New Slaapwel! Sonmi451’s Ruis on CD. Comes with a Louis Reith print.

Dear Sleepyheads, 
I’m very happy to announce a new and essential addition to your bedroom (aka the room where the magic happens if you’re an mtv cribs dude). Slaapwel Records newest item is Sonmi451’s RUIS. It contains a cd, digital download and a Louis Reith print. Pricetag is 8 euro (+ shipping). It is also made in an edition of 500 copies. Sooo… if you want to have it, … (yes the pretty thing below), … then you should … 

BUY NOW
seriously, don’t sleep on it! 
(hahaha, you won’t believe how long i waited to make this joke!) 

But in all honesty, why I believe you should consider a purchase: Because it simply works! Put the cd on and drift off… The 32 minute piece is a wonderful walk along slowly pulsating sine waves, lingering piano loops, cradling strings and the solar warmth of little cracks, pops and soft hisses. At first it seems to be nothing more but a lovely track, “ordinary” prettiness, though once you are well in your bed, it becomes as essential as your pillow or your favorite blanket. It is probably the most efficient piece we’ve had the chance to release. A lush, soft and hypnotic path into unconsciousness. Also, the CD comes with artwork by dutch designer louis reith, because if you have to look for this cd on a daily basis, it’d better look good. Also, as a side note be sure to visit or ‘like’ our fancy facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/slaapwel. It’s good for our web 2.0 score.

Slaapwel Artists @ Amsterdam

12th en 13th of march 2010 Smart Project Space will host 2 evenings with 4 slaapwel artists. steinbrüchel, Greg Haines, Simon Scott and Machinefabriek will be playing on those occasions. More details are here. Unlike Leuven it doesn’t include a whole night, but you do get a bed to sit/lie in - much better than standing up!

Greg Haines - Komarovo review from AmbientBlog →

Slaapwel Records: new release by Greg Haines

Slaapwel Records is happy to announce a new release in its catalogue! Greg and I met at a show in London, at The Spitz. We instantly got along and ended up record shopping in Soho the day after. A year later he joined my band for a handful of shows through the UK. It was the only “real” tour I did in my life, but Greg made it a wonderful and extremely fun experience. A little later he released “Slumber Tides”, a stunning piece of contemporary classical music. Beautiful, melancholic strings with some electronic lights in it. Since then I’ve been nagging him to do a sleeping piece… it took him quite some time, but finally it’s here. A soothing piece with church organ, piano and tape recorders that takes you places. It’s been a while since his last solo effort, so i’m welcoming this both as a stunning piece of music, and as an excellent way to close my eyes & shut off my mind.

//wim

go to http://www.slaapwelrecords.com for details on how to order it. there’s no preview or stream, just trust me on this one…

Slaapwel Records Interview / ..and stuff

Slaapwel News

The wonderful Tokafi website has posted an article/interview on/with Slaapwel Records. So, if you want to read up, point your browser to http://www.tokafi.com/news/slaapwel-nothing-slow-fading-outro/.

I don’t know much about the next slaapwel record, but I’d expect it in March. That’s about all the other news that I can give.

Wixel news.

There’s a review in Italian, but since I don’t speak Italian.. i have no clue if it’s good or bad.

Wixel è un progetto belga capitanato da Wim Maesschalck. Lui vive a Bruxelles dove studia filosofia; magro, alto, zigomi in fuori, si può dire che la sua musica gli somigli molto.
Mi era capitato tra le mani il suo primo album, Heart, uscito nel 2006: in quell’occasione si trattava di pezzi di pop elettronico molto aggraziati.
Il collettivo Debonair (che raggruppa artisti musicali della zona di Bruxelles) ci ha creduto sin dall’inizio, e Wixel in questi anni è cresciuto molto. Wim ha fondato una piccola etichetta tematica, la Slaapwel, che offre musica creata appositamente per addormentarcisi dentro (?!). E infine ha messo insieme questo nuovo album, Somewhere Between the Sun & the Moon, che già dal titolo tradisce la principale ispirazione: si tratta di quel folk sbilenco prodotto da Phil Elvrum .
Naturalmente non è la sola ispirazione. Wixel attraversa diversi registri, con la stessa grazia e abilità di Peter Broderick . Un disco molto lento e delicato. Pezzi come “Vaarwel” sembrano abbozzi di brani dei Sigur Rós, mentre “You’ll be a warming wind…” con la dianomica a dettare la melodia, non può che rimandare ai primi múm (quelli più spontanei e meno pop, per capirci).
Filo conduttore resta questo folk lo-fi a cui si è già accennato: “Oudside your locked heart” e “Fatigas del querer” sono mini ballate, e “Nowhere” ha lo stampo Mt Eerie già dalle prime note.
L’erroe di fondo del disco è quindi forse di essere troppo attaccato ai riferimenti; ma è evidente il lavoro da perfezionista nella composizione ed esecuzione dei pezzi.
In questo caso questo quanto basta per essene sedotti.

ANDREA FIRRINCIELI

Also, we have some shows with wixel coming up. Consider yourselves invited.

26/02 Beurskafee - Brussel w/ The Bear That Wasn’t
07/03 Muziekinstrumentenmuseum - Brussel
19/03 Muziekcentrum Enschede - Enschede w/ Michael Nyman & Yuko
20/03 Muziekcentrum Frits Philips - Eindhoven w/ Michael Nyman & Yuko
21/03 Vredenburg - Utrecht w/ Michael Nyman & Yuko
17/04 CC Mechelen - Mechelen w/ Yuko

Steinbrüchel Reviews

Apparently the last slaapwel release got reviewed in Vital Weekly!

STEINBRUCHEL - HOME (CDR by Slaapwel Records)
“Being an occasional insomniac myself, I am of course more than happy with a label called Slaapwel Records, who presents music to fall asleep to - it’s a pity that I don’t have any means of playing in the bedroom, and to use earplugs is of course a bit odd. One guy called Wim, who runs the label, asks artiest friends to present music that is perhaps best described as boring. Steinbrüchel duly accepted the invitation and you have thirty-three minutes to fall asleep here, well, or to take a nap on the couch. The piece is based on guitar sounds by Daisuke Miyatani, this piece is a thirty-three minute sense of decay and fade out. The guitar sounds are present at the beginning, although even then covered in the usual dust of the computer, but then slowly drifts apart in an amorphous mass of sound, guitars becoming piano like sounds, which slows down and fades out. Of course I didn’t fall asleep, but then I played this in the morning after a some relatively good nights rest. Its music to get up well also. Once it has died out, one can start the day and play some more heavy music. Somehow I don’t think I will try this on falling asleep with. Maybe because it doesn’t seem right to do so. A work of art should be enjoyed, cherished, thought about, and not merely used to sleep by. This is a pretty nice release, best enjoyed when being awake. (FdW)”
Address: http://www.wixel.be/slaapwel

And also so one at the Smallfish Records site:
“Steinbruchel seems to have hit the form of his life at the moment (and that’s saying something, of course!) with a series of releases that are deep, sculptural and exquisitely formed. This 35 minute piece on the hitherto unavailable at Smallfish Slaapwel label, is a prime example of less-is-more as he takes a gentle guitar loop to begin with a gradually breaks it down into a processed texture that floats and drifts with ease. I love this sound and as much as I also love the more clinical, rhythmic and clicky sounds he produces, this, for me, is where he’s at his best. With only 100 copies (or less, possibly… I can’t remember) around you’ll want to make sure you grab it. A wonderful release and big thanks to the label for sorting me out with some copies.”

Siësta Sessions

Here’s something cool:

///////////////////////////////

“Siësta Session #2”
Zondag 9 november 2008 vanaf 2 uur / inkom 5 euro.
JasperTX (ambient, drone, noise, experimental…)
www.myspace.com/jaspertx

NL
Op Wikipedia is Jasper een stad in Jasper County, Texas, United States. Maar wij hebben het hier over de Zweed Dag Rosenqvist, die we ondermeer kennen van samenwerkingen met Machinefabriek. Het onvolprezen Belgische doe-het-zelf label “Slaapwel Records” bracht op zeer beperkte oplage (handwerk) een cd van hem uit: “The Quiet Season”. Muziek om zalig bij weg te dommelen, geknipt voor onze “Siësta Sessions”.
ENG
JasperTX (named after a city located in Texas) is also known as Dag Rosenqvist from Sweden. Apart from earlier releases under his name, he also released titles together with Rutger Zuyderveld (Machinefabriek) such as Vintermusik and Feberdröm. You can expect beautiful quiet drone music. One could easily drift off and fall asleep, but again this music is too interesting to do that. A world of surprices opens up when you concentrate on listening to it.
FR
Ce musicien/ingénieur du son Suédois offre une écoute qui ne perturberait le silence.
Son univers riche en sons chuchote des vagues en mouvement perpétuel. Comme une ballade sans but au travers de sons analogiques : guitare, voix, percussions, piano, bruitages, ..
Ecouter jasper TX, c’est se laisser bercer, sombrer dans son univers.

Met dank aan/ thanks to/ un grand merci à ;
“Slaapwel Records” Belgium.

DOORS: 2pm.
START: 3pm.
IN: 5euro.

more details at http://www.lesateliersclaus.com I, for one, will definitly be there. Last Siësta Session with Greg  Haines was amazing.

For those interested: kinky star show was megafun! Yeah!