For Those About To Sleep
Last Sunday night, Spiritualized made me want to go to sleep. And thank goodness for that. Seeing the band play live, where leader Jason Pierce's weary croon and his bandmates' floating electric guitars and bleary keyboards come together in hazy majesty, made me realize how much I enjoy listening to the veteran British psych-rockers before going to bed. That might sound like damning with faint praise, but Pierce's gift for dense, woozy production and warm gospel melody is perfect for ensuring an almost mystical transition between awake and asleep. But Pierce isn't alone in making music perfect for when tired minds start to wander. Below are my top ten bedtime albums. Make sure to share yours!
1. Lazer Guided Melodies, Spiritualized
Probably Spiritualized's best album-though the new Songs in A & E, comes close, Lazer Guided Melodies feels like it was recorded from inside the womb--or an opium den.
2. Live At The Old Quarter, Houston, Texas, Townes Van Zandt
Rich in detail and character, Van Zandt's spare, dusty songs come across like the whiskey-wise work of a master storyteller. These live recordings are his most intimate set of tales.
3. Fakebook, Yo La Tengo
Hoboken's finest has always balanced its love of distorto free-for-alls with a winsome, folky side, which is nicely showcased here. Fakebook's collection of covers by the likes of Cat Stevens and John Cale is as cozy as an old quilt.
4. In A Silent Way, Miles Davis
Davis's most subdued electric effort consists of only two lengthy tracks, the aptly named "Shhh/Peaceful" and "In A Silent Way/It's About That Time." As background music, this whisper of an album is perfectly inoffensive, but without distraction its discreet charms become shimmeringly apparent.
5. The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, The Incredible String Band
An important freak-folk precursor, the ISB were masters of conjuring otherworldly beauty that was part Renaissance Faire, part mystical world music head trip.
6. A Jug Of Love, Mighty Baby
Reminiscent of a British Grateful Dead, Mighty Baby's underappreciated 1971 gem gives off a dusky, bucolic glow. The way Martin Stone's fluttering guitar curls in wisps around the band's gorgeous harmonies is reason enough to track this down.
7. Zeit, Tangerine Dream
I'm not sure that anything actually happens on this throbbing monolith from the Krautrock legends, but the dense, foreboding clouds of synth are what I imagine space sounds like.
8. Ilous & Decuyper, Ilous & Decupyer
A crystalline one-off by a forgotten French duo, this stunner features soaring, chiming guitar solos, le Beatles harmonies and pillowy acoustic guitar. For pure Gallic dreaminess, I'll take this over Air any night.
9. Mateo Solo Bien Se Lame, Eduardo Mateo
Mateo's been compared to a Uruguayan Nick Drake. But where Drake's poetic melancholia can be heavy crepuscular going, Mateo's gently lilting rhythms and slightly zonked Spanish-language singing goes over like sangria at midnight.
10. Dopesmoker, Sleep
Okay, Dopesmoker is dominated by the hour-long title track--a slab of slooooooow Sabbath riffs and stoner lyrics--but you can get good and lost in the smoky mists of guitarist Matt Pike's thick sheets of distortion and the seeming eternity between drum beats.
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