Q&A: Toro Y Moi's Chaz Bundick talks about the influence Justin Bieber and Modest Mouse had on his new album

by Mark Teo

February 19, 2013

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In our half-hour conversation with Toro Y Moi, a.k.a. 26-year-old South Carolina producer Chaz Bundick, we don’t mention chillwave a single time. Despite being one of the genre’s pioneers, Bundick, over the course of three critically approved releases, hasn’t only transcended the term—he’s eluded classification period. The silken vocals and lounge-ready melodies of his previous efforts remain, but on the January-released Anything in Return, Bundick completes his ascension from the lo-fi bedroom sounds of his youth to an album paring R&B’s intimacy, krautrock’s dynamics, ’90s house music’s danceability, and modern pop’s accessibility. The best part? It isn’t only elegant—Bundick makes it sound easy.

We gave Bundick a call at his California home to talk about night drives, Jock Jams, and the fact that he’s not famous. Yet.

AUX: Your side project, Les Sins, recently put out a single on Dan Snaith’s Jiaolong imprint. How do you manage, or compartmentalize, your musical projects?

Chaz Bundick: I write Les Sins and Toro Y Moi songs [at the same time], and at a point, I choose where each song will end up. Whenever I start songs, I don’t know how they’ll pan out—my house songs end up being Les Sins, and my poppy tracks will become Toro Y Moi. It’s cool blending the two [in the writing process], because it helps me push each project.

Per your poppy tracks, Anything in Return is your lushest, most scatterbrained project yet—and it’s a big departure from even your last album, Underneath the Pine.

For Toro Y Moi stuff, I always want to maintain a pop element—I’m more open to writing a seven-minute track for Les Sins, because dance audiences expect it. I don’t want to alienate a crowd with Toro Y Moi, but at the same time, I want to open up their ears.

How so?

Well, once you gain a following, you can open things up—you can get experimental, even psychedelic. It’s why I want to maintain a pop element, but I also want to explore genres. Some of my younger fans say all they listen to is Rick Ross and Drake, but it’s cool to open them up to new sounds, because next thing you know, kids who only listened to hip hop might get into My Bloody Valentine.

Which isn’t to say that Anything in Return is shoegaze.

No. But my next album isn’t going to be like this one, because there’s so much music out there that I love. I like the idea of having a more traditional setup, like using a live band in the studio, and I definitely want to get away from the R&B thing. I had fun with it, but I’m ready to try something else.

Interesting. So have you really tired of R&B already?

Well, I’m just not into holding onto certain sounds. I find something, and I move on. But when I’m [playing a certain style], I like to be the best I can at what I’m doing. But then, all of my albums are related. I don’t know if I’ll make another album like [Underneath the] Pine again, but each album I make influences the next one.

Your own press release calls this album a songwriter’s return to producer-hood. Now, is there really a distinction between the two?

Songwriting is my number one goal and priority—it’s most important to have a good song, no matter how professional the drums sound or how in-tune the vocals are. On my album, if you take all the production aspects away and replace it with piano, drums, and guitar, it might sound like Todd Rundgren or something. A lot of the chords are influenced by ’80s boogie and ’70s jazz, like “Cola,” which is one of my favourites. And krautrock also influenced how we played bass. But I’m also influenced by Dilla, Flying Lotus, and Daft Punk, and that’s where the production side comes in. It helps the songs become what they are. But yeah, it’s fair to say that producers and songwriters are the same thing now.

You’ve mentioned that Anything in Return is your “pop” album. How did its production differ from your previous records—which were fairly poppy in their own right?

I really wanted to focus on my vocal range, especially on a few songs, and I didn’t want to reference too many weird things on my songs. I could’ve written proggier riffs, but for most of the songs, I just reference Todd Rundgren and Michael Jackson. Then, I wanted to focus on making it big-studio quality—I wanted to make it sound shiny, but not to dumb it down. I still wanted the songs to be intelligent in a way so they’re not all verse-chorus-verse or stupid songs about love. Pop’s exciting—I’m not ready to depart from that genre entirely. Maybe I’m leaning more towards the Radiohead side of things—this record is challenging for people who are really used to pop music.

Really? How so?

Like, I like auto-tune and cheesy love lyrics, and I like Justin Bieber and Kanye West. Some people like pop songs because they’re ironic, but they’re not always ironic. Look at The-Dream: his songs are cheesy, but they reference Prince and MJ. People shun pop music for its production techniques or simplicity, or the idea that we enjoy pop stars as celebrities instead of their music.

Which clearly isn’t true.

Yeah. I mean, I’m not famous, but I’m a dude who tried to make songs that sound like Justin Bieber. It might be pop in an ironic way, but it’s also just having fun. And if you can see that I’m also ripping Motor City Drum Ensemble or ’90s house music, I appreciate that the most.

Ambience-wise, though, Anything in Return isn’t as glossy as straightforward pop or, say, Jock Jams Vol. I. Were you going for a specific tone for the record?

Yeah, the tone is definitely dark. That’s my thing: Catching a vibe is really important. It’s like when you listen to Modest Mouse’s “Long Drive,” all I think about is them driving together in the car, driving through Utah. Atmosphere is essential for a coherent album. I envisioned this album as a night drive—it’s definitely a nighttime album. Driving is like my favourite setting for music; it’s such a good feeling to be on the highway, and zoning out and listening to an album. When I’m on tour, that’s all I do. And lyrically, this album’s mostly about getting comfortable with distance.

Like being homesick?

Mostly, I’m just talking about being away from South Carolina for the first time, moving away, and getting used to that. Moving away from friends and family takes its toll with your relationships. Honestly, I don’t know how people do it for so long. I can’t see how you can be comfortable doing this job and trying to have a domestic life, like a wife and family. People who go on tour frequently probably don’t have girlfriends. It’s probably why Kanye and Jay-Z settled down.

This article originally appeared in the February 2013 Issue of AUX Magazine.

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Tags: Music, Featured, Interviews, Dan Snaith, Modest Mouse, Todd Rundgren, Toro Y Moi

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