Toro Y Moi's Chaz Bundick Talks Race, Moving to Berkeley and Why Electronic Music is Boring

Toro Y Moi's Chaz Bundick Talks Race, Moving to Berkeley and Why Electronic Music is Boring

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Originally published as part of My SF on Huffington Post SF


Much like the tUnE-YarDs' Merrill Garbus, South Carolina native Chaz Bundick moved to the East Bay right after his induction into the current crop of indie rock royalty. His band, Toro Y Moi, effortlessly marries left-field pop hooks with hazy textures and engaging electronic flourishes. His muscular, dance-y third full-length album "Anything In Return" came out in January, and the band is playing a headlining set at this year's Noise Pop Festival.

We caught up with Bundick to hear about his cross-country move, his favorite things about his new home and why he thinks electronic music might not be all it's cracked up to.

What do you think of living in Berkeley? It's awesome, I love it.

You used to live in South Carolina. What inspired the move? I moved here because my girlfriend was living here.

What's you favorite place in your neighborhood? When people come to visit I always take them to Indian Rock and the Observatory--those are the go-to spots. Restaurant-wise, I like taking people to Cheese Board and 900 Grayson.

Has your change in location influenced the music that you're making? It definitely affected the lyrics, but not the music. Musically, I kind of knew where I wanted to go already. But it definitely pushed the lyrics in one direction.

How did the lyrics change? It just sort of happened to be what I felt like talking about because it was the biggest thing going on in my life at the time.

Tell me a little bit about your newest record, "Anything In Return." Did you have a specific goal in mind with the album? Yeah, I guess the goal was to sort of make a pop record that had a big studio sound.

Did you record it in the Bay Area? Yeah, I did. At Different Fur Studios in the Mission.

Click here for more questions with Toro Y Moi's Chaz Bundick!

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