Doc Sleep

Doc Sleep crafts layered, atmospheric dance music while jointly operating the respected Jacktone imprint. Her path began in the Midwest, leading first to San Francisco where she became a fixture in the local queer club circuit, and later to Germany. Several EPs preceded her 2023 full-length debut, among them Crème Fraîche from 2019, followed by the expansive ambient techno album Birds (In My Mind Anyway). The equally delicate Cloud Sight Fade arrived the next year.

Born in Minneapolis as Melissa Maristuen, she adopted the alias Dr. Sleep for early DJ sets at Bay Area venues and gatherings in the first half of the 2010s. In 2013 she launched Jacktone alongside Darren Cutlip, known as dabecy; the exploratory label specialized in dream pop, ambient, IDM, and techno, typically issuing cassettes by untested artists. Her move to Berlin in 2015 brought involvement with the queer collective Room 4 Resistance, even as she sustained Jacktone’s operations and widened its reach. The initial Doc Sleep EPs came out on Detour in 2016 and Bottom Forty Records in 2017. A digital release, Your Ruling Planet, surfaced in 2019, while Crème Fraîche appeared on Dark Entries with remixes contributed by Violet and rRoxymore. She teamed with Glenn Astro under the name Beats Unlimited for a self-titled cassette and a 7-inch single issued in 2021. She also started the Collectibles project alongside homemade synth artist Fashion Flesh. Her first album, the wide-ranging Birds (In My Mind Anyway) of downtempo and IDM material, emerged via Tartelet Records in 2023. Dark Entries then put out Cloud Sight Fade in 2024, blending spacy ambient techno with understated breakbeat pieces.