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Toro Y Moi - Underneath The Pine

Recommended by us on 18th February 2011

Underneath The Pine by Toro Y Moi

4...according to our on Fri 18 Feb, 2011.

Chaz Bundick stunned a lot of people with his 'Causers Of This' album in 2010, an intoxicating brew of 80's yacht rock, shoegaze and Prefuse 73 style bedroom electronica. It's taken him less than a year to unleash this follow up and the press chatter is generally spot on in that its a higher fidelity collection of songs that marries shoegaze and funk together as if it's the most natural thing in the world. The songs are clearer, more distinct, the vocals less manipulated and at various points the Gallic influence of Stereolab comes into view as do acoustic guitars and real instruments rather than samples and bedroom synths. 'Causers of This' took a while to reveal its colours and this is a similar collection in that it's hard to get a grip of initiall,y but repeated plays reveal that the melodies are strong and the increasing use of Stevie Wonder style bubbling synths and funky basslines thankfully never take it into Jamiroquai territory - thank God but the overall feel is Stevie Wonder as produced by 'Friends' era Brian Wilson, i.e something that could possibly be the soundtrack to the summer.

When Chaz first signed to Carpark Records, the plan was to release two records in 2010 – one electronic and one with live
instrumentation – and although it didn’t quite fit into the same calendar year as his debut, Underneath the Pine is that latter offering.

This release sees him following the same creative urges to completely different ends. Having spent the year listening to film
composers like Ennio Morricone and François de Roubaix, Bundick returned to his home in Columbia, the birthplace of many Toro tracks of yore, to bring his new ideas to fruition. The result of these sessions is an album evocative of R. Stevie Moore’s homespun ruminations, David Axelrod’s sonic scope, Steve Reich-ian piano phrasing, and the pervasive funk of his first record. Underneath the Pine announces a new phase for an artist whose talent defies classification.

Toro Y Moi is 23 year old Columbia, South Carolina native and resident Chaz Bundick. After earning a BFA in Graphic Design at
The University of South Carolina, Chaz decided to push his music further now that he has more time on his hands. His mom came
from the Phillipines to the United States, where she met her future husband (who's African American) in college. They lived in New York City taking in all the wonderful cultural influences the city's rising underground scene had to offer at the time (late 70s/early 80s). Deciding to slow down and be closer to family, they moved to Columbia, South Carolina where they had their first child...

Chaz Bundick's methods are constantly changing and evolving. Heavily influenced by his parent's vinyl and tape collection, he also possesses great admiration for contemporary influences like Animal Collective, Sonic Youth, J Dilla, and Daft Punk. Like most
prepubescent teens, he had his punk band and once that died out, the "side project" soon became the main focus.

Toro y Moi started in 2001 as a bedroom project but quickly grew into the live performance realm. The songs are born from a

Plethora of different genres, from freak-folk to R&B to French House.

*Please note that despite this release was advertised as being available on red vinyl we have since been informed that the release is now only happening on black vinyl. There is no red vinyl and don't worry it still sounds the same.

Tracklisting:

1.Intro/Chi Chi
2.New Beat
3.Go With You
4.Divina
5.Before I’m Done
6.Got Blinded
7.How I Know
8.Light Black
9.Still Sound
10.Good Hold
11.Elise

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