Sleep music

Coming soon… morimoto naoki – soak

Here’s the second of our two new releases lined-up for the 12th of March. We’re pleased to be joined by Tokyo, Japan based artist morimoto naoki for this one, with an album that follows recent releases on Seil and ROHS! ‘Soak‘ will be out for pre-order this coming Bandcamp Friday, the 4th of March and the melancholy blend of light electronics, field recordings and manipulated acoustics makes this record a pleasant listen from start to finish.

‘Soak‘ will be available in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs, complete with photography by Harry Towell.

It will be released officially on Saturday the 12th of March. If you join our mailing list using the link below, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“morimoto naoki is an electronic and ambient composer from Tokyo in Japan, with previous releases on labels that include Seil, Inner Ocean and ROHS!. He started writing music around a decade ago and his approach draws in various instrument samples and every day sounds which he captures from his daily routines.

There is an undoubted influence from the Japanese ambient and electronica scenes and his restful, lightly fractured acoustic sound stands up to that of his peers. In this new record ‘Soak’, morimoto’s breathes a sense of warmth and stillness into the world as acoustic and electric guitars, synthesizers, toy pianos and metallophones are woven into a tapestry of beautiful tones. Field recordings add narrative whilst cassette tape recordings give further warmth and charm.

The concept for this record is to ‘soak’ the listener into the happenstances of daily life around them. The idea came about during the recording process as the field recordings were captured; morimoto found that listening to the world around him revealed many ambient textures that might normally go unnoticed. The process of trying to absorb these consciously felt like a ‘soaking’ process.“

credits
Written, Produced and Mastered by morimoto naoki
Photography by Harry Towell
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Coming soon… Letna – Starigrad

Here’s the first of two new releases lined-up for the 12th of March. For this edition, we welcome Paris, France based artist Letna, an artist who we’ve admired for many years, after we enjoyed his early netlabel releases on the likes of SEM and Zymogen many years ago. ‘Starigrad‘ will be out for pre-order this coming Bandcamp Friday, the 4th of March and the sounds are a restful blend of nostalgia and environmental bliss, with its fine details and soft drones.

‘Starigrad‘ will be available in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs, complete with photography by Harry Towell.

It will be released officially on Saturday the 12th of March. If you join our mailing list using the link below, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Letna is Serbian artist Saša Vojvodić based close to Paris in France, whose projects began in the netlabel scene in the early 2000s, with early releases appearing on Standard Klik, Zymogen and Eko. He went on to form the SEM label in 2007 alongside Alexandre Navarro, from which his first CD album ‘Adria’ was released. His first cassette appeared on the Sunshine Ltd label in 2013 and since then, he has self-released occasional works.

Saša has also collaborated, with music made alongside Steven Preston as Bridges Buildings, Alexandre Navarro as Redfish and David Sutorus as Zvezdara. It was the latter project that made Whitelabrecs reach out to Saša to see if he would be willing to create something for release on our label. 2005’s ‘The Dawn of New Possibilities’ is one of our all-time favourite netlabel releases and we are delighted to present ‘Starigrad’ which translates to old town.

This record aims to be both contemplative and nostalgic, as if a family member is recalling tales from the memories that are evoked by an old photo album. Different times and ways of life are revealed, as stories from an old town are shared. This album serves as a time capsule, containing both the fictitious memories and album concept, alongside Saša’s own tales, contained within these field recordings, cassette tape experiments, guitar pedal swells and the everyday sounds of his own family.“

credits
Written and produced by Sasa Vojvodic
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Photography by Harry Towell
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Coming soon… Andrew Heath – Quiet Noise

The second of our two new artist albums due for release on the 12th of February, is the next solo album by UK based composer Andrew Heath. ‘Quiet Noise‘ will be out for for pre-order this coming Bandcamp Friday, the 4th of February and the audio, clocking in at almost an hour, is a melting pot of serene electro-acoustic details.

‘Quiet Noise‘ will be available in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs, complete with collage artwork by Zoe Heath.

It will be released officially on Saturday the 12th of February. If you join our mailing list using the link below, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Andrew Heath is a UK-based soundscape artist and composer, who creates lower case ambient music based around piano, electronics and field recordings. His discography includes regular output on Toby Marks’ (Banco de Gaia’s) Disco Gecko label, along with contributions for White Paddy Mountain, Rusted Tone and Elm. He has collaborated with many artists, including Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Simon McCorry, Seigo Aoyama, Anne Chris Bakker and Mi Cosa de Resistance. With the latter two, the music has been released by Whitelabrecs, with How To Breathe Like a Stone and A Speechless Body respectively.

Andrew’s latest solo album, Quiet Noise, continues his obsession with small fragments of sound that we are continually surrounded by and exposed to in our everyday lives. Balancing these ‘lower case’ recordings with his fascination of texture and tone through extensive treatments and instruments such as piano and guitar, he explores this quiet and dreamlike world. Quiet Noise also develops a more recent trait in his work towards a warmer and more tonal sound. Andrew’s work is not static and is constantly changing, building and evolving as each piece in this stunning album unfolds.

Quiet Noise presented a perfect opportunity to work with his fellow collaborators within the side project, Konstruct and so thanks must go to cellist, Simon McCorry who adds a soulful elegance to the track Embers which opens this album and to Alexander Caminada (aka Phonsonic) for stunning and majestic, half-speed flute on the concluding piece, Building Mountains. The release is rounded off with packaging designed by Andrew himself, making use of the beautiful collage artwork produced by his wife Zoë.“

credits
Written, produced and mastered by Andrew Heath
Collage by Zoë Heath
Image manipulation and artwork by Andrew Heath

out now! various artists – sleeplaboratory3.0

Released today is a various artists compilation album called sleeplaboratory3.0. This is the third in the series, after a two year break and the concept for these albums is for the curated artists to produce their interpretation of sleep music. The result is CDr packed full of tracks designed to help induce the listener to sleep and this edition features work by the likes of Federico Mosconi, The Lifted Index, Stijn Hüwels, Tapes and Topographies, Andrew Heath and Ian Hawgood, who also mastered the album.

sleeplaboratory3.0 is out now in a run of 100 copies! The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“Sleeplaboratory3.0 is the third edition of Whitelabrecs’ long-standing concept compilation, a series that aims to induce the listener into a peaceful sleep. The series began in 2019 to mark the 50th release in the label’s catalog and was followed up with a second edition in 2020. It has seen contributions from the likes of Offthesky, Janek Schaefer, M.grig, The Green Kingdom, Warmth and Halftribe as well as artists from the label, including Mikael Lind, Gray Acres, Sven Laux, Glåsbird and Valotihkuu.

Sleeplaboratory compilations are typically released in January and after a two year break, 3.0 continues the themes established in the previous two records. Each artist in the line-up takes the brief of creating ‘sleep music’ and paints the sonic field with their own ideas. Some artists develop restful electro-acoustic compositions, whilst others sketch out soothing drones or vacant ambient textures. With a varied spectrum of warmth and cold, light and floaty, weighted and deep, this new collection features label-regulars such as Andrew Heath, blochemy and Pruski alongside the likes of Ian Hawgood, The Lifted Index, Federico Mosconi and Stijn Huwels. The track titles tend to tie back to the central album theme with words synonymous with rest, phases of sleep or calm places. This album can be experienced in many ways, such as at low volume with headphones, or streamed through hi-fi in a dimly lit room, consciously, or subconsciously.“

credits
All rights reserved with the artists
Mastered by Ian Hawgood
Curated by Harry Towell
Art and design by Tom Tebby

Coming soon… various artists – sleeplaboratory3.0

We kick off what is sure to be another exciting year of releases, with the long-awaited return of our Sleeplaboratory compilation series. We’ve had a two year break since the last edition, and we welcome 3.0 to the series, and a line-up including label artists such as Andrew Heath, Tapes and Topographies, Lauge and Simon McCorry as well as artists that are new to the label, such as Ian Hawgood, The Lifted Index, Federico Mosconi and Stijn Hüwels. This compilation album will be available for pre-order on Friday the 7th of January and if the previous two releases are anything to go by, this will be quick to sell-out.

‘sleeplaboratory3.0‘ will be available in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs, complete with art and design by Tom Tebby.

It will be released officially on Saturday the 15th of January. If you join our mailing list using the link below, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

credits
All rights reserved with the artists
Mastered by Ian Hawgood
Curated by Harry Towell
Art and design by Tom Tebby

Out Now! Various Artists – Sleeplaboratory1.0

In our first release of 2019, we’re pleased to be celebrating our 50th release since the label began 3 years ago! Sleeplaboratory1.0 is a concept album compilation in which we invited label artists and friends to create a piece of sleepy music. It’s out now in a run of 100 copies after having been released last weekend to our mailing list. We wanted the compilation to help relax and lull our listener and we’re delighted with the result – we hope you will be too. This one features artwork by our regular collaborator Federica Jeanne de Luca and sound art from a line-up which includes Janek Schaefer, Sven Laux, M. Grig, Maps and Diagrams and Daniela Orvin. The album is presented in a special gatefold-LP style CD, similar to the Paper Relics special edition we did last year. We love this style of packaging and so prepare to see more of this for 2019…

This album was announced to our mailing list last weekend and has done extremely well – we’ve only got 25 copies left! You can listen to the album in full by hitting play above or clicking the link below, where you can purchase a physical or digital version. To avoid missing out on our future releases, you can join our mailing list HERE

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/sleeplaboratory10

press release
Whitelabrecs began in January 2016 and since our first limited edition release three years ago, we’re proud to announce our fiftieth edition in the form of a special compilation album. Previously we’d released ‘Whitelabsounds’, which had no particular theme; a cross section of label artists and friends. This time, our label owner Harry Towell wanted to curate something with a specific theme so that this occasion was marked by a concept album.

‘Sleeplaboratory1.0’ is a sixteen track cross section of modern Ambient artists touching on everything from minimalist drone and modern classical cinematics to electro acoustic and synth influenced works. It is released in a run of 100 physical copies, as we’ve chosen to create a ‘gatefold LP’ styled CD package, complete with beautiful artwork provided over 4 panels by our regular collaborator Federica Jeanne de Luca. The album is also available digitally in a range of formats, carefully mastered by Tim Diagram who also contributes a track as Maps and Diagrams.

This album is intended as a relaxing companion for either conscious or sub-conscious listening, with contributing artists briefed to create something vacant which is likely to induce sleep. Harry selected the artists with the theme in mind and to help them understand his vision, he shared a link to Janek Schaefer’s ‘Lay-by Lullaby’ released on 12k back in 2014. It is an album which has been a huge part of his personal sleep routine, with him playing it at low volume on his iPod in bed ever since it was released so it seemed to be the perfect starting point.

Harry’s motivation behind creating this sleepy album was primarily due to his fascination on the relationship between Ambient music and sleep: Robert Rich, Max Richter and Tanner Menard all performed notable sleep concerts for starters. Harry was particularly honoured when Janek Schaefer agreed to provide the opening track to this accumulation of calming works and it was he that introduced the National Geographic edition at the time which had a large article about the science of sleep and how it sits in modern society.
Additionally, Harry was expecting the arrival of his first child during the production stages of Sleeplaboratory1.0 and he wanted the album to be particularly calming for babies.

We will not make any recommendation on how our listeners might best enjoy this record and so it’s down to you to choose the best environment to listen, whether this be late at night with headphones, on a loud system or perhaps played through Bluetooth speakers in and around your home.

credits
Curated by Harry Towell
Mastered by Tim Diagram
Artwork by Federica Jeanne de Luca

Coming soon…Various Artists – Sleeplaboratory1.0

Happy New Year to anyone who’s reading – we’re all set for 2019 as we plan an exciting schedule! We’re working on plans on a few new ideas but firstly, we’ve some celebrating to do: we’re about to achieve our 50th album release! Sleeplaboratory1.0 is a concept album compilation in which we invited label artists and friends to create a piece of sleepy music. It releases on January 26th 2019 in a run of 100 copies. We wanted the compilation to help relax and lull our listener and we’re delighted with the result – we hope you will be too. This one features artwork by our regular collaborator Federica Jeanne de Luca and sound art from a line-up which includes Janek Schaefer, Sven Laux, M. Grig, Maps and Diagrams and Daniela Orvin. The album is presented in a special gatefold-LP style CD, similar to the Paper Relics special edition we did last year. We love this style of packaging and we’re toying with the idea of making this option a more regular thing…

Whitelabrecs low-run releases will be made available suddenly without official release dates, meaning they’re likely to sell out fast. The best way to keep informed is to join our mailing list which can be located through our website menu.