The topic of discussion for this month is sleepy-time, and that which coaxes us into slumber. Namely, how music can coax one into slumber. This particular writer has experimented with many a ritual for the encouragement of sleep, and found that most come up short. Music is consistently the most persuasive agent. It is also one of the healthier options.

This all leads into Snore & Guzzle Radio Hour #8. However, we’re breaking protocol here and the radio hour this month is much more than an hour – we’re looking at 3 hours! This is what I like to call The Nap-time Trilogy. It should let you coast through an otherwise dreary afternoon in tranquility. Plus! We have a very special guest submission from Shawn & Yoshimi in Japan, otherwise known as the band Lullatone. Between raising a new baby named Niko, teaching school, and making instruments on a television show, these two somehow managed to find time to craft a guest podcast. Lullatone has a new album coming out soon, which I believe is filled with lullabies for their new baby.

The Radio Hour for October was curated for the accompaniment of nap-time. Or, to guide one into deep sleep. There are 3 stages of the nap-time mix, and each mix is meant for a different stage of drowsiness. Mildly drowsy, moderately drowsy and on-the-brink-of-dreamland drowsy. The first stage has songs with basic structure and coherency, and later in the mix, the songs gradually decay into ambience, white noise and dream logic. The selections avoid brass and piercing sounds, like harmonica. There are minimal drums, and when there is, it’s mostly brushes. Sounds lean toward fluidity like strings, acoustic guitar, bells and foreign tongues. Many of the songs sound like being suspended in water.

They say that what disturbs a baby at night is not night sounds, but the absence of sound. The sound one experiences in the watery amnion must be a comforting distraction. And when this is ripped away, it likely approaches trauma. The artists here vary from Japanese minimalism, lush jazz arrangements, experimental portuguese electronics, bedside blues, whispery folk, serenades from the 30s, French berceuse, new American ambient, impressionist, cradle songs, torch songs, lullabies and nocturnes. The tracklists are posted below.

Thank you Chad Oliveiri, Travis Johansen, Shawn, Yoshimi.

As for general Snore & Guzzle updates, you’ll see that the podcasts now have their own page. This should make for easier browsing for readers. No longer does one need to slog through the old update posts — all the podcasts are now archived on their own page, also available by navigating to the index column on the right side of this page.

~Michael Neault

Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,
Beloved from pole to pole.

~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Snore & Guzzle Radio Hour #8, parts 1-3 (left-click link to download)

Part I

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Part II

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Part III

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Bonus! Lullatone Naptime Mix

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Part I

White Rainbow – shanty town exclusive
Nat King Cole Trio – For All We Know
Bill Evans – blue in green
Jean Sibelius – Canzonetta, op.62a
Rebecca Pan – Bengawan Solo
Nuno Canavarro – 13 (untitled)
Billie Holiday – Violets For Your Furs
David Darling & The Wulu Bunun – Wulu Dream
João Gilberto – Valsa (Como São Lindos Os Youguis)
The Fleetwoods – You Mean Everything To Me
Gerry Mulligan – Night Lights
Nara Leão- O Amor Em Paz
Lullatone – Leaves Falling
Desolation Wilderness – Turquoise and Gold
The United States Of America – Love song for the dead Che
The Remote Viewer – To Completion
Jana Hunter – The Angler
Van Dyke Parks – Keep Me In Your Heart (Warren Zevon song)
Les Paul with Mary Ford – Just One More Chance

Part II

Nino Rota – L’Illusionista
Chet Baker – My Ideal
Kronos Quartet – Very Early
Lata Mangeshkar – Kuchh Dil Ne Kaha
Villa-Lobos – Suite Populaire Bresilienne #1 – Mazurka – Choros
Harry Nilsson – Lullaby In Ragtime
Ethan Rose – Song One
The Ink Spots – Maybe
Colleen – I’ll read you a story
Takagi Masakatsu – Fore
Rebecca Stark – Emptiness is a conductor
Edvar Grieg – At the Cradle
Amiina- Sexfaldur
Mississippi John Hurt – Oh Mary Don’t You Weep
Debussy – La fille aux Cheveux de Lin
Jimmy Giuffre – Come rain or come shine
Carl Orff – Siziliano

Part III

Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Flux
Khatchaturian – Gayne Ballet Suite
Tord Gustavsen Trio – Vesper
Brightblack Morning Light – Summer Hoof
Broadcast – Echo’s Answer
Julie London – Say It Isn’t So
Vincent Gallo – I Wrote This Song For The Girl Paris Hilton
Nilo Amaro e Seus Cantores de Ebano – Azulao
Carlos Salzedo – Short Stories In Music – Book II: Goldfish
Sylvia Telles – Chove la Fora
Frédéric Chopin – Valse 9
Gavin Bryars – Titanic Hymn (Autumn)
Lucien Boyer – Parlez Moi D’Amour
Mountains – Sewn One
Library Tapes – Repor
Bobby Burg and Nate Kinsella
Rachel’s – Air Conditioning/A Closed Feeling
Loren Dent – Work Song: Holmes Mill
Asuna – 昼下がり

Lullatone Naptime Mix

Colin Blunstone – Misty Roses
João Gilberto – Desde Que O Samba É Samba
Teacups – Birds
Sly Hats – Liquorice Nights
Django Reinhardt – To Each His Own Symphony
Caetano Veloso – Remelexo
David Byrne – Why
Julian Nation – We Are All Writers
Jimmie Rodgers – Lullaby Yodel
Nico – I’ll Keep It with Mine
Young Group – 11 Gatsu
Popo – Starry Night
The Langley Schools Music Project – To Know Him Is To Love Him
The Motifs – Every Way
Lullatone – Baby (Os Mutantes cover)
Happa no Ura Gawa Sisters – Arihara-san He
Maher Shalal Hash Baz – Post Office
Pierre Barouh & Francis Lai – Samba Saravah
Gary McFarland – More
Sora – Astrud