Music to sleep by

December 6, 2004 8:28 PM

SpaceFilter: I know about space and cryosleep music to some degree. I listen to lots of interesting things at night, including ambient/space music, but I've yet to hear anything like sound effects in ST:TNG, etc. I don't want something "scary", if that makes any sense, or anything unpredictable. I also don't want obvious "white noise" - I am looking for ambient music with a definite positive or neutral tilt to it. I am also not overly interested in drone music... Any suggestions?
posted by arimathea to Grab Bag (16 answers total)

Check out Arovane, particularly this album.

More literally, try NASA's "Symphonies of the Planets.

Trust me on that Arovane album though.
posted by luckyclone at 8:59 PM on December 6, 2004

Good suggestions might be found in the following threads:

• Good sources for ambient/experimental mp3s?
• Peaceful, atmospheric instrumental music...?
• Anyone out there know any other good ambient/downtempo/chill out internet radio?

I'm not sure if this qualifies as space music, per se, but there are a ton of links to investigate.
posted by Danelope at 9:31 PM on December 6, 2004

The Forbidden Planet has a really good soundtrack; all electronic sounds, really spacey.
posted by interrobang at 9:59 PM on December 6, 2004

You've probably already heard it, but Brian Eno: Music for Airports is pretty decent.

Also, The Orb: Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld is awesome and uses sound effects throughout.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:07 PM on December 6, 2004 [1 favorite]

You've probably already heard it, but Brian Eno: Music for Airports is pretty decent.

I think that the general critical consensus is that Ambient 4: On Land is the zenith of Eno's ambient works. It's more naturalistic than "spacey", though. I suppose Eno represents the seminal work for this kind of music; if you haven't heard it, you should at least give it a try.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:44 PM on December 6, 2004

You might check out Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works, Volume 2. I think it was the New York Times that described it as "what the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey would sound like."
posted by letourneau at 4:15 AM on December 7, 2004

Robert Miles, 23am
posted by omidius at 6:23 AM on December 7, 2004

My favorite ambient record of all time is Sun Electric's 7.30.94, which was recorded live (!). Available at finer p2p institutions worldwide, since its out of print. If you're looking for something more active than synth washes, you might try the Space Night series on Elektrolux, which contains a nice sampling of Chill Out artists.

There are no weak releases on the Fax label, and according to their website, its all on the iTunes store

If you need further recommendations, drop me a line.
posted by softlord at 6:35 AM on December 7, 2004

You may like one of these:
Labradford
Boards of Canada
Zoviet France
Arovane (mentioned above)
posted by pepcorn at 6:44 AM on December 7, 2004

I'll second Zoviet France, although I suppose you could say it has a more industrial-mechanical than sci-fi feel to it.
posted by comraderaoul at 8:04 AM on December 7, 2004

get biosphere - substrata. now.
posted by timb at 10:03 AM on December 7, 2004

i would also recommend space - space
posted by timb at 10:07 AM on December 7, 2004

I think that Zoviet France might be a bit to industrial-mechanical (BTW: excellent description, raoul; i'm always flummoxed trying to describe them). Instead, you might be into a more recent project by one of their members, Rapoon. Especially check out "Vernal Crossing" and "The Kirghiz Light."

You might also be interested in Lull and Lustmord, especially "The Place Where the Black Stars Hang." One caveat: while I don't consider either to be particularly scary, they do tend towards the darker, wide-open space side of ambience rather than the lighter, new-agey ambient stuff that yoga teachers seem to be fond of...
posted by googly at 10:24 AM on December 7, 2004

Check out this thread about the great radio show "Music from the Hearts of Space".
posted by barjo at 12:40 PM on December 7, 2004

I definitely second the biosphere recommendation, though some of it can be creepy, and it may not always be unpredictable. Some other possibilities that come to mind are: Pete Namlook - Air 1+2, tetsuo inoue (and other FAX releases as softlord said - though I disagree that there are no weak releases; I think Namlook should spend more time on his albums instead of releasing several a year), Thomas Koner, Global Communication - 76:14, Gas, isan, monolake, pub, yagya - rhythm of snow, manual,

There is an ambient list on hyperreal. I haven't been on it for a few months, and in the last year or so there wasn't a tremendous amount of discussion traffic when I was on it (in fact, I hadn't even noticed until this post that I seem to not be on it - most of the traffic then seemed to be ads for shows and new releases). However, there are people still subscribed presumably, and some of them really know ambient music (and spacey stuff too). You could probably get much more specific, tailored, and obscure recommendations asking there than here. There are archives (and sub information) here

Of similar interest may be the hyperreal idm list, which is a little more lively.
posted by advil at 1:39 PM on December 7, 2004

may not always be unpredictable.

I meant: may not always be predictable. Also, about whether biosphere is creepy - what I should have said is that this will turn out to be up to your personal preferences. I find it tremendously relaxing and used to fall asleep to it all the time, but my s.o. finds it creepy. So I recommend that you get some anyways, because it is my favorite of all the things mentioned in this thread, most of which I have heard.
posted by advil at 1:53 PM on December 7, 2004