Album Review: Toro Y Moi - Anything In Return

Toro Y Moi
Anything In Return
Rating: Grrrr

Emerging in 2010 at the height of the chillwave movement, Chazwick Bundick, AKA Toro Y Moi, flaunted his production skills on his memorable debut, Causers Of This. As chillwave morphed from a movement to a punchline, Chaz switched gears on 2011's Underneath The Pine, moving towards a more structured pop song format, which for me muddied his sound and was particularly wan and unsatisfying. So, for his latest record Anything In Return, I wasn't expecting much other than more of the same. Luckily, I was impressed, as Chaz took the best parts of both his records, added a little more 70s funk and R&B vibe to the mix, and has created, while perhaps not his most defining moment, his best record so far.

Bundick eases into the record with the low key intro "Harm In Change," which rises from found samples, rolls of echoed piano chords, and washes of synths, building into a fairly dense track. Which sets things up for a stretch of some seriously catchy pop tracks. From the dreamy keyboard funk of "Say That,"



first single and album standout "So Many Details" which is a texturally rich R&B track which folds and unfolds on itself in interesting ways,



the haunting vocals and piano chords of "Cola" which are underscored by buzzy synths, and to the particularly brilliant track "Grown Up Calls" with its funk keyboards and insistent vocal from Bundick building into a frenzied mesh of keyboards of space lounge percussion, Bundick hits the ball out of the park more often than not.

The criticisms with the record mainly stem from the fact that there is a general mood to the album, and over the long haul some of the tracks tend to blend into each other. And several of the tracks tend to play out like unfinished sketches, like the meandering instrumental "Rose Quartz," slightly dirge-like "High Living," and bland "Cake" which relies too much on slightly irritating synth runs.

But when you think he is getting off the rails, he always finds a way to bring things back in focus, such as on the sunny, bouncy 80s funk of "Never Matter" or the hip-hop inflected "How's It Wrong."



For me,Anything In Return is a huge leap forward from Underneath the Pines, really focusing on his two disparate interests and finding a way to merge the two into someone cohesive and moving. While it is not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, it is by far his best and most interesting work, and paves the way for even better things to come.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.