While some people find house cleaning therapeutic, we usually need a little motivation to get us through the less pleasant tasks. And nothing gets us off the couch like a rockin' soundtrack.
We've made several such playlists over the years (including a few just for our easily distracted pint-sized housemates), but here are some of the tunes commonly in rotation.
• Message of Love - The Pretenders
• Ask - The Smiths
• The Sporting Life - The Decemberists
• (Nothing But) Flowers - Talking Heads
• Power Out - Arcade Fire
• Disco Ball World - David Garza
• There's More to Life Than This - Bjork
• Black Steel - Tricky
• Block Rockin Beats - Chemical Brothers
• Mambo Con Dancehall - Brooklyn Funk Essentials
• Breaker Beats - Freestylers
What's on your Spring cleaning playlist?
Image: Jamie Grill


Stanley Console by ...
I prefer to play the entire Guero album by Beck. :)
nirvana - rape me
Isn't Nirvana Plateau better?
"Nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop ..."
I'm loving Love Language "Lalita," Check it out.
I moved a turntable into the living room (thanks Spring Cure), and now fill the house with jazz and soul when I cook and tidy up. My favorite right now is The Best of Sam Cooke on RCA records - it's the perfect length for that quick daily clean. I find that, even if I'm done after the first side, I'll flip it and find something else to work on for the B.
Oh, and Michael Franti! Got my tickets.
g.g. allen and the murder junkies.
ANTHONY HAMILTON
MAXWELL
LAURYN HILL
ERYKAH BADU
SADE
ERIC BENET
LAURA IZIBOR
it's all about dance music!
La Roux
Black Eyed Peas
Locos por Juana
Calle 13
Shakira
Taio Cruz
N.E.R.d.
Beyonce
and Lady Gaga!!!
Although sometimes I think I end up dancing more than vaccuming :)
I definitely turned on "The Sporting Life" when I cleaned up my cabin before leaving! The Decemberists are great for cleaning music.
Michael Bolton!
Goldfrapp, Royksopp, Belle & Sebastian, Justice, Pulp, Sparks, The Knife, Talking Heads, Marc Bolan, Fever Ray, Suede, Art Brut, Rondo Veneziano, Murder by Death, Radiohead
I just finished my daily cleaning a little while ago...this time I listened to modest mouse, but I change it up every day. Yesterday it was the killers. The day before it was gorrilaz.
Girl Talk — Feed The Animals!
cute post...but Grace Shu has the AT music entries on lock. :)
Stars, Metric, Broken Social Scene and Wintersleep.
And to Improper Bostonian, try Blackjack sometime!
Fun.! I just found out about them and I can't get enough!
(link to playlist: http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Fun aim and ignite/29263012 )
poop- that link didn't work. http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Fun/29263012
Sorry! Enjoy :D
My cleaning playlist has two rules:
1. It must be something I can sing to.
2. It must be something with a beat.
Parov Stelar - Kiss Me Twice
Metric - Give Me Sympathy/Succexy
Miike Snow - Cult Logic/Black and Blue/Animal
The Cat Empire - Sunny Moon/Sly/So Long/The Car Song
IAMX - Spit it Out/After Every Party I Die
Modest Mouse - Float On/Dashboard
I Monster - Hey Mrs/Everyone's a Loser
Moby - Lift Me Up/Raining Again
Peter Bjorn & John - It Beats Me Every Time/Young Folks
TV on the Radio - Crying/Wolf Like Me/Staring at the Sun
The Police - Next to You/So Lonely
Chris Corner - Attack 61/We Rise
Gnarls Barkley - Going On
Ethan Stoller - BKAB (Speech Mix)
The Planet Smashers - Life of the Party
Teddybears - Cobra Style (feat. Mad Cobra)
Little Richard - (You Make Me Wanna) Shout
The Contours - Do You Love Me?
The Brian Setzer Orchestra - Zoot Suit Riot/Jump Jive an' Wail/Sing Sing (with a Swing)
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Hey Pachuco!
Ladyhawke - Paris is Burning/Dusk til Dawn
.....etc......
I guess I'm a bit weird - I like to clean to slow, melancholy tunes. Beach House, Birthmark, Joanna Newsom, M. Ward yesss please!
It a little bit depends on the type of cleaning but...
Nickel Creek
Jon Foreman
Lauryn Hill
Jason Robert Brown
etc.
Check them all out b/c they're all different!
sonatamusicdiary.blogspot.com
You cannot beat James Brown for cleaning.
...or for anything, really.
The Kinks - every album in a row
therapy4me: the geeger's name is spelled "Allin." Any fan worth their dirty jock strap knows that.
Kate Nash, Conor Oberst - Outer South and Self Titled albums, Rilo Kiley, Kate Nash Kate Nash Kate Nash (she gives me energy and makes me happy), and now Wailin' Jennys (because my 20-month-old will dance around the house with me).
I may get a public beat down for this, but my favorite cleaning mix has always been Shania Twain, Come On Over. From start to finish. So cheesy and so wonderful, all at once! I think that's the only time I ever listen to it, too. An old habit that I refuse to break!
We painted our first apartment - a very small studio - listing to the entire Beatles catalog. Worked like a charm.
Lately I've been cleaning to the beat of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass...nothing like cleaning up to Whipped Cream and Other Delights.
Also, on another note...if I were the girl in that photo, I would at least have shoes on while cleaning a dirty floor...cuz she's just stepping in all that dirt and tracking it around.
Wow, my life is overflowing with noise. I like silence when I clean! I feel so alone, now! ;^) (Hey, makes me feel like cleaning!) (NOT!)
jazz.fm ("Canada's Premier Jazz Staion", hehehe) Fabulous!
Where are the songs??? :(
Robert Palmer - Housework ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5FHmPZ3ZhY