I vaguely remember a "Music to Make Love to" thread here several years ago (or was that another discussion group?). Sleeping is next in line, in terms of import, so here goes... Do you listen to music at night to help you sleep?

Last November my wife and I were at a resort in Naples and we both decided to get deep tissue massages in the spa. The 4'9" massage therapist who twisted me up like a pretzel put on some music at the beginning of our session that really had a dramatic effect on me. It was one of those New Age-y, "lapping water and tinkling bell" CD's that massage therapists always seem to put on-- the kind of stuff I reckon might be on a shelf next to a Deepak Chopra audio book. When the opening strains of the CD began to play, I sorta rolled my eyes and laughed to myself, as the little lady began plowing into my clavicle with her elbow. The weird thing is, about 5 minutes into this massage, I really started tripping on this CD... and I swear no drugs or alcohol were involved. There was just something so inviting about the textures and combination of instruments. I didn't fall asleep, but I found myself being completely quieted by the sounds. In fact when she finished, the first thing I asked her, behind glazed eyes, was "what WAS that music?"

The album was Garden of Serenity II by David and Steve Gordon and I went out immediately afterward and bought it. I was surprised to find that it had a similar effect on me when I played it at home. My wife agreed. In fact, neither one of us has ever actually heard the whole CD, which clocks in at 70+ mins. Usually by the second track we're both exiting the land of the living and being jettisoned into La La Land. It's a marvelous thing. Since we found that disc, we've tried a few others that were nice, but nothing that seems to have the power as the 'ol Garden of Serenity. We tried Garden of Serenity III and it was a complete bust. Too much melody and other stuff going on.

So what is it that makes an effective relaxation/sleep album? I listen to a fair amount of ambient music and most of the stuff in that genre doesnt seem to work that well for me. There's either too much going on instrumentally, or there are just distracting and annoying tones being repeated throughout. I've since found that it really takes a different approach to make effective relaxation music.

Anyone else here listen to music when going to sleep? Favorites?

Michael W. Smith's The Big Picture used to reliably put me to sleep back in college.

Funny. Rocketown used to have me pining for the big sleep.

I tend to gravitate toward mellow, folky stuff-- Over the Rhine, Innocence Mission.

I tried Joe Henry's "Scar" a few times, but it led to some really weird dreams.

I fell asleep once listening to Sparklehorse, Good Morning Spider. I thought my house was falling down.

I used to put the headphones on and fall asleep listening to music. Eno was a favorite. I rarely put music on now. but if I do it is something like Anouar Ibrahim or ECM Jazz, the occasional Debussy.

Two things. One, I've found that there's a distinct correlation between the two threads. And two, it cracks me up to think of you listenening to a CD called Garden of Serenity.

Anyway, Philip Glass, particularly the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack, and Music in 12 Parts, seems to work very well. The notes only change about once every ten minutes or so, so there's a marvelous pulse/drone that I find better than any lullaby. Also, almost anything by the contemporary worship band Aradhna. I realize that "worship" and "sleep" are typically not paired together, but it works for me.

Oftentimes, when I was trying to go to sleep -- or was experiencing a migraine, for which sleep was the only real cure -- I'd listen to albums such as:

• Vidna Obmana - The River Of Appearances
• Steve Roach - Structures From Silence
• Pan-American - 360 Business / 360 Bypass
• Bowery Electric - Beat
• July Skies - Dreaming Of Spires
• Robert Rich - Propagation
• Seefeel - Quique
• Labradford - Fixed::Context

I once fell asleep listening to Lucid's Idylls and the Secret Remain, but that led to some really odd dreams, so I had to put that one back on the shelf.

Lately, though, the challenge has been getting our teething nine-month-old to sleep, and for that, 360 Business / 360 Bypass and The Innocence Mission's Now That The Day Is Over have proven fairly effective.

I turn on the radio in bed and put in an earpiece, but I usually listen to static-filled AM talk radio. It's fairly predictable, and puts me out in about five minutes. But sometimes, when the static overwhelms the voices, I'll switch to FM and scroll up to the far end of the dial in search of one of DC's dreary and dull adult contemporary stations. Trick is, the one I seek often doesn't come in well at night -- not even on FM -- but the station next to it, which is a male-oriented talker, comes in fine.

And what show do they play at 10 p.m.? "Loveline," hosted by Dr. Drew and some guy named Striker (used to be Adam Corolla many years ago, when I first discovered the show). I mention this because it's difficult to fall asleep when, despite the hosts' efforts to keep things humorous, one 14-year-old after the next calls in to ask about their 8th sexual partner. And the hosts never bat an eye, so to speak. I guess there's nothing unusual about those calls. I hear the show maybe once every three weeks, and the callers are always in the same age range, and they ask about the same problems. If I recall, it was pretty much the same deal when I first heard the show a decade ago, or thereabouts.

I used to listen to Dr. Drew late at night on the radio with my headphones when I was a teen...I was actually sorta terrified of (and mystified by) the sex-talk, but liked some of the music their had on in between the shows.

I can and do fall asleep to anything these days, but I prefer some types of music to others. Space rock of any stripe works well, and I've been listening to a lot of stuff like Dolorean and Idaho. Really, Dolorean's Not Exotic is perfect.

There's also this weird tradition I forced on myself when I was a teen: Christmas Eve, the last five tracks or so of Mannheim Steamroller's second Christmas album, Christmas lights, sleep. It's amazing.

I know, i know.... But grab a copy and you will no longer be laughing amigo, but sawing thru logs like Paul Bunyan on Ibogaine! Seriously, the first track is all you need... It's 18 mins long, has plenty of lapping water/babbling brook sound effects, windchimes and some kind of corny Asian wind instrument moaning like a peacock in heat. But the magic of it lies somewhere else and I havent quite figured it out yet. Maybe I dont want to. Maybe there's some kind sick subliminal junk embedded in the tracks or a barrage of satanic backwards messages. Whatever it is, I'll tell ya, this thing does far more than help you doze; for some odd reason it makes you fall deeply into sleep, very quickly. Ever had surgery and had the anesthesiologist make you count backwards from 100? You get to about 97 before you drop right into oblivion and the next thing you know, it's morning and you're wondering what the hell happened. That's this CD, my friends. No joke.

For fans of ambient/post-rock stuff, I just discovered a guy named Sumner McKane who creates some incredibly dreamy (but not cheesy) soundscapes. His latest is called What a Great Place To Be and is filled with some gorgeous, chiming guitar work and a lot more chops and variety than you'll find in your typical post-rock. I hate to mention this guy in a thread about "Sleep Music" because there's considerable craft here, but because of the pastoral tone of the album i decided to try it the other night in place of my beloved Garden. It worked OK. Perhaps a little too much going on musically to be really effective for dozing.

Others I've tried recently: Library Tapes', A Summer Beneath the Trees, Nest, and The Ghost Orchid (dreamy but far too much percussion for total relaxation)

I can't sleep to music, unless I'm really out of it. If I need audio support for sleep, I use white noise or one of those 'guided' tracks (you know: "you are at peace, with all the troubles of the day subsiding. Your body is relaxed...."). Once, on a Lufthansa return flight from Munich, the airplane had one audio channel devoted to this. I was out in a flash and slept most of the trip.

When I look for "calming" music, in college friends and I favored the soundtrack to The Mission, and Enya's first album (the only one I can even listen to any more).

coltrane: I highly recommend the work of Adam Forkner, who records as White Rainbow. His new disc "Sky Drifts Drips" is a good place to start. Have a listen.

I haven't played music to put me to sleep since before I got married, but back in the day...

In my teens, I frequently used Vangelis's soundtrack to Chariots of Fire. (My father also rented Star Wars and copied the audio track to a couple of 60-minute tapes, so I played that, too, and became extremely familiar with the SOUND of the film, though it wasn't until I bought the video several years later that I became similarly familiar with the VISUALS of the film. I also came to associate certain scenes with the act of flipping or switching the audio cassette.)

In my twenties, I frequently used the soundtrack to The Last Emperor, by Ryiuchi Sakamoto and David Byrne.

what -- no coldplay?

I just got Confluence, the latest from Manual, and it's full of glacier-sized drifts of sound, which might make it good for bedtime soundtracks.

Also, when I was a kid, my brother and I used to go to sleep listening to Switched On Bach and other similar records. Which might explain why I have such a fondness for William Orbit's Pieces In A Modern Style.

I actually like that a lot. The problem is I can't sleep to any music with percussion. Makes my heart race...

I used to put Bach's flute sonatas on the CD player and drift off... More recently, lute music has done the trick, I think because the instrument itself is very quiet, and most pieces are on the "gentle" side.

okay, then how about VALET? No drums!

One perfect album to dream and fall asleep on...

OK, so I tried last night. I fell asleep to Phil Keaggy's Lights of Madrid. (I was on a train from Madrid to Barcelona and very tired.)

Reminds me a great deal of Stars of the Lid. And Their Refinement of the Decline is a favorite choice for me to fall asleep to, especially the first disc.

Also very fond of Amiina's Kurr; this one can, however, inspire strange dreams.

Any Max Richter is brilliant sleeping music, at least for me. Repetitive, melodic, subtle, it almost never has a wrong turn that will wake me up from near sleep.

I'll second both those choices.

I used to fall asleep to the first Mazzy Star album which was almost perfect for the job except that the last song would always jolt me awake with it's caustic guitar distortion and assertive drum thumps.

Ayub Ogada's En Mana Kuoyo is a great sleepytime album

This may sound counter-intuitive, but in High School/College listening to harcore would do the trick. I would put on something really heavy (e.g. Zao, Strongarm) and focus on one instrument, usually the bass. The repetetiveness of it had me out in a couple of songs.

That was only for nap time.

In college, my roommate and I always choose one or two songs for our "goodnight music". Sometimes it was the new-agey Lorena McKennit (sp?). I think she is somehow related to Enya. Mostly we would listen to second-wave emo. Sometimes it was Beautiful Charade by Camber. More often than not it was the first the Gloria Record ep. More so, when I finally had my own room I kept this up and used it as my alarm clock as well.

I don't fall asleep to music very often any more: I don't nap, I don't travel by a medium that I'm not steering, and I usually read or watch tv before bed. A couple of weeks ago I listened to Mount Eerie. Mark Kozelek in all his incarnations does the trick. Beach House and Songs: Ohia have the necessary drone as well.