Steve Reich, "Music for 18 Musicians" - FULL PERFORMANCE with eighth blackbird
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended in coding-music threads as lyric-free, repetitive music that aids focus.
What it is
A full performance of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians by eighth blackbird with Third Coast Percussion and others, recorded in Chicago in 2011. It is an hour-long minimalist piece built on phasing and repeating patterns.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 5 different months, 2016 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec bane · 2016-09 · on “Learning Web Audio by Recreating the Works of Steve Reich and Brian Eno”
This is an incredibly beautiful tutorial. Art, deconstruction, minimalism and some of the greatest musical artists of the 20th century! What an amazing way to explore the mechanics and mechanisms behind these artists. I had heard of other minimalist artists before, but until a couple years ago somehow had missed Reich. I'm now an addict, especially to his later pieces when he really started growing his work into larger and larger themes. "Music for 18 Musicians" has become one of my favorite pieces of music of all time. I say this as somebody who finds a great deal of modern art fairly deplorable -- the first time I heard some of Reich's pieces I stayed up the entire night finding everything
Recommends lgessler · 2018-05 · on “Ask HN: What music helps you code better?”
For me, the only genre that reliably works is "minimal" music, like stuff by Steve Reich[1] or Gas[2]. My definition of this genre would be music with no lyrics that has highly repetitive structures (differentiating it from "ambient" music, which I find too sleepy to be invigorating). [1]: Music for 18 Musicians [this video] [2]: Koenigsforst [LINK]
Recommends kashyapc · 2018-07 · on “Ask HN: Any good examples of learning through games/puzzles, for adults?”
[tangent] Speaking of Steve Reich, if you haven't yet listened to his glorious Music for 18 Musicians ensemble piece (duration: 55 minutes), do give it[1] a try. An explanation of the composition and its structure: [LINK] [LINK] [1] [this video] [/tangent]
Recommends defrost · 2023-07 · on “Ask HN: What focus/coding music are you listening to these days?”
> people talking/singing in a language I even partially understand to be highly disruptive That's readily addressed: Luritja: [LINK] Djambarrpuynu: [LINK] Kuanua: [LINK] If you're looking for patterned music to keep the world at bay you might look to composers like Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Wim Mertens, etc. eg: Music for 18 Musicians - Steve Reich [this video]
Recommends defrost · 2025-06 · on “Dancing brainwaves: How sound reshapes your brain networks in real time”
If you like a bit of weird time signature, arpeggios, and seemingly dissonant sounds that eventually harmonize into chaotic outburst you might enjoy what was my coding metronome back in the early 1980s ... YMMV - Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians [this video]
Cites defrost · 2024-04 · on “Ask HN: Music to code to?”
Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" marks out an hour with bars, it served as a metronome for the odd lengthy project or three in the past: [this video]
Cites bane · 2024-08 · on “Rescuing songs that record labels forgot existed”
Little Fluffy Clouds was inspired by and famously used samples from minimalist composer Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint (among others). I think this is about where they sampled it from [LINK] then sped it up for BPM and equalized out the bass frequencies Reich apparently was so happy with it when he heard it he told his record company not to sue the Orb. Reich is one of my favorite composers and is a somewhat unexpected "uncle" to the electronic music revolution. Upon reflection it's not entirely surprising with long repetitive rhythmic passages that are somehow absolutely electrifying. Once you hear his work you realize that his influence is all over modern music. [LINK] [this video]