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I've been listening to music during sleep for as long as I can remember.
Long before I ever discovered there was such a thing as "ambient music," or even music specifically intended to be used in a passive or atmospheric role, I played music to help the veil of sleep fall around me. When I was a child I used to play classical music stations I'd recorded on cassette to help me sleep. Later, I would record quiet passages from rock or folk music I liked onto cassettes that I could play before going to bed—DIY sampling, it could be considered, I suppose. I also enjoyed playing books on cassette at low volumes before slumber—the droning of a man or woman's voice was often enough to aid the passage to a little death for the night. And, before any of this, there was the soothing tones of a humidifier's engine, a constant companion to my sick bed, and a long-ago machinery that played songs I'd never heard before, all hidden inside the hiss and moan of the motor.
It wasn't until the early nineties when I discovered real ambient music suited for the purpose of lying down and listening. It felt finally natural to take to my bed after starting the CD player and allowing the soft music to carry my mind forth for a while until sleep took hold. This mix, That Beautiful Land of Nod, is the product of over twelve years of "field research" in ambient sleep music. All of the selections, new and old, on these two discs, are pieces of music I have personally played in the times before and during sleep. They are also favorites of my wife, and devoid of anything outwardly spooky, so rest easy if you, like her, have an aversion to such things. Each track is special to me, these soothing zones, as they have not only brought me hours of comforted sleep, but also tantalizing, never-lasting minutes of wild and wonderful imagery in those moments before unconsciousness occurs. Each track maps a route across my consciousness over twelve years of sleep listening.
It is my honest hope that this becomes the mix you never fully listen to—if you are at all like me, you'll be asleep by track five or six every time. So, please, draw the shades, relax, pleasant dreams....
That Beautiful Land of Nod—Disc One (1:10:33)
1. "Seascape" (edit) by Robert Rich from Trances/Drones
2. "When the Morning Light Exits" by Koda from Movements
3. "Wave and Sepia Wire" by Scott Solter from One River
4. "Mist" by Thom Brennan from Mist
5. "The Sky Below" by Jeffrey Fayman and Robert Fripp from A Temple in the Clouds
6. "Noodle #1" by MLO from Io
7. "Ambient to be Here" by Heavenly Music Corporation from In a Garden of Eden
8. "The Art of Dream" (edit) by Pete Namlook & Tetsu Inoue from 2350 Broadway 2
9. "Soma 1" (edit) by Klaus Wiese from Soma
10. "Queen's Road Cemetery - 28th March 2005" by Rameses III from Matanuska
11. "Wind on Wind" by Fripp & Eno from Evening Star
12. "Stratos" by Jonn Serrie from And the Stars Go with You
That Beautiful Land of Nod—Disc Two (1:08:23)
1. "Dx-Snth" by Jochem Paap from Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 2
2 "The Color of Wind 1" by Jason Sloan from Still
3. "Dark Mist, Rain" by Sam Rosenthal & VidnaObmana from Terrace of Memories
4. "Crimsworth" (edit) by Bill Nelson from Crimsworth
5. "Surrender" (edit) by James Johnson from Surrender
6. "#19" (edit) by Aphex Twin from Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2
7. "Vitamin K" (edit) by Rod Modell & Michael Mantra from Sonic Continuum
8. "Autocaz" by Ruxpin from Midnight Drive
9. "Spheres" by Never Known from On the Edge of Forever
10. "Let the Nightsky Envelope Us" by Oöphoi from Hymns to a Silent Sky
11. "Through the Void" by Mathias Grassow from The Fragrance of Eternal Roses
12. "The Ghost Ship" (edit) by Aloof Proof from Expo Two: Piano Text
13. "Approaching Silence" (edit) by David Sylvian from Approaching Silence
14. "Towards the Blue" by Steve Roach from Quiet Music
Long before I ever discovered there was such a thing as "ambient music," or even music specifically intended to be used in a passive or atmospheric role, I played music to help the veil of sleep fall around me. When I was a child I used to play classical music stations I'd recorded on cassette to help me sleep. Later, I would record quiet passages from rock or folk music I liked onto cassettes that I could play before going to bed—DIY sampling, it could be considered, I suppose. I also enjoyed playing books on cassette at low volumes before slumber—the droning of a man or woman's voice was often enough to aid the passage to a little death for the night. And, before any of this, there was the soothing tones of a humidifier's engine, a constant companion to my sick bed, and a long-ago machinery that played songs I'd never heard before, all hidden inside the hiss and moan of the motor.
It wasn't until the early nineties when I discovered real ambient music suited for the purpose of lying down and listening. It felt finally natural to take to my bed after starting the CD player and allowing the soft music to carry my mind forth for a while until sleep took hold. This mix, That Beautiful Land of Nod, is the product of over twelve years of "field research" in ambient sleep music. All of the selections, new and old, on these two discs, are pieces of music I have personally played in the times before and during sleep. They are also favorites of my wife, and devoid of anything outwardly spooky, so rest easy if you, like her, have an aversion to such things. Each track is special to me, these soothing zones, as they have not only brought me hours of comforted sleep, but also tantalizing, never-lasting minutes of wild and wonderful imagery in those moments before unconsciousness occurs. Each track maps a route across my consciousness over twelve years of sleep listening.
It is my honest hope that this becomes the mix you never fully listen to—if you are at all like me, you'll be asleep by track five or six every time. So, please, draw the shades, relax, pleasant dreams....
That Beautiful Land of Nod—Disc One (1:10:33)
1. "Seascape" (edit) by Robert Rich from Trances/Drones
2. "When the Morning Light Exits" by Koda from Movements
3. "Wave and Sepia Wire" by Scott Solter from One River
4. "Mist" by Thom Brennan from Mist
5. "The Sky Below" by Jeffrey Fayman and Robert Fripp from A Temple in the Clouds
6. "Noodle #1" by MLO from Io
7. "Ambient to be Here" by Heavenly Music Corporation from In a Garden of Eden
8. "The Art of Dream" (edit) by Pete Namlook & Tetsu Inoue from 2350 Broadway 2
9. "Soma 1" (edit) by Klaus Wiese from Soma
10. "Queen's Road Cemetery - 28th March 2005" by Rameses III from Matanuska
11. "Wind on Wind" by Fripp & Eno from Evening Star
12. "Stratos" by Jonn Serrie from And the Stars Go with You
That Beautiful Land of Nod—Disc Two (1:08:23)
1. "Dx-Snth" by Jochem Paap from Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 2
2 "The Color of Wind 1" by Jason Sloan from Still
3. "Dark Mist, Rain" by Sam Rosenthal & VidnaObmana from Terrace of Memories
4. "Crimsworth" (edit) by Bill Nelson from Crimsworth
5. "Surrender" (edit) by James Johnson from Surrender
6. "#19" (edit) by Aphex Twin from Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2
7. "Vitamin K" (edit) by Rod Modell & Michael Mantra from Sonic Continuum
8. "Autocaz" by Ruxpin from Midnight Drive
9. "Spheres" by Never Known from On the Edge of Forever
10. "Let the Nightsky Envelope Us" by Oöphoi from Hymns to a Silent Sky
11. "Through the Void" by Mathias Grassow from The Fragrance of Eternal Roses
12. "The Ghost Ship" (edit) by Aloof Proof from Expo Two: Piano Text
13. "Approaching Silence" (edit) by David Sylvian from Approaching Silence
14. "Towards the Blue" by Steve Roach from Quiet Music
sleepy
I don't know why, but I keep thinking about how tall you are!
that is strange
http://www.fantagraphics.com/artist/wei
I'm enjoying Kid Firechief a lot
thank you darling.
xo
Many of these tracks have a lullaby, "breathing" quality that I hadn't noticed until I mixed them all together like this.
but when I was 14, it might have been instead Grand Funk Railroad's "I'm Your Captain".
19 [stone in focus] a.k.a. #19 10:05 - / E-2 (Limited Edition vinyl only — see Notes)
I though for sure that track was going to be Lichen. Ugh, I have to find a copy of this now.
Here's the only place it's on CD.
I'll give it a try tonight. These days it takes something prescription-strength to make me sleepy before midnight.
thank you.
do you feel like a chatz?
But tomorrow evening?
thanks
;D
Glad you're enjoying this. I enjoyed Your Vice Is a Locked Room ..., after the first half-hour, anyway. (I am catching up on old movie recs via Netflix.) Fenech really was enough to keep me interested—va va voom!
I just finished d/l-ing part II, it sounds lovely. Thoughtfully mixed too.
We used to play music a lot during sleep, but I found that it ended up waking us up more often than allowing us to sleep.
How's that Remote Viewer? I don't have that one. I've heard the first self-titled one and it was incredibly cool... and I have "You're going to love our defeatist attitude" which is good, but not especially engaging.
I much prefer their other project, The Boats, I think. More gentle and pretty and with nice vocals from time to time.
you're making me feel progressively more courageous about posting one of my own mixes, sometime soon.
it seems we really discovered the underground ambient scene at around the same time. i loved 'new age' music in the late eighties, patrick o'hearn and constance demby and such, it kind of dropped off when i was in high school--but picked up again when i (by accident) discovered robert rich. my first by him was the roach collaboration 'strata,' but the one that stuck was 'trances and drones.'
i'm wondering if the time frame is why we have so many curious commonalities in our music collections. had you amassed a collection of bimonthly anomalous records tinyprint catalogs in your desk's pencil drawer by 1997, too? :-)
The earliest ambient I got in the new age arena was the HoS MBNT compilation I think, which sent me down the right road. Very good tracks on there. I also really loved Encounter by Michael Stearns which I got around the same time.
The underground stuff came via a lot of Projekt's and Soleilmoon's mail order catalogs, hence the Italian scene and all those etcs.
the mix and anomalous
D/l the 'nod' mixes now. Was happy to see that one of ours (Koda) made the cut. Now to listen to it in context of the full mix... J / infraction
Hope you like the mixes! Koda has been one of my most frequent recent sleep discs. Great stuff, and I hope to see some more albums from him.
The test of Time3
The placement of some of these tracks are perfect. For example, Jochem Paap's Dx-Snth is an excellent opening piece as it slowly comes into existence. Aphex Twin's Stone in Focus carries you gently as he ever so slightly changes the samples. Pure genius. Aloof Proof's The Ghost Ship adds that dark but bright dimension to the landscape. And the finishing with the master, Steve Roach, truly tells the entire story.
You shouldn't stop here.
As for sleep effect, I don't see how people can sleep to such beautiful sounds :)