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We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Sonder

by Cruel Buddhist

supported by
024ocean
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James Redou
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Kodama
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Dane Arthur Paster
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tukomills
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OSUGI TSUBASA
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/

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Two releases on one cassette
    A side - 'Sonder' EP
    B side - 'Lockdown Loops' beattape
    Comes in a clear case to showcase the cover art on each side of the yellow cassette
    23 tracks / 3 stickers / 2 tracklist cards / 2 download cards
    60 minute run time

    ※ 如果你在中国大陆，可通过更便捷的渠道购买，详情关注各平台“宜听音乐EatingMusic”官方账号。

    Includes unlimited streaming of Sonder via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 14 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $13.99 USD or more 

     

  • Book/Magazine + Digital Album

    A nine page coloring book of images hand drawn by Cruel Buddhist with a Sonder album digital download included.

    "Like my music, I made all the images by hand instead of using digital programing, hoping to encounter the imperfections of human touch and hardware that can give soul to creative works.

    I made these with only an ink pen, compass, ruler, spirograph, and the local copy store’s scanner; reasonably accessible materials for most people. In the same vein, tracks three and seven on the album were made entirely with a toy keyboard I bought for $9 at a thrift store.

    Being creative is the best part of living and knowing it can be done, in both music and image, for such little cost is comforting. The salvation of creative trance is readily affordable for anyone who cares to enter it."

    Includes unlimited streaming of Sonder via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 15 days
    edition of 30 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $11 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

1.
Joosey 02:36
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2.
Chang Mai 03:59
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3.
Late Night Steez 03:15
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4.
Broadband Funk 02:33
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5.
The Innumerable Benefits of High Speed Rail 03:34
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6.
U-Tapao! 02:42
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7.
Lofi House Sorta Thing 01:51
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about

‘Sonder: the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background.’
John Koenig from Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

At dusk in Shanghai, thousands of apartment lights shine like stars; each a sun with a orbiting cast of lives. Under the light of my personal sun during the 2020 lockdown, I started work on this EP with sonder on my mind.

Beneath the surface of meaninglessness in the feeling of sonder is a freedom that comes from being a background character in someone else’s life. If nothing that you do really matters, then what’s stopping us from trying to do exactly what we want, no matter how silly or ambitious.

So I endeavored to give carte blanche to my daydreams and started to sculpt my selected drafts for Sonder. Instead of the usual limits I put on my music creation process, which are often just glorified live recordings, I wanted to see what could happen if I instated a hyperactive attention to detail; rerecording and attentively retooling the instruments.

The human brain spends much of its energy, not driving our thoughts, but limiting what we perceive so that we don’t stray from the task of ensuring our survival. However, on occasion we are granted a fleeting glimpse through the curtain to the overwhelming details of unfiltered experience, resulting in a pleasant paralysis of conscious thought.

This thoughtless state of wonder is what I value most in life and hope to stumble upon in my music. Using hand crafted synth tones and a broken toy keyboard, field recordings and wonky drums, I hope some of this music can pleasantly paralyze your consciousness for a bit and allow you to drift without its weight for a few moments.

So I welcome you to peer into my little apartment window, a speck among multitudes, and hope you enjoy the little world I created to try and silence my mind.

credits

released October 25, 2022

作曲 Composed by Henry Robinson
演奏 Performed by Henry Robinson
编曲 Produced by Henry Robinson
录音 Recorded by Henry Robinson
混音 Mixed by Henry Robinson, Sdewdent 母带 Mastered by Sdewdent
封面摄影 Cover Photography by Mao Lo, Henry Robinson
EM-041-CN ℗ 2022 Eating Music

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about

Cruel Buddhist image

Cruel Buddhist Shanghai, China

Shanghai based musician/producer of Lofi, R&B, and Funk with a unique live set.

“Cruel Buddhist’s sound lands somewhere between (Brian) Eno’s ambient tinkles and the experimental, instrumental trip-hop of Flying Lotus, Quantic, and Bonobo.” - Tim Pritchard in ‘Discovery’ Magazine ... more

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