Sleep has been played over 30 times on NTS, first on 16 February 2014. Sleep's music has been featured on 37 episodes.

Sleep is an American doom metal power trio from San Jose, California. The band earned critical and record label attention early in its career. Critic Eduardo Rivadavia describes them as "perhaps the ultimate stoner rock band" and notes they exerted a strong influence on heavy metal in the 1990s. However, conflict with its record company contributed to Sleep's breakup by the end of the decade. The band reformed in 2009 and has played sporadic live dates internationally since. In 2018, Sleep released their fourth and comeback album, The Sciences, to critical acclaim.

Sleep evolved in the early 1990s from the band Asbestosdeath, which was established by vocalist/bassist Al Cisneros, drummer Chris Hakius, and guitarist Tom Choi. Asbestosdeath expanded to a quartet with the introduction of Matt Pike on guitar, and recorded two singles - "Dejection" for Profane Existence and the self-released "Unclean". Choi departed, and would later found Operator Generator, It Is I, Noothgrush, and Las Vegas' Black Jetts. Asbestosdeath recruited Justin Marler as replacement and the band adopted the new name, Sleep.

Sleep has used cannabis-influenced imagery since the release of their second album. In an interview about the making of Jerusalem, Matt Pike acknowledged that the band spent "a lot" of their label advance on cannabis, and "a lot of time." Pike also said that about $75,000 was spent on customized amplifiers so the album would have numerous tone layers.