Never judge a book by its cover. Its a recurring theme when it comes to Toro Y Moi, who took the stage close at 3:50 pm sharp on the Twin Peaks stage of Outside Lands. Dressed like a college professor (glasses and all), vocalist, synth-wizard and mastermind Chaz Bundick doesn't look like the kind of musician who hatches some of the funkiest, dreamiest stuff in the music world today. Yet he is, and his ever-evolving, chilled-out sound has been some of the most adventurous of this fest's first day.
Drawing many jams from his February album Underneath The Pine, Bundwick and his live band displayed their chops–honed on a solid 8 months of hard touring–during songs like "New Beat" and "Still Sound". Between occasional shoutouts to the audience, the quartet layered glittering, 80s synths on top of hissing symbols on top of sexy, fat bass lines–all guaranteed body movers. It didn't matter that Bundwick himself was cool as a cucumber, only subtly moving to the beat; despite the park's shrouds of fog, Toro Y Moi whipped the crowd into a gyrating mass of bodies and sent enough electricity into the air to keep the thousands here going well into the night.