Sleep Research Facility Stealth Rarlab
SleepResearch_Facility (sometimes abbreviated to SR_F or SRF) is a dark ambient artist from Glasgow, Scotland, specializing in sleep-conducive beatless ambient music which is both artistic as well as functional.
SLEEP RESEARCH FACILITY Stealth 2 x CD (CSR159CD) £12 / £13 / £14 Shipping: 9th April Sublime new album from the drone / dark ambient legend. “Stealth” presents itself as an exploration of sounds neither here nor there, textures camouflaged against their own background noise, and the distant crackling telemetric code-speak of a vague humanity hidden behind a cloak of deadly high.
SleepResearch_Facility | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kevin Doherty |
| Origin | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Genres | Ambient, Dark ambient |
| Years active | 2000[1] to present |
| Labels | Cold Spring, Manifold |
| Website | http://www.resonance-net.com/ |
Overview
SleepResearch_Facility consists of the single band member Kevin Doherty. His music usually contains no rhythmic elements (one exception is '2.5' on Dead Weather Machine), but instead relies on spacious, extended, richly-textured sounds. Occasionally, true 'musical' elements appear in his work, such as sustained chords (in 'c-deck' on Nostromo for example), but the majority of his compositions consist of evolving layers of manipulated noise and mechanical drones. He deliberately attempts to avoid any sonic elements which would be likely to disturb a sleepy or sleeping listener, such as sudden loud noises.[2]
The music of SR_F is also intended to create an aural environment which allows listeners to let their thoughts drift, being gently guided (instead of forced) by the music.[3] The following advice is provided for listeners: 'recommended playback level: just above quiet'. A more detailed overview of SR_F can be found on the info page of the official website.
The works of SR_F are inspired by power stations, distant motorways, certain sci-fi movies (e.g. Alien) and various aspects of nature, including thunderstorms, empty frozen tundra, deserts, jungles and rushing water.[2][4] Two complete albums (Dead Weather Machine and Dead Weather Machine Re:Heat) were based entirely on the manipulation of a three-minute recording of a malfunctioning Dimplex electric fan heater.
So far, all albums by SR_F have been produced or engineered at Somnambu-Lab (also spelled Somnambulab) in Glasgow.[5] The correct spelling of the artist's name is SleepResearch_Facility, but Sleep Research Facility is a commonly seen variation.
In April 2012, a new album called Stealth was released on Cold Spring.[6]
Discography and merchandise
Albums
- Nostromo, Cold Spring, 2001 (original release) and 2007 (reissue)
- Dead Weather Machine, Manifold Records, 2004
- Dead Weather Machine Re:Heat, Manifold Records, 2004
- Deep Frieze, Cold Spring, 12 April 2007
- Stealth, Cold Spring, 9 April 2012
Appearances on compilations
- 'Deck A – Deck B' on Chamber, Cold Spring, 2003
- '82°S 45°E' on Swarm, Cold Spring, 2006
- 'Dark Side Of The Lune' on Au Clair De La Lune, INFREQUENCY, 2009
Merchandise
- SR_F appeared on the February page of the Cold Spring Calendar 2007.[7]
Critical response and public exposure
The majority of feedback on SR_F's work is extremely positive. Steve Roach has written a very complimentary review of SR_F's albums Dead Weather Machine and Dead Weather Machine Re:Heat on his website, and even sold the albums from his online store while stocks lasted.
SR_F's work has also been highly praised by ambient websites such as AmbiEntrance[8] and Aural Pressure,[9][10] and the artist's official guestbook contains many positive comments which have been submitted since 2004.
In 2005, some of SR_F's music was broadcast[11] on Dutch Radio 4FM (now known as NPS Studio 6). Radio 6 program FOLIO broadcast a full SR_F radio special on 2 October 2007.[12]
SR_F has performed live at several venues:
- 17 December 2007 – Altaira ambient night at The White Orchid (Club Z) in Toronto, Canada, alongside Shatterwave, Cauterwall, This Instrument, dreamSTATE and Slopoke (first ever live performance).
- 29 January 2008 – Ambient Ping night at The Drake Hotel in Toronto, alongside Syzygia and Ortiz.[13]
- 19 March 2008 – Renaissance Cafe in Toronto, alongside dreamSTATE, Teratoma, Toxia, Ouroboros, This Instrument, Cauterwall, Sighup, and Beta Cloud.[14]
- 23 April 2008 – Altaira ambient night at the Renaissance Cafe in Toronto, for Toronto Noise Promotions.[15]
- 18 May 2008 – The Music Gallery in Toronto, with KTL (Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rehberg) and Németh.[16]
The January 2008 edition of Terrorizer included a feature on SR_F in the 'Breaking Faces' section.[17]
Interviews
There are three known SR_F interviews available on the Internet, which provide a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the albums, as well as background information on SR_F in general.
Ortus Obscurum
Sometime between 2001 and 2003,[18] SR_F was interviewed by Ectonaut at Ortus Obscurum, 'a webzine devoted to writing about the various types of music referred to as Neo-Classical, Dark Ambient, Ritual, Fantasy, Neo-Pagan, Industrial, Electronic, Experimental and so on'.[19] The original interview is no longer available, since the webzine is now offline, but the Internet Archive has an archived copy.
Cold Spring Supplement
In January 2007, SR_F was interviewed for the January/February 2007 edition of the Cold Spring Supplement, prior to the release of Deep_Frieze on the Cold Spring label. The supplement is available here in PDF format, and the interview can be found on pages 10 and 11. Another copy of the interview is available here.
Hidden information on the official website
The official SR_F website used to contain some pages which appeared to be hidden from the general public, since there were no known links to them from anywhere else on the site. These pages have now been deleted, but some of the MP3s which they linked to are still available.
Audio Project Archive
The Audio Project Archive page contained additional information about released albums, details about upcoming albums and unreleased works, as well as free tracks in MP3 format. An archived copy of the page can be found here. The Sargasso (edit) MP3 from the Electronarcosis Series is still available.
Assembler
This little-known project is related to SR_F, and produces mechanically-rhythmic dance music. An overview of Assembler was available in the Audio Project Archive. Currently, no tracks have been released on CD.
Assembler had its own website, which consisted of a home page, a main page (archived here), and a collection of free tracks in RealAudio format: 'Two Towers', 'Hack1 quick edit', 'Hack3 Final mix', 'Whole in 1' and 'one tower'. MP3s of the tracks Sentinals, Union Station, Jack-2-Jack and Kernals are still available.
See also
External links
References
- ^CD booklet of the first album, Nostromo (work began on the album in 2000)
- ^ abForeshadow Magazine interview
- ^http://www.resonance-net.com/learn.htm (info page of the official website)
- ^General Info section on http://www.myspace.com/sleepresearchfacility
- ^CD booklets of Nostromo and Dead Weather Machine
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2012.Cite uses deprecated parameter
deadurl=(help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^'Cold Spring Records: Calendar 2007 (CSR76CA)'. Archived from the original on 25 August 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2007.Cite uses deprecated parameter
deadurl=(help) - ^Sleep Research Facility: Nostromo
- ^Aural Pressure - Reviews - Sleep Research Facility: Dead Weather Machine
- ^Aural Pressure - Reviews - Sleep Research Facility: Dead Weather Machine_Re:Heat
- ^6th Collage:'The Hum in the Room'('We hebben een Zoem')Archived 17 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Folio' blog archive' Sleep Research FacilityArchived 28 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^The Ambient Ping 2008 events – The Ambient Ping current events – The Ambient Ping flyer
- ^MySpace music eventArchived 20 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^MySpace music eventArchived 20 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^MySpace music eventArchived 20 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Terrorizer - The World's Leading Extreme Music Magazine
- ^The interview mentions the release of Nostromo in 2001, and was first archived by the Internet Archive in 2003
- ^Ortus Obscurum
Cold Spring is an independent record label based in Northamptonshire, England, specialising in 'all forms of extreme media, but particularly: black/dark Ambient, Neo-classical/Neo-folk, Orchestral, Power Electronics/Noise, Japanese Noise, Minimal, Death Industrial, Dark Soundtracks, Experimental, obscure electronics from Russia, China, Japan, Poland and others.'
Dead Weather MachineDead Weather Machine (sometimes abbreviated to DWM) is the second album by dark ambient artist SleepResearch Facility, and is the first of a two-part set, the second part being Dead Weather Machine Re:Heat (also known as DWM Re:Heat).
Deep FriezeDeep_Frieze is the fourth album by dark ambient artist SleepResearch Facility.
Kevin DohertyKevin Doherty may refer to:
Kevin Doherty (musician) (born late 1960s), Irish singer-songwriter
Kevin Doherty (judoka) (born 1958), Canadian judo practitioner
Kevin Doherty (footballer) (born 1980), Irish association football coach and former professional player
Kevin Doherty (filmmaker), Canadian filmmaker, playwright and writer
Kevin Doherty (politician), Canadian politician
Kevin Doherty, Scottish musician known as SleepResearch_Facility
List of dark ambient artistsThe following is a list of notable artists who compose, or have composed, dark ambient music at some point in their careers.
Manifold RecordsManifold Records is a US-based record label and mailorder store specializing in experimental, ambient and other hard-to-define audio materials. Begun in 1993 by writer and zine-publisher Vince Harrigan, the label has released works by Gravitar, Final (Justin Broadrick of Godflesh), Mick Harris, Lull, Steve Roach, Jeph Jerman, Maeror Tri, Ultra Milkmaids, Maurizio Bianchi, Aube and others.
The label was briefly a critical favorite during the mid-1990s, being at the forefront of a short-lived genre called Isolationism through the label's unusual compilations. These compilations were novel in that they featured traditionally Ambient and New Age artists alongside Noisier, edgier acts and yet seemed to 'work' as cohesive documents. The label has also released numerous special-packaging releases; compact discs in metal sheathes, vinyl records attached to saw blades, water-filled plastic sleeves, etc.
The Manifold Records label was never very prolific or widely distributed, likely due to the unusual nature of much of the material and the labels seeming inability to stay within any genre from release to release. Manifold Records ceased operating a mailorder website in 2007. The Manifold Records label continues, as does limited online sales of releases through other distributors and eBay.
Nostromo (album)Nostromo is the debut album by dark ambient artist SleepResearch Facility. The original release in 2001 was a limited edition (only 1000 copies were manufactured), and has now sold out. However, a re-issue was released on 5 December 2007, which includes a new bonus track called 'Narcissus'.
Nostromo (disambiguation)Nostromo is a 1904 novel by Joseph Conrad.
Nostromo may also refer to:
Nostromo (TV serial), a 1997 British-Italian TV serial
Nostromo, the fictional starship in the 1979 film Alien
Nostromo (album), a dark ambient album by SleepResearch Facility, inspired by the fictional starship
Nostromo, a yacht hired by Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum (II) to aid in her escape from Dubai
Nostromo (comics), a Marvel Comics character from their Marvel 2099 line.
Nostromo SpeedPad n52, a gaming peripheral
nhttpd, the Nostromo web server
Nostromo (chasma), a chasma on the moon Charon
Nostromo Defensa, an Argentine defense contractor specializing in UAVs
SRFSRF may refer to:
Sleep Research Facility Stealth Rarlab System
Organisations:
Sudan Revolutionary Front, alliance of armed groups formed in 2011
Syria Revolutionaries Front, formed in December 2013
Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, German-language broadcaster in Switzerland
SRF Limited, an Indian manufacturing company
SENS Research Foundation, organization working in aging-related applications of medicine, Mountain View, California, USAScience and technology:
Serum response factor, in genetics
Server Response File, ATL Server
Solid recovered fuel, from waste
Superconducting radio frequency technology, superconductors in RF devices
.srf, computer file extension for a raw image fileOther:
Self-Realization Fellowship, spiritual organization
Silk Road Fund, Chinese state backed investment fund
SleepResearch Facility, a musician
Spec Racer Ford, a class of racing car
State revolving fund
Scholar Rescue Fund
Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation
Systematic reconnaissance flight
SleepResearch FacilitySleepResearch_Facility (sometimes abbreviated to SR_F or SRF) is a dark ambient artist from Glasgow, Scotland, specializing in sleep-conducive beatless ambient music which is both artistic as well as functional.
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Sleep Research Facility (sometimes abbreviated to SR_F or SRF) is a dark ambient artist from Glasgow, Scotland, specialising in sleep-conducive beatless ambient music which is both artistic as well as functional. Sleep Research Facility consists of the single band member Kevin Doherty. His music usually contains no rhythmic elements (one exception is '2.5' on Dead Weather Machine), but instead relies on spacious, extended, richly-textured sounds.
Sleep Research Facility consists of the single band member Kevin Doherty. His music usually contains no rhythmic elements (one exception is '2.5' on Dead Weather Machine), but instead relies on spacious, extended, richly-textured sounds. Occasionally, true 'musical' elements appear in his work, such as sustained chords (in 'c-deck' on Nostromo for example), but the majority of his compositions consist of evolving layers of manipulated noise and mechanical drones. He deliberately attempts to avoid any sonic elements which would be likely to disturb a sleepy or sleeping listener, such as sudden loud noises.
In addition to being suitable for sleeping, the music of Sleep Research Facility is also intended to create an aural environment which allows listeners to let their thoughts drift, being gently guided (instead of forced) by the music. The following advice is provided for listeners: 'recommended playback level: just above quiet'. A more detailed overview of Sleep Research Facility can be found on the info page of the official website.
The works of Sleep Research Facility are inspired by noisy industrial environments (such as factories and motorways), certain sci-fi movies (eg. Alien) and various natural environments such as empty frozen tundra and deserts.
Sleep Research Facility has demonstrated its innovative talents by creating two complete albums (Dead Weather Machine and Dead Weather Machine_Re:Heat) purely through the manipulation of a three minute recording of a malfunctioning Dimplex electric fan heater.
So far, all albums by Sleep Research Facility have been produced or engineered at Somnambu-Lab (also spelt Somnambulab) in Glasgow. SleepResearch_Facility is a commonly seen variation on the artist name.