Toro Y Moi brought waves to the Noise Pop Festival at The Independent in San Francisco on Saturday, but they weren’t exactly chill. He is one of the main acts attributed to chillwave. As a “genre” that has its validity constantly questioned, it evokes the idea of listeners apathetically lounging amidst vaguely electro sounds. However, hot off the release of his latest album, Anything in Return, the synth savant (who is actually named Chazwick Bundick) brought his groove in the house.
The three opening acts set the tone for Bundick as they all represented aspects of his music. James & Evander opened with their easygoing electro-pop. Dog Bite performed a dream-poppy set that, at one point, caused me to literally gaze at my shoes while bopping my head around. And the grungy funk of Sinkane loosened attendees’ hips in a feel-good frenzy. By the time Bundick’s set came on, the venue was littered with attendees swaying their own way from balcony to floor.
But even though everyone was gettin’ down, Bunwick’s music shouldn’t be shoved into the box of club music either. He deftly integrated his complex array of sounds with the live presence of a guitarist, bassist and drummer — which added an organic feel to the usual artificiality of processed effects. The bass boomed with funky hooks that I could feel. The drums laid out the beats for songs like “Rose Quartz.” Guitar riffs pierced this wall of sound in tunes like “I Can Get Love.” Bundick looked like a head-bobbing brainiac as he seamlessly tweaked sounds like warped live vocals. And to top everything off, the set design looked like the blinds section of Home Depot transformed into a rave space – which is the ultimate way to defy both music genres and appliance store layouts.
Contact Caitlin Kelley at [email protected].