While sleeping, the self is present and absent at the same time. Separated from sensual experiences and evaluation, such impressions are processed. Despite their gentle and at times surreal nature, these tracks were not necessarily made with the idea of sleep or dreaming in mind; their dark ambient textures, however, are inspired by memories, sounds, or discoveries.
51-minute mix with works by Brian Eno, David Toop, Monolake, Thomas Köner and others.
Featured cover art: Brian Eno – Ambient 4 (On Land)
Listen also to
Filed Recordings – Miking the World (1958-2018)
Playlist ‘Sleep’
Brian Eno – Lizard Point
the opener for the final release in Brian Eno’s Ambient series is a reference to the most southerly tip of Britain, high above the sea; with the album Ambient 4 (On Land), Eno attempts to transpose into music what is already done in painting: creating a figurative environment (1982, Editions EG)
Alva Noto – Xerrox 2ndevol
inspired by childhood film memories from the 1970s, Carsten Nicolai’s album Xerrox Vol.3 is a personal reflection of dreams, or with the composers own words, a “cinematographic emotion of a soundtrack to a film that actually does not exist in reality” (2015, Raster-Noton)
Thomas Köner – Manhattan (Hour Five)
generating a zen-like feeling of eternity, Thomas Köner’s album La Barca is a sonic cartography of places the composer visited; the title refers to a vehicle used by the sun god Ra in ancient Egyptian mythology: his solar barque passed through the realms of the underworld each night to reappear in the east every morning (2009, Fario)
Osso Exótico – Rota de Inverno
slightly surreal and detached ambience by the drone music project from Portugal (1994, Sub Rosa)
Monolake – Allure Publison
from the dystopian cinematic electro-epic Archaeopteryx, based on the story about a bird-like dinosaur living in the age of AI (2020, Imbalance Computer Music)
Biosphere – Out Of The Cradle
imaginary music of a medieval queen hiding from invaders in the forests near Krakow, Poland (2016, Smalltown Supersound)
David Toop – Ancestral Beings, Sightless By Their Own Dust
guided by listening and with no particular route in mind, David Toop finds ways to arrange a large variety of old recordings from his archive (2016, Room 40)
Material – The End Of Words
mysterious Bedouin rhythms meet William S. Burroughs reading laconically from his 1987 novel The Western Lands (1989, Virgin)
David Wojnarowicz and Doug Bressler – American Dreamtime
the work by David Wojnarowicz and his former bandmate was presented via a cassette player buried in sand during Wojnarowicz’s Burning Child Installation at Gracie Mansion Gallery, which was painted black and lit with strings of Christmas lights for the occasion (1984, Tellus)
Gas – Rausch 1
initially based on childhood memories of walking through forests near Cologne, Wolfgang Voigt investigates German heritage under his moniker Gas since 1995 (2018, Kompakt)