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About

Slaapwel Records is a small record label specialized in music to fall asleep to.

Wim Maesschalck aka Wixel, who started the label, often found himself lying awake in bed, not sleepy enough to fall asleep, not lively enough to keep doing stuff. He figured it would be good if there was more music that soundtracks the thin border between being asleep and lying awake, deliberately choosing the sleepy side of things. So he set out, looking for people that would be good at making mind-soothing songs.

He asked them to write a sleep-inducing record, he listened to it, and when he failed to reach the end because he fell asleep, he released it as a musical record. All artists are various people he met through the years, different yet all connected with their unique talent, yet all very good at making "boring" music. This is not an insult.

"I love their music to death and I think they are all very capable of making wonderful sleep-inducing songs. In any case, don't make too much of it. It is all just good fun. Sleepy fun."

And that is still the philosophy of Slaapwel Records today. 

 

Demo Policy

We're really humbled by all the requests for releasing a record.

It's very flattering you think Slaapwel could be a good home, but, in all honesty: if you made an album and you're looking for a label to release it: Slaapwel can't do that for you.

Slaapwel only releases albums specifically made for people to fall asleep to. Much like scientists, we do a test with each submission before releasing it.

If you want to make something special, feel free to send it over. We promise we'll try it out, if it works, we'll get back to you, if it doesn't, we prefer staying quiet because it is no fun to say it didn't work. :-) 


Elsewhere
Tuesday
Dec132011

Best of 2011 According to Slaapwel Artists

Because it's an undeniable fact a year can not end properly until everyone has posted their year end lists, I asked all artists from the slaapwel roster what their favorites are. Some gave me a top 5 sleepy records, others chose records they listened to the most in 2011 - even if they were old records - so by no means is it a very coherent list, but no doubt the records you see here are worth checking out if you're into Slaapwel-ish music.

If you look at those lists, it seems like I should be talking to Nils Frahm, Jefre-Cantu Ledesma & Cory Allen sometime soon :)

Special thanks to Simon, who took time to give a little review as well - check for those at the bottom! 

STEINBRÜCHEL (Top 5 sleepy records with occasional waking up from 2011)
Cory Allen - Pearls
Matty Bye - Elephant & Castle
Machinefabriek - Sol Sketches
In The Country - Sounds and Sights
Nils Frahm - Felt

PETER BRODERICK (Top 5 records for drifting off released in 2011)
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Conversations With Myself
A Winged Victory For The Sullen - s/t
Machinefabriek - Sol Sketches
Félicia Atkinson - The driver
Nils Frahm - Felt

MACHINEFABRIEK (Top 5 sleep records from 2011)
Cory Allen - Pearls
Nils Frahm - Felt
Michael Gordon / Slagwerk Den Haag - Timber
Köhn - Random Patterns
Jefre Cantu Ledesma - Conversations With Myself

SIMON SCOTT (Top 5 records to sleep to in 2011)
Steinbrüchel - Narrow
Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer - In Place Of Such Graceful Shapes
Steve Roden - Proximities
Seaworthy - 1887 & Live In Melbourne
Intrusion - The Seduction of Silence

WOUTER VAN VELDHOVEN (Top 5 records to sleep to in 2011)
Tsukimono - Time Canvas
Hauschka + Hildur Guðnadóttir - Pan Tone
Simon Scott - Bunny
Mark Fry / The A-Lords - I Lived in Trees
Alvin Curran - For Cornelius

THE BOATS (Craig's Top 5 to sleep to in 2011)
William Basinski - A Red Score In Tile
Richard Gins - Sea Change
Tape Loop Orchestra - Maybe I Told A Small Lie
St Kilda - 'EP'
Scott Morrison - Ballad(s) For Quiet Horizons

SONMI451 (Top 5 Discovered records in 2011)
Various Artists - Kanshin (Kanshin.bandcamp.com)
Relmic Statute - A Cognitive Trail Of Abstraction
Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
Fujita Masayoshi & Jan Jelinek - Bird, Lake, Objects
Scissors & Cellotape - Scissors & Cellotape

GREG HAINES (5 records bought and loved in 2011)
The Books - The Way Out
Pollen Trio - Roll Slow 
King Tubby - Dub Mix Up 
Tom Waits - The Black Rider
Terry Riley - Lisbon Concert

JASPER TX (Favorite records in 2011)
Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade
Pete Swanson - Feelings In America
At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul
Entombed - Wolverine Blues
Dark Throne - A Blaze In The Northern Sky

SIMON SCOTT'S Reviews
Narrow by Steinbruchel (Room40) 
I love the form and flow of this album and the way that time stands still as it spatially rocks you gently to sleep. Perfect for falling into a deep slumber as there is little information in between the tranquil notes and lightly fuzzed out tones to join up the mental dots in your falling asleep state. I can listen to Steinbruchel's various releases in any environment, I actually listen to it very loud in the car (just in case), but the space and simplicity within his arrangements on this album allow you to tune out of the music. You submissively allow it to become a backdrop to fall asleep to, a musical blanket that is very organic. Wearing headphones you can sometimes hear your own deep breath enter the mix and through speakers your personal listening environment floats in and out of this music. I think the furthest I have got listening to this at bedtime is track three.

In A Place Of Such Graceful Shapes by Taylor Deupree And Marcus Fischer (12k)
The CD is perfect for going to bed with as the 7" single requires the physical act of turning over the record and my turntable isn't beside my bed unfortunately. Amazing from start to finish and I must admit that I usually fall asleep to this as it is ending. It is a real treat to have met them both and seen them play live together twice in 2011.

Proximities by Steve Roden (Line)
I love Steve Roden and also Donald Judd (I must visit Marfa one day) so this release is a win-win combination.

1887 & Live In Melbourne by Seaworthy (12K)
Seaworthy's album 1887 and the Live In Melbourne track have helped me drift off whilst imagining that I lay on some sun drenched shoreline in the warm breeze as I fell asleep during this year. The releases aren't from 2011, as it took me a while to track down these out of print CD's, but once found they were always on during 2011

Intrusion- The Seduction of Silence (Echospace)
Deep and sumptuous music that reminds me of echo bay in Jamaica.


DateTuesday, December 13, 2011 at 21:22
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