Chaz Bundick weaves spacey-funk yet beat driven soundscapes under the moniker Toro y Moi. He fills Eleven in on the dividing line between musical hobbies and work and how to get crowds dancing.
Toro y Moi – Low Shoulders
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You are from Columbia, South Carolina, but avidly participate in the open, global music exchange that is the internet. What do you have to say about the geography of music in our generation? Is there a “local” mentality that we should work to maintain everywhere (not just in Brooklyn and Austin)?
Chaz Bundick:
I think that because of the internet more music fans and musicians are able to influence their musical taste. I feel that Columbia’s music scene has not been fully recognized, there are a lot of great bands here. So, with the success I’ve been getting lately I’d like to show as much support to the local scene as possible.
On a similar tangent, do you think this rapidly expanding musical exchange is blurring our concept of genre ? (your music draws from so many varied influences…)
CB:
Thats one way to view it, but it’s not necessarily ‘the internet’ that is responsible for expanding one’s musical knowledge. I think the fact that we are able to access more at a much faster rate, it’s easier to become familiar and jaded with many genres of music. So, inevitably musicians push themselves further.
How are you translating Causers of This to the stage?
CB:
Right now, I’m trying to focus on how i can make my set more organic and not rely on using back-up tracks as much. So, some songs may sound different; some emptier, some more up-beat… I don’t really know yet.
Lo-Fi electronica has been a staple for me this year, but only from my laptop, in my room. I don’t really know how one could dance to this without looking silly. Maybe a strobe-light? How are the kids swinging their hips at your shows?
CB:
That’s one thing that confuses me myself. I approach a lot of my songs from a pretty basic starting point, either piano or guitar. Some people like to listen to the lyrics and some like to listen to the music and dance. For me, when i watch a band i usually like to watch for chemistry between the players which is what i’d like to include into my shows soon.
Causers of This unfolds in a dreamy haze. What of your personal dreams are communicated on this album?
CB:
There aren’t any dreams conveyed really at all. it’s mostly true events that have happened in a past relationship.
You share so many sentiments about personal relationships on this album. Would you say that commitment to truth/vulnerability is your central theme? If not, then what?
CB:
I’d say that’s about right. Once the meaning behind the lyrics become routine and dull it’s lost true emotion.
So many of us twenty-somethings are bumming around, more focused on creativity than “career.” We are even skeptical about the money-making possibilities in art spoiling our creative processes. Has your practice changed, now that you’re making music as “work?”
CB:
That’s a good question, I think it’s hard to do what you like as a career and still maintain the motivation to do it. Before it was work, it was just a hobby. I think the best way to keep your art as pure as possible, you have to constantly put yourself into positions that got you to the point of ‘hobbies turn to work.’ Whether it was depression or happiness, that’s the only thing that’s going to make interesting to you and that is the most important thing.
It is as if this time in our lives has become a dreamy haze between care-free childhood and responsibility-burdened adulthood. Is this your experience? When do we “grow up?” How do you think Causers of This flows out of this mentality?
CB:
I think we grow up when you mentally try to make things simpler but on the outside things become more cluttered. I’d like to think Causers of This has similar attributes, simple meanings with complicated structuring.
Who were you listening to while writing this album?
CB:
I did reference back to Daft Punk’s Discovery a few times, but I mostly had the sounds in my head already – which were influenced by J Dilla and My Bloody Valentine.
Do you have a title or date for the next album?
CB:
Not yet, we’re shooting for August.
Excellent interview as always, Nelda.