{
  "slug": "nightmares-on-wax",
  "name": "Nightmares on Wax",
  "description": "Nightmares on Wax appears 9 times in our Balearic, Bleep Techno, Trip-Hop, Twice Over, and Warp lists, placing as high as No. 5. Hand-curated, with a reason for every pick.",
  "updated": "2026-08-31",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/",
  "appearanceCount": 9,
  "distinctRecordings": 3,
  "years": {
    "first": 1989,
    "last": 1999
  },
  "highestPlacing": {
    "rank": 5,
    "list": "Balearic"
  },
  "appearsOn": [
    {
      "kind": "genre",
      "slug": "balearic",
      "name": "Balearic",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/",
      "entries": 1
    },
    {
      "kind": "genre",
      "slug": "bleep-techno",
      "name": "Bleep Techno",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/",
      "entries": 1
    },
    {
      "kind": "genre",
      "slug": "trip-hop",
      "name": "Trip-Hop",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/",
      "entries": 1
    },
    {
      "kind": "curator",
      "slug": "twice-over",
      "name": "Twice Over",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/",
      "entries": 3
    },
    {
      "kind": "curator",
      "slug": "warp",
      "name": "Warp",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/",
      "entries": 3
    }
  ],
  "tracks": [
    {
      "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--sueno",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--sueno/",
      "title": "Sueño",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The style outliving the island — downtempo, warm, and built for the end of the night rather than the middle of it.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "twice-over",
          "name": "Twice Over",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "warp",
          "name": "Warp",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o",
          "exact": false
        }
      },
      "rank": 5,
      "on": {
        "kind": "genre",
        "slug": "balearic",
        "name": "Balearic",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/"
      },
      "artist": "Nightmares on Wax"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--dextrous",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--dextrous/",
      "title": "Dextrous",
      "year": 1989,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Leeds, and considerably warmer than its neighbours here. George Evelyn was already writing tunes while everyone else was still testing speakers.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "twice-over",
          "name": "Twice Over",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "warp",
          "name": "Warp",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Dextrous",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YiTL_HptsiY",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": 5,
      "on": {
        "kind": "genre",
        "slug": "bleep-techno",
        "name": "Bleep Techno",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/"
      },
      "artist": "Nightmares on Wax"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits/",
      "title": "Les Nuits",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The warm end of the genre, from Leeds by way of Ibiza. George Evelyn keeps the slowed break and throws out the dread, which turns out to leave something perfectly durable behind.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "twice-over",
          "name": "Twice Over",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "warp",
          "name": "Warp",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Les%20Nuits",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0FdXIYxLbE",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": 12,
      "on": {
        "kind": "genre",
        "slug": "trip-hop",
        "name": "Trip-Hop",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/"
      },
      "artist": "Nightmares on Wax"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--dextrous",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--dextrous/",
      "title": "Dextrous",
      "year": 1989,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Two teenagers in Leeds with a sampler, making one of the records that established what a Warp release sounded like before anyone knew that was a category. The narrowest and hardest of the three entries here.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "bleep-techno",
          "name": "Bleep Techno",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "warp",
          "name": "Warp",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Dextrous",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YiTL_HptsiY",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "twice-over",
        "name": "Twice Over",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
      },
      "artist": "Nightmares on Wax"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits/",
      "title": "Les Nuits",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Ten years later, the same act, and the sampler is being used to make something warm rather than something skeletal. It is the single most recognisable record in our trip-hop ranking and it was made by a bleep techno producer.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "trip-hop",
          "name": "Trip-Hop",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "warp",
          "name": "Warp",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Les%20Nuits",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0FdXIYxLbE",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "twice-over",
        "name": "Twice Over",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
      },
      "artist": "Nightmares on Wax"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--sueno",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--sueno/",
      "title": "Sueño",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Released the same year as the entry above and filed by us in a different ranking again, which is the whole argument of this list compressed into one twelve-month span. Three genres, one person, no change of name.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "balearic",
          "name": "Balearic",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "warp",
          "name": "Warp",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o",
          "exact": false
        }
      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "twice-over",
        "name": "Twice Over",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
      },
      "artist": "Nightmares on Wax"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--dextrous",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--dextrous/",
      "title": "Dextrous",
      "year": 1989,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The bass frequency as the entire point of a record, which is what \"bleep\" meant before anyone had a word for it. It established that the label's taste was a taste and not just a postcode.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "bleep-techno",
          "name": "Bleep Techno",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "twice-over",
          "name": "Twice Over",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Dextrous",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YiTL_HptsiY",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "warp",
        "name": "Warp",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
      },
      "artist": "Nightmares on Wax"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits/",
      "title": "Les Nuits",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The most recognisable record the label ever released to people who do not follow it, and the moment its catalogue acquires warmth. A bleep techno act from the label's first year making something you could put on at the end of a night.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "trip-hop",
          "name": "Trip-Hop",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "twice-over",
          "name": "Twice Over",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Les%20Nuits",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0FdXIYxLbE",
          "exact": true
        }
      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "warp",
        "name": "Warp",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
      },
      "artist": "Nightmares on Wax"
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--sueno",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--sueno/",
      "title": "Sueño",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "Warp",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Released the same year as the entry above and filed by us in a different ranking again. Ten years in, the label's founding act is still moving it somewhere it had not been, which is the argument this list is making.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "balearic",
          "name": "Balearic",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "twice-over",
          "name": "Twice Over",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o",
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      },
      "rank": null,
      "on": {
        "kind": "curator",
        "slug": "warp",
        "name": "Warp",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/"
      },
      "artist": "Nightmares on Wax"
    }
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}