The lives we lead can feel like a simulation as the line between our reality and augmented futures continues to blur. Following the ever-emotive Boo Boo, Toro Y Moi’s new album Outer Peace is a time capsule that captures our relationship to contemporary culture into one comprehensive, sonic package.
Shortly after the release of his 2015 record What For?, Toro Y Moi (also known as Chaz Bear) packed up his belongings, leaving the comfort of his Oakland base for the relative solitude of Portland to write Boo Boo. Apart from the familiarity of his surroundings, Bear focused on what would become his next sonic statement. In doing so, he was struck by the reign that technology holds over our day to day lives and its ability to obscure the consumption of creativity. His change of envi- ronment resulted in freedom from disturbances and, in those quiet and tranquil spaces, the creation of music acted as a protest in favor of peace.

Having now moved back to Oakland, Bear’s new record Outer Peace is a response to the lessons gleaned while making Boo Boo — a response to the expendable state of art that is a product of instant grati cation. Bear’s ingenuity reveals a multifaceted expression of his universe on this record. It’s the space be- tween the accessible and unconventional where he invites us to experience Outer Peace, which is rooted in nding peace in antithetical conditions: being stuck in traffic, hustling for your next check as a freelancer and all other chaotic moments in life that require digging beneath the surface to nd solace.

As both a producer and designer, Bear utilizes abstract sound pairings with recognizable samples for his most pop in uenced record to date. This is no de- parture from his funk and disco roots, which can be heard on “Ordinary Pleasure”, later fusing into variations of house with tracks like “Freelance” and “Laws of the Universe.” Smooth interludes melt into fast paced beats, paralleling the feeling  of driving through the Bay Area, where Bear spent most of his time writing the album.

Outer Peace is duality. It embodies whatever form you choose to inhabit in the moment. Listen and let your imagination become the universe. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another great LP from Toro Y Moi, with pulsing beats and smooth synths all wrapping comfortably around the machinated vocal delivery. Working it's way between the dancefloor and home listening, there’s enough activity to keep you moving, but the whole thing is imbued with the kind of languid beats and euphoric basses that a more horizontal position can benefit. Perfect.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fading
2. Ordinary Pleasure
3. Laws Of The Universe
4. Miss Me (feat. ABRA)
5. New House
6. Baby Drive It Down
7. Freelance
8. Who Am I
9. Monte Carlo (feat. WET)
10. 50-50 (feat. Instupendo)

“After 7 years of touring and recording, I found myself becoming self conscious about my position in life as a “famous” person, or at least my version of whatever that is. My dreams had become my reality, yet I was somehow unable to accept this new environment. I couldn’t help but fall into what might be described as an identity crisis. A feedback loop of fearful thoughts left me feeling confused. I felt as though I no longer knew what it was that I actually wanted and needed in and out of life, and at times I felt unable to even tell what was real.

During this time of personal turmoil, I turned to music as a form of therapy, and it helped me cope with the pain that I was feeling. I’d listen to the same ambient song over and over again, trying to insulate myself from reality. I fell in love with space again.

By the time I felt ready to begin working on a new record, I knew that this idea of space within music would be something that propelled my new work forward. The artists that were influencing what I was making included everyone from Travis Scott to Daft Punk, Frank Ocean to Oneohtrix Point Never, Kashif and Gigi Masin. I recognized that the common thread between these artists was their attention to a feeling of space, or lack thereof. I decided that I wanted to make a Pop record with these ideas in mind.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: By far, Mr. Y Moi's most accessible album to date. Throbbing bass, glistening FM keys and shimmering Balearic percussion. Packed with catchy vocal melodies, neon synths and riding high on the feel-good spectrum. Sure to be the hit of the summer.

TRACK LISTING

Mirage
No Show
Mona Lisa
Pavement
Don't Try
Windows
Embarcadero
Girl Like You
You And I
Labyrinth
Inside My Head
W.I.W.W.T.W.

Following extensive touring behind What For?, his fourth studio album as Toro Y Moi, acclaimed musician Chaz Bundick brought the band to the middle of the Mojave Desert in April 2016 to play a special concert.

Live from Trona documents this experience, recorded live beneath the geological wonders known as the Trona Pinnacles, which formed thousands of years ago in what used to be a prehistoric lake. The album features unique live arrangements of songs from across the band’s catalog, new music, and an expanded band line-up. On the congas, Bay Area multi-instrumentalist Brijean Murphy adds a layer of rhythm, switching between propulsion and deep atmosphere. And for a brand new song, “JBS,” the group is joined by tourmates The Mattson 2. This collaboration between Bundick and the Mattson twins takes on a classic groove with a jazz fusion approach.

For the film, nine-time Vimeo Staff Pick director Harry Israelson chose to break the fourth wall, revealing the filmmaking process by making equipment, lights, and crew visible at all times. With no audience in attendance and a spectacular natural environment that feels otherworldly, the film pays homage to rock films of a previous era. As the sun sets behind the pinnacles, the supernatural setting seamlessly weaves together with the 13 psychedelic tracks, all recorded on site over the course of an entire day. Through the use of hand-drawn animations and behind-the-scenes VHS footage, Live from Trona offers viewers a surreal concert experience, placing them front row at a private Toro Y Moi show.

The beginnings of Young Magic’s new album, Still Life, coincided with singer Melati Malay revisiting her own, in her birthplace of Indonesia. Having lost her father the previous year, she returned to the island of Java to reconnect with her family, dig up stories, and begin work on a new collection of music.

“My father had been somewhat of a mystery to me,” Melati says. “How did a boy from the Midwest end up in the jungles of Borneo during the 60s, trading his watch and a carton of cigarettes for the gravestones of the indigenous headhunters?”

The search led Melati deep into her family history. She rented a small shack by the water for a month, and with just a backpack and microphone, began recording – unraveling a past of superstition, black magic, and ties to the Javanese royal family.

“I’ve always felt torn, like some kind of hybrid existing between two worlds,” Melati says. “Born to a Catholic father and a Muslim mother, growing up bilingual, attending an international school in Jakarta where all my friends were from different countries…in a city of 30 million people where the clash between poverty and affluence is extreme.”

Still Life is a deeply personal and idiosyncratic record, somewhere close to the enchanted electronic pop realms occupied by Björk and Broadcast, yet unique to Young Magic. Found sounds and textures feature prominently across Still Life, including the Javanese gamelan, blossoming into ecstatic bursts during the climax of “Lucien.” Melati grounds the textured sonic world with arrows direct to the heart, like the arresting “How Wonderful” where the singer overflows with regret for “all those things I never said.” This is as deeply personal as the group has ever been.

“In a way, Still Life became a kind of antithesis to a world where people tell you who to pray to, what to buy into, and who your enemies should be. It’s my reaction. Still Life is my way to celebrate music from all corners…my home without borders.”

Upon returning to New York, her home of 10 years, Melati put together a group of musicians and began reimagining these new musical works inspired by her personal metamorphosis. She enlisted NYC-based cellist and composer Kelsey Lu McJunkins, Detroit producer Erin Rioux, Bolivian percussionist Daniel Alejandro Siles Mendoza, and Australian producer/songwriter Isaac Emmanuel, her longtime collaborator.

Young Magic met in New York City in 2010 and began collaborating above a speakeasy in Brooklyn. Alongside original member Michael Italia, the trio signed to Carpark Records (Toro Y Moi, Beach House, Dan Deacon) on the strength of one single (Sparkly/You With Air) and a wave of positive press. Touring in Europe and North America began after a series of limited edition 7" releases in 2011. The following year brought new visibility, acclaim, and artistic achievement with the release of the group’s full-length album debut, Melt, which was followed by sophmore album Breathing Statues.

Still Life inhabits a gorgeous, kaleidoscopic world, as delicate and intricate, as it is expansive and immersive. It walks the line between organic and mechanic, where dusty field recordings weave between warm Moogs and Prophets, where jazz breaks bump next to broken drum machines. It’s meticulously crafted outsider pop, made by obsessives, for obsessives. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Valhalla
2. Lucien
3. Sleep Now
4. IWY
5. Held
6. Default Memory
7. How Wonderful
8. Homage
9. Sky Interior
10. Valhalla (Reprise)

Outer Heaven is a massive leap forward for Toronto post-punks Greys. Delivering on the promises made on 2015’s Repulsion EP, the band tempers their trademark onslaught of discordance with new textures and subtle dynamics, building a more spacious and melody-driven environment atop their noise rock foundation. They fearlessly explore every extreme, simultaneously delivering their most intense and accessible moments, often within the same song.

“We never want to do just one thing,” says frontman Shehzaad Jiwani. “We want to incorporate as many disparate sounds as possible, yet still have it sound like the same band.” This bold approach saw them return to Montreal to record at the hallowed Hotel 2 Tango studio (Arcade Fire, Godspeed You! Black Emperor) with longtime producer Mike Rocha, giving the songs unprecedented atmospheric depth while never compromising the band’s characteristic cacophony.

Each song contains a sweet-and-sour earworm that brings singer-guitarist Jiwani’s characteristically self-aware, often satirical lyrics to the forefront, and his serrated shout is almost entirely swapped for a more tuneful approach. Almost. Lyrically, his focus has sharpened, moving from inward to outward. This is best evident on first single “No Star,” wherein Jiwani addresses the aftermath of the shootings at Bataclan in Paris by declaring, “Don’t shoot/I’m not the enemy.”

Outer Heaven filters its subject matter through Jiwani’s wryly incisive perception of those topics, from a news story about a group of teens barbarically murdering their classmate on album opener “Cruelty,” to the advent of technological singularity on closer “My Life As A Cloud.” Elsewhere, on “Blown Out,” the frontman confronts his own mental health by painting it in the context of a relationship with a partner who doesn’t fully understand the unrelenting complexities of depression. The climax of the song sees him wailing, “I want you to see/There’s something wrong with me,” which would be a harrowing moment if it wasn’t the single catchiest song Greys have ever written.

The young quartet stretches its limbs like never before on more delicate tracks like “Erosion,” where Jiwani sings softly over Cam Graham’s delicate guitar, recalling the dream pop qualities of early Deerhunter or late-period Unwound. Elsewhere, on “Sorcerer,” bassist Colin Gillespie and drummer Braeden Craig launch an unrelenting yet hypnotic assault that falls somewhere between Swans and Portishead. With ten tracks at just under forty minutes, Greys raise the bar for what is expected of a punk band in the 21st century.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Equal parts indie and sneering punk, Outer Heaven has elements of Emo (Rival Schools come immediately to mind) and new-wave post-punk. Righteously indignant in parts, and downright aggressive in others, head-nodding melodic sections are immediately morphed into anthemic 'Oy' choruses. Though this should make me wish Hot Water Music were still around, what it does is make me glad their influence still resonates and progresses to this day. This is a distillation of all the best elements from post-hardcore, emo and skate-punk but amped up and injected with a vitality and ingenuity that is both refreshing and nostalgic.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cruelty
2. No Star
3. If It's All The Same To You
4. Blown Out
5. Erosion
6. Complaint Rock
7. In For A Penny
8. Strange World
9. Sorcerer
10. My Life As A Cloud

Speedy Ortiz said they would get the flowers themselves. What a lark! What a plunge!

When considering Massachusetts' Speedy Ortiz, that line from Virginia Woolf comes to mind. Not only for the obvious echoes to DIY, a form and function that's characterized the band's nascency, but in the proto-feminist undertones driving much of their sophomore album, Foil Deer. "I'm not bossy, I'm the boss," Sadie Dupuis sings on "Raising the Skate," invoking in spirit one half of the Carter-Knowles clan and echoing the other's wordplay. And wordplay makes sense, considering Dupuis-the band's songwriter, guitarist, and frontwoman-spent the band's first few years teaching writing at UMass Amherst. She's drawn to the dense complexity of Pynchon, the dreamlike geometry of Bolaño, the confounded yearning of Plath-all attributes you could easily apply to the band's 2013 debut Major Arcana, which fans and press alike have invested with a sense of purpose and merit uncommon in contemporary guitar rock.

The group, including Mike Falcone on drums, Darl Ferm on bass, and new addition Devin McKnight of Grass is Green on guitar, have spent the last year on an almost endless cross-continental touring jag, tagging along with the likes of The Breeders, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, and Thurston Moore. That shift into full-time musicianship brought with it an attendant reordering of priorities when it came to songwriting, and the band members' lives in general. They would get the damn flowers themselves.

Dupuis wrote much of Foil Deer at her mother's home in the Connecticut woods, where the songwriter imposed a self-regulated exile and physical cleansing of sorts, finding that many of the songs came to her while running or swimming alone. "I gave up wasting mental energy on people who didn't have my back," she says. "Listening to our old records, I get the sense I was putting myself in horrible situations just to write sad songs. This music isn't coming from a dark place, and without slipping into self-empowerment jargon, it feels stronger." Many of the songs deal with a similar sense of starting over, editing out the unnecessary drama. "Boys be sensitive and girls be, be aggressive," she sings on "Mister Difficult."

And while their debut album was recorded on the fly, Speedy Ortiz spent almost a month in the studio on Foil Deer. Falcone's drums are taut, mechanistic; Ferm's bass ranges from the aggressive rattle of an AmRep classic to smoother, hip-hop inspired lines. McKnight, meanwhile, lends spacier, textural riffs to complement Dupuis' wiry, melody-driven guitar style. "The demos for our songs have always had tons of small details and production experimentation, but we never had any money to pay for more than a couple days in the studio, so the songs came out very live-sounding and guitar heavy," Dupuis says. It was recorded and mixed at Brooklyn's Rare Book Room with Nicolas Vernhes (Silver Jews, Enon, Deerhunter), with the record mastered by Emily Lazar (Sia, Haim, Beauty Pill), lending a more polished sound and a pop sensibility that will stand out to existing fans and new converts alike. For all the lyrical complexity and guitar-based excursions Speedy Ortiz have built their reputation on to this point, Foil Deer has a sense of light-footed fun. What's the point of doing things yourself if you're not going to enjoy the trip?

TRACK LISTING

1. Good Neck
2. Raising The Skate
3. The Graduates
4. Dot X
5. Homonovus
6. Puffer
7. Swell Content
8. Zig
9. My Dead Girl
10. Ginger
11. Mister Difficult
12. Dvrk Wvrld

Never one to stand still and fresh from a scheduled intermission whilst working on a dance record as Les Sins, loaning his vocals to Chromeo and starting his own record label, producer, songwriter, singer and melodic mastermind Chaz Bundick is all set to resume his Toro Y Moi guise with brand new album What For? And whilst most would think there were no genres left to play with, the intrepid musical explorer is about to throw one hell of a curve ball into the mix.

“I’ve done electronic R&B and more traditional recorded R&B stuff. I just wanted to see what else was out there,”Bundick says of the record’s new direction. “It’s all coming from the same mindset and point of creativity. It’s just me trying to take what I already have, then taking it further asking, "OK, what can I do now?" or "What haven't I tried yet?"

As mastermind and ringleader of the smeared electronic production sound that defined and established ‘chillwave’ before hipsters rode it within an inch of its life (see 2010’s Causers of This), an explorer of motorik space-age funk (2011’s Underneath The Pine), smoky 4/4 house-tinged pop, electro-funk and late-night electronic soul (2013’s Anything In Return) all to critical acclaim, What For? is where Toro Y Moi’s story continues - albeit one that leaves its true meaning only to imagination. “The album’s main themes are love and nature,” he hints. “I wrote about personal experiences but intentionally left them vague. I‘ve always felt that good songs should heighten your mental awareness.”

Written and recorded over the course of eight months at his home studio in Berkeley, California,What For?draws inspiration from Big Star, Talking Heads and Todd Rundgren, as well as the psychedelic soul of Brazil’s Tim Maia and ‘70s-era jazz-funk of France’s Cortex. Unknown Mortal Orchestra guitarist Ruban Neilson appears on the album, as does multi-instrumentalist Julian Lynch. This time, meticulous production of stereo-panned guitars, buzzing synthesizers, funky keys and live drumming has paved the way for the feel of a rock band playing together in the same room; “A studio should keep changing and all of the gear should be out and exposed or else you'll never remember to use it. With this album, I'd just walk up to an instrument somewhere in my house and start writing,”Bundick recalls.

Having spent his formative years playing in punk rock bands and studying graphic design at the University of South Carolina, Bundick began making bedroom recordings under the name Toro Y Moi in 2001. Those early demos made up the seeds of his distinct retro-future sound ahead of a brief stint in New York before relocating to California in 2012. It’s a move that has given Bundick time to reflect on what’s important, allowing him the freedom to create whilst also embarking upon new exciting projects such as establishing ‘Company’ records;
“Having a label has been a goal for a while. I want to be a part of this generation,”tells Bundick. “I'm aiming to take Company as far as it can go. I'm helping artists with each release from production to the design of the album cover to make something timeless.”

Whether recording and creating another album, or assisting with someone else’s work in progress, Bundick continues to prove to be as prolific as he is diverse. In the process he is constantly pushing the limits to point Toro Y Moi in new directions, yet never sacrificing his melodic sensibility or keen ear for arrangements and texture.

What For? - Why Not...

TRACK LISTING

1. What You Want
2. Buffalo
3. The Flight
4. Empty Nesters
5. Ratcliff
6. Lilly
7. Spell It Out
8. Half Dome
9. Run Baby Run
10. Yeah Right

Fortuna, the second full length from New Zealand trio Popstrangers, trades the grunge revivalism of the band's previous releases for buoyant hooks and '60s pop. Pairing their minor-key riffs with pervasively melancholic songwriting, the band's refined sense of melody is on full display on Fortuna, which echoes the classic guitar pop of their homeland's Flying Nun Records.

Recorded over five days in London, Popstrangers' warped tales of infatuation and aggression are anchored by Joel Flyger's tactile vocals, which steep in subterranean effects before ripping clean through the album's choruses. The band's pop sensibilities are at their best on standout "Country Kills," where Flyger shrugs off his looming demise with a wink and an indelible riff. "My country will kill me now, but whatever." The band is quick to tamper Fortuna's catchy strains with atonal guitars and a nervous pace, the record's building sense of anxiety concluding with the psych comedown of "What's On Your Mind?"

Eschewing the squalling guitars that propelled their debut album Antipodes for clear-headed production and lush choruses, Popstrangers hit their stride on Fortuna, crystallizing their influences into a succinct record of indie psych that never lingers too long.

Popstrangers are Joel Flyger, Adam Page and David Larson; three native New Zealanders who make “pop” music that is hard-driving, punk-influenced, and sonically inimitable.

The band formed in 2009, after the three members connected over their shared histories of bad day jobs, stints in other bands, and most importantly, their desire to create music with like-minded people. With a name conceived minutes before their first official show, Popstrangers’ ambitions have grown since their days of playing local gigs around Auckland. They have developed a strong following in their native New Zealand for their heavy yet accessible sound, and are set to export their noisy melodies to the rest of the world. Popstrangers has released two well-received EPs and a full-length, Antipodes, which houses their lauded single “Heaven.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Sandstorm
2. Don't Be Afraid
3. Distress
4. Country Kills
5. Violet
6. Tonight
7. Her
8. Destine
9. Right Babies
10. What's On Your Mind

On Speedy Ortiz’s Real Hair, the band sets a course between the knotty discord of debut album Major Arcana and the pop bonafides of the preceding Sports EP. Recorded and mixed by Paul Q. Kolderie (Pixies Radiohead), the new EP finds them subtly adding new techniques to their songbook. Guitarists Sadie Dupuis and Matt Robidoux bring on additional guitar effects to color the roundabout feel of “Oxygal,” while bassist Darl Ferm and drummer Mike Falcone hit hard to deliver the jump-in-the-pit urgency of “American Horror”.

From the vocal melodies to the no-nonsense guitar turns, this is Speedy’s catchiest outing yet, drawing inspiration from contemporary Top 40 and R&B radio in addition to their regular arsenal of guitar rock. Dupuis’ lyrics continue to address concerns about identity, representation, and their misalignment, this time from a new angle: “While the last album was kind of a breakup jam, these songs are a lot more introspective—myself dealing with and talking to and making sense of myself,” she says.

With Real Hair, Speedy Ortiz once again taps into the four-part chemistry that brought their prior outings praise. They’re still equal parts noisy and poetic, and now merge those channels more seamlessly than ever.

8.4 ON PITCHFORK: Speedy Ortiz wear their love of the 1990s on their torn, flannel sleeves, which makes this particular round of Spot the Influence about as challenging as a game of teeball: there’s the squalling, guitar-on-guitar carnage of Archers of Loaf, the grungy mysticism of Helium (Dupuis lifted the title Major Arcana from a book she was reading on black magic), and of course the deadpan wit of vintage Liz Phair (“I was never the witch that you made me to be,” Dupuis tells a burnt-out old flame on “Plough”, “Still you picked a virgin over me”).

9/10 LEAD REVIEW IN NME: “One of the reasons 'Major Arcana' works so well is because it's addictive and fun. The guitars and bass sound incredible, like the last Deerhunter album without the Yankee Doodle Dandy”

8/10 Drowned In Sound : “We’re tipped off to Dupuis’s capability on ‘No Below’, the most lucid and brilliant of Major Arcana’s consistently high-quality cuts. In another Elliott Smith-studied quirk of technique, it flips a loner-finds-lungs chorus with revealing modifiers: “(Yes I once said) / I was better of just being dead / Better off just being dead... / But I didn’t know you yet”. From such nigglingly touching moments surface nigglingly great songwriters, and despite the glum facade, Speedy Ortiz are way too euphoric and glorious to suffer for their artfulness. Stripping away the frills, at heart Major Arcana is a mournful treasure that asks to be celebrated.”

NME RADAR FEATURE: “What's miraculous, though, is that Major Arcana doesn't sound at all self-pitying; it's torrid Slint-meets-Pavement rattle bolsters Sadie's relished words so that yelling along is an exercise in gleefully exorcising your own demons”

Earlier this year, Atlanta’s Dog Bite found themselves with downtime in Los Angeles between a successful tour with labelmates Toro Y Moi and shows at SXSW in Austin. The four-piece that makes up the touring group started messing around with different sounds and came up with their first full-band release, the LA EP.

This document of the road-tested crew is a stunning sequel to Velvet Changes , the band’s debut LP, which showcased the talents of singer-songwriter Phil Jones and bassist Woody Shortridge.

The LA EP begins with “Warm, Wake Up,” a song that captures the bliss of a sunny day in the palm tree-dotted landscape and the romantic intrigue of Hollywood’s studio lots. Motoring back down that winding road, we hear “Hunting Seasons" where mid-20th century boogie haunts the track’s guitars as the reverberating beat floats us back up to the clouds.

A feeling of melancholia drifts throughout the EP’s songs. But the saddest part about this collection is its 13-minute length. It flies by like a short vacation or a cool breeze. But much more than sorrow for its passing, the LA EP inspires excitement for the next gust of wind.

TRACK LISTING

01 Warm, Wake Up
02 Hunting Season
03 Cold Weather
04 LA Sounds

For Adventure’s 2011 album, "Lesser Known", mastermind Benny Boeldt dived deep into pop songcraft. Unlike Adventure’s self-titled debut, this record was full of earworm vocal hooks - a big leap from the chiptune-indebted songs of his first album.

Boeldt’s third Adventure LP, "Weird Work", remains in the same sonic space as "Lesser Known" but abandons its sing-alongs. The album veers from a Square Enix-style video game soundtrack (“Alone”) to a strange lecture leaking from a high school’s ceiling PA (“Constantly”). The frenzied "Laser Blast" and the smooth "Nervous" encourage dance floor crowding. Weird Work is the result of Adventure’s 8-bit tendencies running free in an IDM landscape built on Aphex Twin and early Warp Records.

Stepping back from the strictures of pop music, Boeldt was once again free, with only an allegiance to his creative muses. “This record is about taking away any restrictive guidelines to the way I play or compose,” Boeldt says. “It's about isolation, confusion, doubt, growing up, growing out, losing control.” Despite the lack of deliberate confines on the music, there is still a feeling of control to these tracks. The music came into existence freely, but has found order.

In today’s digital age, when so many try to find definition with online tools and seek identity in downloadable content, it’s nice to know that Adventure has it figured out with Weird Work. “This record is about recognizing myself again,” Boeldt says.

“This record is about realizing who I am as a musician, and what I sound like. For better or for worse.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Days Off
2. Laser Blast
3. Nervous
4. Flower
5. Reality Shift
6. Alone
7. Constantly
8. Catching Up
9. Happiness

Popstrangers are Joel Flyger, Adam Page and David Larson, three native New Zealanders who make “pop” music that’s hard-driving, punk-influenced and sonically inimitable. After releasing several singles on fabled New Zealand label Flying Nun, the band arrives with their debut album Antipodes . Recorded in the basement of a 1930’s dancehall, Popstrangers’ first full-length features dissonant, claustrophobic melodies, anchored by the languid affectations of Flyger’s vocals, that bring a vintage feel to their decidedly contemporary garage rock. Channeling early Radiohead and kiwi indie bands of yore like the Gordons, 3Ds and the Chills, Antipodes further develops the band’s nuanced, distorted “pop” created and cultivated from years spent honing their craft live.

Antipodes begins with a wavering chord from a classic rock organ in “Jane,” over which the band layers gently oscillating bass, a razor-sharp guitar riff and the faintest hint of a tambourine, until the song rotates on its axis with the introduction of Flyger’s shadowy vocals enveloped in noise. Popstrangers revel in this conflict, playing with dynamics and tempo to whip their droning melodies and tightly wound riffs into utter frenzy. Antipodes ’ storm breaks for “Heaven,” a song that contrasts Flyger’s moody lyrics about imprisonment and escape with a serotonin hit of snappy guitars and infectious hooks. Drawing the album to a close is seven minutes of slow-burner “Occasions,” anchored by a murky bassline that eases the album to its end. Antipodes operates within a claustrophobic world of depression, captivity and dark matters of the heart, but Popstrangers anchor their debut LP’s hazy gloom with earnest anticipation for contentment.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jane 
2. In Some Ways 
3. Witches Hand 
4. What Else Could They Do 
5. Cat's Eyes 
6. Full Fat 
7. Heaven
8. Roy Brown 
9. 404 
10. Occasion

The product of a move from South Carolina to Berkeley, CA and the subsequent extended separation from loved ones, Toro Y Moi's third full-length, Anything in Return, puts Chaz Bundick right in the middle of the producer/songwriter dichotomy that his first two albums established.

There's a pervasive sense of peace with his tendency to dabble in both sides of the modern music-making spectrum, and he sounds comfortable engaging in intuitive pop production and putting forth the impression of unmediated id.

The producer's hand is prominent- not least in the sampled "yeah"s and "uh"s that give the album a hip-hop-indebted confidence- and many of the songs feature the 4/4 beats and deftly employed effects usually associated with house music. Tracks like "High Living" and "Day One" show a considerably Californian influence, their languid funk redolent of a West Coast temperament, and elsewhere- not least on lead single, "So Many Details"- the record plays with darker atmospheres than we're used to hearing from Toro Y Moi. Sounding quite assured in what some may call this songwriter's return to producer-hood, Anything in Return is Bundick uninhibited by issues of genre, an album that feels like the artist's essence.

Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Chaz Bundick has been toying with various musical projects since early adolescence. Having spent his formative years playing in punk and indie rock acts, his protean Toro Y Moi project has been his vessel for further musical exploration since 2001. During his time spent studying graphic design at the University of South Carolina, Chaz became increasingly focused on his solo work, incorporating electronics and allowing a wider range of influences- French house, Brian Wilson's pop, 80s R&B, and Stones Throw hip-hop- to show up in his music. By the time he graduated in spring 2009, Chaz had refined his sound to something all his own. Music journals across the board touted his hazy recordings as the sound of the summer, and he released his debut album, Causers of This in early 2010.

Since then, Bundick has proven himself to be not just a prolific musician, but a diverse one as well, letting each successive release broaden the scope of the Toro Y Moi oeuvre. The funky psych-pop of 2011's Underneath the Pine evinced an artist who could create similar atmospheres even without the aid of source material and drum machines. His Freaking Out EP, a handful of singles and remixes, and a retrospective box-set plot points all along the producer/songwriter spectrum in which he's worked since his debut, and Anything In Return is another exciting offering that shows he's still not ready to settle into any one genre.

Toro Y Moi’s first commercial release, the “Blessa" single, introduced the world to Chaz Bundick’s brand of introspective, atmospheric pop music, and while the A-side wound up laying the framework for his debut, "Causers Of This", backing track, "109”, hinted at a side of his music having more in common with the oddball pop of Ariel Pink than any of "Causers"’ reference points.

As it turns out, around the same time he was experimenting with music software and sampling, Bundick was recording a slew of short and sweet lo-fi tracks chronicling his version of college grad indecision. Now, after two albums, an EP, loads of tour dates, and a move to Berkeley, CA, these songs still mean a lot to him, and they’re collected on the retrospective "June 2009".

Originally part of the tour-only CD-R of the same name, "June 2009" feels like a peek inside the mind of an artist not knowing where to turn once stripped of the structure of school life. He struggles with good friends moving away (“Sad Sams”), the pressing feeling that a move to New York is a necessary career move (“Take The L To Leave”), and the fear that simple pleasures have become a thing of the past (“Ektelon”). But more than nostalgic yearnings for the recent past, the songs are like journal entries - as commemorative as they are therapeutic. Elsewhere, tracks like “Girl Problems” and “Dead Pontoon” show how his first album might have sounded if “109” had been that first single’s A-side, with reverbsoaked, angular guitar riffs serving as focal points of the power-pop periphery.

Also included is an early version of "Causers" standout track “Talamak”, one of his first cuts to make the blog rounds and an interesting insight into the process of reformatting his work to fit with the album. Closer “New Loved Ones” sees Bundick in a rare, intimate environment, accompanied only by an acoustic guitar and in the throes of love lost. With songs varied in style but bound together by their personal subject matter, "June 2009" is a portrait of a young man unknowingly on the cusp of a fruitful career.

STAFF COMMENTS

Philippa says: Toro Y Moi looks back to the short and sweet lo-fi pop tracks he recorded back in the day chronicling his version of college grad indecision. One for fans of the oddball pop of Ariel Pink.

TRACK LISTING

01. Best Around
02. Take The L To Leave
03. Girl Problems
04. Dead Pontoon
05. Ektelon
06. Drive South
07. Sad Sams
08. Talamak (First Version)
09. Warm Frames
10. New Loved Ones