my favorites is Digitally Imported, di.fm Basically a bunch of different electronic genre stations.

I personally find music to be distracting while coding but yesterday found this thread on reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/1jke2r/whats_the_most..., this has some gems! I am sure you will find few good once

I usually like instrumental music, words take my attention away from the code. Mozart, and other classical music is a great background for coding. Other than classical, God Is An Astronaut (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34C41eEpM48).

Love that God is an Astronaut! Awesome.

I personally prefer chillstep, it really helps me concentrate. Recently I created a mix @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EY0r-VJF6k

I'd strongly suggest you to discover other artists of this genre e.g. Xan, Sizzlebird, Ramases B, etc

My favorite coding music, for late nite is SomaFM: Mission Control, wich is ambient music mixed with NASA mission audio archives, it is sublime. You can find it iTunes radio or in SomaFM official website http://somafm.com

My vote goes to SomaFM's Space Station, though the vibe of that station is a bit variable

DJ sets of artists like Kaskade or Porter Robinson always work for me. I find the key is to find something that doesn't distract you from the work, but is also nice to listen to when you focus on it. I find it really hard to just work when the room is completely silent.

What about https://www.focusatwill.com/ ?

or not really music but a coffee shop sound : http://coffitivity.com/

Thanks a lot for those two links. They really make it for me!

Edit: I found that Coffitivity goes really well with Muzak - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdJWZxPW45c - that someone else posted. Turns your office into a mall!

The Diplomats are ideal for maintaining an optimal level of concentration. Their album, "Diplomatic Immunity Vol. 1" will put you in a zone. The song "Dipset Anthem" is the undisputed gem. Thank me later...

I can't think of anything more distracting than this album, they stop to talk constantly...

http://www.amazon.com/Diplomatic-Immunity-Diplomats/dp/B0000...

I like the playlist made of: - Kingdom of Heaven OST - Assassin's Creed Revelations OST (the full 3 CD version) - Full Mass Effect 3 OST (extracted by some guy from the game itself. Not the one you can buy ;))

https://www.focusatwill.com works well. I also create a Spotify station by searching for "background music"

I like the this room on Turntable, electronic chill - http://turntable.fm/chill_or_be_chilled2

I can't code with music on, my brain tunes into it and makes me want to sing along or pretend I'm drumming etc.

I find TV on in the background to be much more helpful.

This is why there is an entire genre of music called "Ambient"

Seriously, I know where you're coming from but there is music out there for every situation.

When I really need to focus, I listen to a mix of mostly Au Revoir Simone, Ladytron, Metric, and The Faint

I like to listen to http://scenemusic.net.

I swear by Boards of Canada, which, judging from the criteria you listed, might be right up your alley.

The Glitch Mob - Drink the Sea and We Can Make the World Stop EP

My playlist today is full of Tchaikovsky and a few Bear McCreary interleaved.

muzak, designed not to distract.

example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdJWZxPW45c

(edited to remove distracting remark)

I really enjoy all kinds of Ambient music for coding

Sync24 and RQ come to mind.

I usually listen some post-rock such as GYBE!

Try the free podcasts from bleep.com

checkout state of trance on youtube I like those really long tracks for the sustained flow

Brian Eno's Ambient albums

Steve Reich + coding = profit

I always listen to grunge.

Extrawelt.