[jmduke]

Extremely anecdotal, but my silver bullets are jazz (modern soft jazz is great for this, but Kind of Blue [www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB669XXjnUg] has the advantage of being a landmark work AND incredibly relaxing) and really soft indie/folk (Blind Pilot, Iron and Wine, Noah & The Whale, that kind of thing.)

[Nav_Panel]

I love coding to jazz. "It can be played as background music, yet it amply rewards close listening" [0]. I collect records too, and jazz is one of my favorite genres to listen to on vinyl (although the distraction of the record flip can be a problem... sometimes I'll forget that it needs to be flipped at all, and I'll listen to the inner/lock groove for like 15 minutes before turning it off).

[0] http://www.allmusic.com/album/kind-of-blue-mw0000191710