DJ Olive
Sleep

[The Agriculture; 2006]

Styles: ambient/post-ambient
Others: Once 11, LLoop, William Basinski

When you’re going in for a nap, there is one important guideline to keep in mind: if you sleep for an hour, you’ll hit REM and actually be more tired than before, but if you just sleep for 30 minutes, you might’ve wasted your time altogether. Seemingly aware of this, DJ Olive of We™ fame set his 2001 post-ambient turntable session, dubbed simply Sleep, to an ideal 48 minutes. So it’s not just a clever title. Sleep (which comes with the written instructions "This is a sleeping pill. Please listen to it quietly.") is designed to make you somewhat unconscious while striking you subconsciously, in your most impressionable state, through textured, filtered synths and graceful flourishes allegedly produced from a turntable. Of course, that does make it kinda annoying to review when you can’t keep your eyes open for ten minutes straight. As such, this album probably wouldn’t go over too well at your next house party, but this is the ultimate comedown album. Just be sure to use it wisely.

1. Sleep