Toro y Moi, the brainchild of Berkeley-based singer-songwriter Chaz "Bear" Bundick, concocted relaxed synth-pop
in early singles such as 109 (2009), Sad Sams (2009)
and Blessa (2009), his early signature song;
a passion confirmed by the
EP Left Alone At Night (2009) and the
cassette Body Angles (2009) and by the breakup album
Causers Of This (2010), an early example of electronic chillwave and one of the most melancholy ones (Thanks Vision, You Hid and especially Talamak).
His dynamic production borrowed a page or two from the manuals of glitch and Flying Lotus-era hip-hop.
He then morphed into a folkish singer-songwriter on the humble
Underneath The Pine (2011),
less derivative of the 1980s and more versatile, ranging from
the dissonant Good Hold to the catchy Elise and to the muzak of
How I Know , via the
lightweight sleek funk shuffle New Beat.
and especially Still Sound.
The mellow funk-soul ballads of the EP
Freaking Out (2011) sounded like a digital version of
Prince.
He then changed style again veering towards the dancefloor on
Anything In Return (2013), that contains the Michael Jackson-esque
single So Many Details (2012) as well as Cola.
And then he changed style again on the guitar-driven (although not really
rocking);
and on
What For? (2015), that contains Spell It Out.
June 2009 (2012) collects early recordings.
Samantha (2015) is a mixtape that collects unreleased music.
After the uninspired Boo Boo (2017), that mimicked contemporary
"r&b", Toro y Moi made
a well-arranged album of house music, Outer Peace (2019), notably
the slim funky single Freelance and the syncopated soul-jazzy Ordinary Pleasure.
Mahal (2022) delves into funk, soul and jazz with little or no originality.
Instrumental opener
The Medium is a decent take on
psychedelic funk, but the rest
is mostly shapeless, background pop muzak.
To make matters worse, the songs are bogged down by
horrible vocals, whether female (the
soul ballad Magazine) or male
the funk-jazz shuffle The Loop).
Emblematic of his sluggish soul-jazz style is Millennium, a meeting of
Prince and George Benson.