Cuddle Formation Archives - Various Small Flames

Favourite Free Music of 2015: A – C

Liam Doyle — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 13:47:10 +0000

It has become a yearly tradition for us to make a big list of all our favourite the ‘name your price’ music on Bandcamp (or free ones elsewhere), and 2015 certainly didn’t disappoint. Over the next week we’ll be sharing the list in all it’s glory, starting with artists beginning with letters A-C.

Remember, while it’s always tempting to put a big fat zero for ‘name your price’ releases, you can give a little something. Bands need to eat too, and would doubtless appreciate even the smallest donation for their efforts. You’ll want them to appear in your Bandcamp collection anyway, so you’ll have to give something.

Alanna McArdle – Reticular (REVIEW) / Bedroom/Balloons (REVIEW)
(RIYL: folk, bedroom pop, sad, Sarah Winchester)

Ama Moii – Flown (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom, ambient, lo-fi, soft music)

Andrew Weathers – I Am Happy When I Am Moving
(RIYL: experimental, cosmic Appalachian mountain tunes)

Animal Camera – Aniimal Crackers
(RIYL: noise pop, psychedelic ARMS)

Beverly Tender – Lord Mayor Makes 1000 Speeches
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, Baby Mollusk, Whatever Dad)

The Bombshells – Bake Sale Hotties
(RIYL: riot grrl, The Runaways, Le Tigre)

Big Eater – In Between
(RIYL: laidback indie pop, Yo La Tengo, Mac DeMarco)

Blue Smiley – OK
(RIYL: lo-fi, fuzz rock, Alex G)

Bobby’s Oar – The Weeds in Your Garden
(RIYL: folk-punk, Among Giants, The Front Bottoms)

Boosegumps – / B-Sides (REVIEW 1 | REVIEW 2 | INTERVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, acoustic, Free Cake For Every Creature)

Brightside – The World Reversed
(RIYL: indie pop, pop-punk, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die)

Brittle Brian – Verisune
(RIYL: bedroom pop, Frankie Cosmos, Bellows)

Broken Beak – Curse Burner
(RIYL: bedroom pop, Modern Baseball)

Bryant Eugene Vazquez – Blue Hours
(RIYL: folk, lo-fi, Wes Tirey, M. Ward)

Captain Samurai – Hey Thanks Goodbye
(RIYL: indie rock, soft punk, LVL UP)

CATAPHANT – Half Dead EP
(RIYL: hip hop, experimental, pop)

Cat Be Damned – Six Songs
(RIYL: ambient, Ricky Eat Acid, the sounds of space)

Catholic Easter Colours – Not the Silence That Was There Before
(RIYL: indie pop, cinematic rock, ambient)

Cemeteries – Barrow
(RIYL: ambient, experimental, dream pop)

Clams – PDA Queen
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie pop, bedroom pop)

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Coffee Pot – &
(RIYL: fuzz rock, psych, lo-fi)

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Colour Me Brittle – The First Bad Man
(RIYL: lo-fi, jangle pop, twee indie)

Coping Skills – Everything is stupid + I Hate it
(RIYL: riot grrrls, bummer pop, Cyberbully Mom Club)

Cuddle Formation – ⊙﹏⊙ ♫･*:.｡. .｡.:*･ (demos)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, guitar loops, devotional)

We’ll be sharing a new section of the list every day this week, so be sure to check back for the complete collection. If you find something you like, or think we missed something life-changing, then why not let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or good old email.

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Earthbound – Cuddle Formation/The Spookfish

Jon Doyle — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 13:29:00 +0000

Earthbound is a split EP from Cuddle Formation (Noah Klein) and The Spookfish (Daniel Goldberg), both of whom are associated with the FMLY collective. Both artists contribute four tracks of minimal compositions using guitars, keys, loops and vocals. As the Patient Sound blurb says, “Both are savant composers of heartfelt homerecorded music aimed at expanding worldview. This split tape is a representation of both their friendship and their craft.”

The EP is dreamy and hushed and serves to palliate the stresses and worries of modern life with “a distinct desire for understanding and compassion”. If you’re a fan of meditative, experimental, music then I highly recommend having a listen.

You can buy the EP right now over at Patient Sounds.

And one last thing. I encourage you to familiarise yourself with the rest of the Patient Sounds catalogue. An independent label based in Fort Collins, Colorado, they release music on cassette tapes (like the Earthbound one below) which come in these beautifully designed cases and just look generally amazing. The music itself isn’t bad either! I am yet to explore fully but on early listens I would suggest checking out A Spirit by Pines, Motivated/Unmotivated by Kites Sail High and The Westers by Wellington Downs.

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Keeping The Voice Box In Working Order: A Mixtape

Jon Doyle — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:39:00 +0000

You probably know by now that we like making mixtapes here at Wake the Deaf, and we’re constantly looking for new ideas and themes for them. This is going to be one of the more experimental (and probably less successful) attempts. The basic theme of the mix is speech. The songs had to contain some sort of spoken element and otherwise be instrumental. The idea was that this would create this weird, surreal collection of experimental (primarily electronic) music which would have no vocals other than the sound of people talking or making some sort of speech. I have been sitting on the idea for a long time and I’m still not convinced it works, but what the hell? Here goes. The title of the mix was taken from a quote from Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle:

“People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order, so they’ll have good voice boxes in case there’s ever anything really meaningful to say.”

Tracklisting:

1. One – La Dispute

2. Bosnia – Prairies

3. Apex Of Excitement – Ethan M.

4. Giant Zero – Arrange

5. Most Of Us Are Maniacs Through Which The Universe Is Looking At Itself – Bewildered Hallelujah

6. Greywolf – USF

7. Dream. – of Architects

8. Her Favourite Song – Birkwin Jersey

9. Thin City – Matthew A. Wilkinson

10. Witch Dream – Dustin Wong

11. Waterpunches – PhaRo

12. I Felt Like I Understood It – Stupid Loser

13. I Saw A Body Floating Above Jerusalem – Cuddle Formation

14. Phthalo Blue – Lone

15. Black Hole – Man Meets Bear

16. Robot 30931 Feel Existential Despair – Neat Beats

17. Mrs Morris – Charles Spearin

18. Light At The End Of The Tunnel – Cloud Cult

19. Like Totally – Gold Panda

20. Have You Passed Through This Night? – Explosions In The Sky

As usual this mix is meant as a small taster, go out and support the bands by buying music and going to shows.

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