Toro Y Moi

A trailblazer of chillwave who quickly shed that label, Toro y Moi's Chaz Bundick pursues fresh paths on each album and side venture. Delving into '80s R&B, house via the 2014 Les Sins project, space age pop, prog, or guitar-driven power pop on 2015's What For?, Bear refuses to repeat any single approach and favors ongoing sonic exploration instead. Whether channeling 2017's contemporary R&B-inflected Boo Boo, entering the psychedelic funk domain of 2022's Mahal, detouring through country-rock on the 2023 Sandhills EP, or exploring hazy cloud rap on 2024's Hole Erth, Bundick's melodic instincts and constant genre reinvention remain unaffected by stylistic turns.

Chaz Bundick began creating bedroom recordings as Toro y Moi in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, in 2001. During childhood, household exposure to funk, soul, and new wave shaped his early experiments, while later influences from Beach House, Dilla, and Animal Collective also informed the work. In addition to solo albums, Bundick performed with various groups, yet it was the Toro y Moi material that drew Carpark Records' attention, prompting the label to issue the "Blessa"/"109" single in 2009. Those atmospheric, low-fidelity tracks helped define early chillwave, positioning Toro y Moi alongside Neon Indian and Washed Out—whose Ernest Greene had been a childhood friend—as leading figures of the emerging sound. Carpark released the project's debut full-length, the atmospheric, home-recorded Causers of This, in 2010; the album received extensive press attention and attracted notable admirers including Kanye West.

After completing a fully sample-based record, Bundick reversed course on 2011's Underneath the Pine by employing live instruments and folding in space age pop and disco elements. The resulting music deliberately moved away from chillwave, demonstrating greater range beyond lo-fi bedroom textures. That year also brought the Freaking Out EP, which edged closer to dance music and included a glossy reinterpretation of Alexander O'Neal & Cherrelle's 1985 R&B hit "Saturday Love."

Following Bundick's relocation to Berkeley, California, in 2012, themes of distance from family and friends surfaced in his next collection, imparting a more introspective tone. Anything in Return appeared on Carpark in early 2013. He then committed fully to dance music with the 2014 Michael album under the Les Sins moniker, marking the first release on his newly founded Company label, operated jointly with Carpark. Also in 2014, he joined Vinyl Williams for Trance Zen Dental Spa, an album of new age prog material. The subsequent Toro y Moi album, 2015's What For?, enlisted guitarist Julian Lynch and Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Ruban Nielson and represented the project's most direct guitar-oriented pop statement. Bundick assembled a larger touring ensemble, captured one performance, and issued the recording as Live from Trona in 2016. He further teamed with jazz-prog duo the Mattson 2 for Star Stuff, released by Company late that year.

By the album's release, Bundick had already started work on another Toro y Moi project. A period of personal and artistic reflection prompted him to adopt the name Chaz Bear and return to his signature ambient R&B chillwave aesthetic. Drawing from Frank Ocean and Oneohtrix Point Never, Boo Boo emphasized spacious, relaxed arrangements. Bear handled most instrumentation, with keyboard contributions from Anthony Ferraro and vocals from Madeline Kenney; Carpark issued the album in July 2017. After the 2018 five-song Toro y Rome, Vol. 1 EP recorded with Philadelphia rapper Rome Fortune, Bear delivered the sixth Toro y Moi full-length, Outer Peace, in early 2019. The record incorporated Daft Punk influences and Caribbean funk from keyboardist Wally Badarou alongside contemporary pop textures. Shortly afterward, he released the companion Soul Trash mixtape, which leaned back toward chillwave. Capping a prolific year, he collaborated with Flume on "The Difference," which received a 2020 Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording.

Bear next revisited ambient explorations begun under the PLUM name in 2016. Street View, accompanied by an interactive website, appeared in late 2020. During California's lockdown period, he completed an album begun five years earlier. Conceived as a raw, groove-heavy psychedelic statement, Mahal featured Neon Indian's Alan Palomo, Ruban Nielson of UMO, the Mattson 2, Salami Rose Joe Louis, vocalist Sofie, and members of his touring band. While finishing the tracks in his Oakland studio, Bear wrote lyrics rapidly, many addressing isolation and media relationships. The resulting 2022 release on Dead Oceans marked his first album for the label. He continued session work, producing and performing on Tanukichan's 2023 album Gizmo, then issued the Sandhills EP that year, a country-rock collection centered on recollections of his South Carolina roots. Maintaining his pattern of rapid stylistic shifts, Bundick moved into a hybrid of auto-tuned cloud rap and atmospheric electronic dreamgaze that echoed both his production for rappers and his own early chillwave phase. Toro y Moi's late 2024 album Hole Erth—whose title and spirit drew from the counterculture publication Whole Earth—departed from all prior work and included an eclectic guest list comprising Death Cab for Cutie's Benjamin Gibbard, rapper/vocalist Don Toliver, hyperpop artist Glaive, and Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract.