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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. :-) 


Tuesday
Feb192008

steinbrüchel

Home by steinbrüchel

I got in touch with Ralph Steinbrüchel when he asked me about the first slaapwel release. As things usually go, one e-mail led to another and eventually steinbrüchel seemed the perfect artist to compose a piece that would be excellent at inviting sleep. He accepted my invitation and confirmed my assumption by sending me the excellent "Home" a few months after the invitation. As with all releases I have to "test" it before I can release it as a proper slaapwel record. For this one I remember receiving the disc, deciding not to wait until it was bedtime, but rather play it on my home stereo, while lying in that big comfy sofa in my apartment. The sun was just right at that spot where its warmth spreads all over the sofa and was shining through my eyelids. That natural warmth - electrical heating cannot be compared to the generous warmth of the sun, no doubt - combined with the hissy guitarswirls of steinbrüchel turned out to be a perfect match. It sounds like a guitar that wanders through the forest without any goal or destination. Just floating, aimlessly. It's melodic yet there's no melody to be found. As far as comparisons go I would say Fennesz during his Venice days, or maybe like Mountains or other 12k artists. Also; "Pup" by Fenton might be a good comparision. But of course, the best thing you should do is simply put this record on, maybe on a winter day when the sun is able to break through the clouds. And just drift off..

MP3/FLAC download available

 

slaapwel iv • sold out • released 06.10.2008 • limited edition (150) •

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