Soundtrack

I typically listen to lots and lots of Portishead when writing horror. I'll have to look into the music you have listed up there.

Thanks for the list - some of those sound like they'll be perfect for my WIP as well.
For horror / atmospheric stuff, I tend to use mainly Michael Kamen's soundtrack to 'Event Horizon' or else Basil Poulidoris' (apologies if that's spelled wrongly) to the 1997 'Les Miserables' film. I know that sounds odd for a horror thing but for some reason that soundtrack really helps me write tense, spooky scenes.

Some of these sound interesting, I'll have to look them up.

I pretty much only listen to classical music. Right now its 'Pictures at an Exhibition' by Modest Mussorgsky but one of my favorites ('Night on Bald Mountain') follows it.

'The Planets' by Holst is always good (esp. 'Mars')

Green Day, Eve 6, Imani (Copala) unsure of spelling --alot of Everclear. If i want dark and depressing I go for blues including Etta James and Billie Holiday. I am also big on compilations--that comes from my--dj days. I have a bunch ones from different movies including (the Crow, Matrix and the Laura Croft movies)--also a few from the buffy the vampire series. If I want wacky I have an ancient Julie Brown album--(alot of the songs were in Earth girls are Easy) It depends on my mood

I like to have a mixture of styles... it stops my writing settling into a too similar rhythm.

On my current playlist for my WIP ( a werewolf novel set in Scotland and Montana)

Elvis Costello - Blood and Chocolate
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Metallica - The Black Album
Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost of Tom Joad
Nirvana - Nevermind
Soundtrack album, The Man from La Mancha
Bob Dylan - Blood on The Tracks
Nick Cave - Murder Ballads
Hank Williams - Greatest Hits
Peter Green - The Robert Johnson Songbook

Rodrigo for 17th century Spain.

If I listen to music at all during the composition of the first draft, it's almost always orchestral. Nothing with lyrics. I like the Interview with the Vampire soundtrack and Glenn Danzig's Black Aria.

During the second and third drafts, though, I rock out. It depends on the mood of whatever scene I'm writing, but I'm usually listening to Korn, Evanescence, Linkin Park, Disturbed or Demon Hunter.

I have trouble listening to music with lyrics, especially newer stuff I'd like to hear on the radio. I get into the music instead of the writing. So I built several mixes with Vangelis and Tangerine Dream, electronic stuff that takes me back to the moody movies of the eighties. I just got the soundtrack to Bladerunner and love playing that in the background. It tends to act like white noise for me.

Pike

Two that are great for writing are Mirrormask and Pan's Labyrinth. Both quiet and emotional.

I recently picked up an old CD at a yard sale that included the themes from a bunch of older horror movies. (Original Dracula and 1979 version, Original Frankenstein, The Omen, Psycho, King Kong, etc.) I'm really enjoying it, best dollar I've spent in a long time.

Great suggestions!

Since I'm on the computer when I'm writing, I like to go on-line at http://www.slacker.com/ because I can create my own 'radio' station that reflects any mood I choose. It's also wallet friendly because I can hear a lot of different music without spending any $$.

But I put my vote with Orff's 'Carmena Burana'.

If you like new age, whimsical, and dark wave music try FaerieRadio

I use it, found a great band called Omnia who uses classic lit as reference a lot. It's calm to write fantasy and/or horror to.

It depends on what mood I'm in. Sometimes I listen to music, or have a movie playing in the background, or complete silence.

If/when I listen to music while writing, I listen to Evanescence, Biggie Smalls, classical, etc. I listen to anything, except country...lol. Then again, I don't know, classic country is quite depressing. It may add some craziness to the writing...

It depends on what mood I'm in. Sometimes I listen to music, or have a movie playing in the background, or complete silence.

If/when I listen to music while writing, I listen to Evanescence, Biggie Smalls, classical, etc. I listen to anything, except country...lol. Then again, I don't know, classic country is quite depressing. It may add some flair to the writing...

I have the complete Alice Cooper catalog. It's my no. 1 choice for listening. Got Stones and Who. Clash, Ramones. Abba. Lots of stuff.

I tend to listen to Jazz/Fusion such as Soft Machine, or modern Jazz trios from Europe such as EST. I also find some soundtracks good for music for writing to as well - especially those by the Italian group Goblin. They did some marvellous soundtracks for some classic Italian horror movies.

If I'm wanting something faster paced, I'll stick on some Jethro Tull, Deep Purple or Rush. Although Tull sometimes distracts me because Ian Anderson's lyrics are so good.

Pike said:

I have trouble listening to music with lyrics, especially newer stuff I'd like to hear on the radio. I get into the music instead of the writing. So I built several mixes with Vangelis and Tangerine Dream, electronic stuff that takes me back to the moody movies of the eighties. I just got the soundtrack to Bladerunner and love playing that in the background. It tends to act like white noise for me.

Pike

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Yeah, lyrics distract me as well. Tangerine Dream is also good to write to.

It all depends what I'm going for, but I assume we're talking about atmospheric sorts of things. My horror isn't really standard horror, but I'll have a go at this.

When I work on scenes that happen in goth clubs, I like to listen to Lycia or Faith and the Muse. There's other gothy bands I like, most of which are on the projekt label and can therefore be found at projekt.com.

I really enjoy doing an almost Stanley Kubrick thing where I use really incongruous music. I've been listening lately to a lot of classical, neo-classical, and opera music, so it's been fun to play around with pairings for that. I was writing a gruesome story with a mermaid, and I paired the movie "Mermaid in a Manhole" (sound off) with Golijov's opera "Oceana." It worked well. I'm looking forward to using another Golijov opera, "Ainadamar," next time I need to write a really intense scene. It's about the death of Lorca and really intense, but in Spanish so I don't follow the lyrics enough to get distracted.

When I write scenes that happen in churches or graveyards or such, I like listening to chant music. For something that has that feel but is still kind of modern and gothy, Miranda Sex Garden's "Madra" album works rather well. That's one I listen to on my headphones when I walk through churches for inspiration.

Other than that, a lot of it is built around my personal associations with songs that evoke in me whatever emotion I'm trying to capture in writing. Some of them are pretty illogical, which makes me remember the end of Lon Milo DuQuette's book about the Crowley Tarot where he reveals he couldn't have written it without listening to Bon Jovi.

When I'm in a mood to write something dark and horrific, a few choices suggest themselves:

Christopher Young's scores to Hellraiser and Hellraiser II are some of the most powerful horror music around; CD's a bit hard to find though. Danny Elfman's written some great stuff (Sleepy Hollow is a favorite; some absolutely brutal and haunting work there). I also have a nice compilation of the first three "Alien" scores--by Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, and Elliot Goldenthal. Great stuff; I recommend Goldenthal especially (he wrote "Interview with a Vampire among others).

If im writing anything at all, then its usually:
The Doors
Bauhaus
Bad Brains
Bob Marley
Patti Smith

If its horror, then its The Misfits.

I'm listening to the soundtrack to Diabolique. No lyrics except for a song at the end. Otherwise it's just a lot of terrificly ominous music (with rain). Great to listen to when I'm writing something creepy.

Well I'm gutted today - Esbjorn Svensson, the pianist with my favourite "writing" band EST (Esbjorn Svensson Trio) was killed in a horrible accident over the weekend in Sweden. Two kids and a wife.