Toro y Moi - Boo Boo - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Following the ever-emotive Boo Boo, Toro y Moi's new album Outer Peace is a time capsule that captures our relationship to contemporary culture into one comprehensive, sonic package. As both a producer and designer, Chaz Bear utilizes abstract sound pairings with recognizable samples for his most pop influenced record to date, including features from ABRA, WET, and Instupendo. This is no departure from his funk and disco roots, which can be heard on InchOrdinary Pleasure,Inch later fusing into variations of house with tracks like InchFreelanceInch and InchLaws of the Universe.Inch Smooth interludes melt into fast paced beats, paralleling the feeling of driving through the Bay Area, where Bear spent most of his time writing the album. Outer Peace is duality. It embodies whatever form you choose to inhabit in the moment. Listen and let your imagination become the universe.

Hole Erth, Chaz Bear's eighth full-length studio record as Toro yMoi, is the genre shapeshifter's most unexpected and boldmove to date, with Bear diving headlong into rap-rock,Soundcloud rap and Y2K emo. The album blitzes anthemicpop-punk next to autotuned, melancholic rap - two genres thatinform one another now more than ever before - and packs inthe most features ever on a Toro y Moi album.A sense of nostalgia sneaks it's way into almost every Toro y Moirelease, but angst is an emotion that Bear has neverintentionally explored the way he does here. Tracks likeInchTuesday' channel a specific, yet forever-relatable sense ofadolescent unease. A distorted guitar riff leads into a repeatingchorus that conjures misunderstood teenagers singing aloud,maybe too loud, while riding bikes through American suburbs.This foreboding can also be heard on InchHOV,Inch though not withoutpoking some fun with lines like InchRomance is so cold / Myadvice? To bring a coat.InchBear has the energy, but is acutely aware that his energy isn'tforever. At a time when the internet is blending multiple genresinto one at an increasingly rapid pace, Bear accomplishes therare feat of keeping up with the contemporary alternativelistener. Constantly changing, evolving and experimenting is theheart of Toro y Moi, and on Hole Erth Bear challenges but alsoreclaims himself, embracing the myriad sounds and eras thatformed him, while crashing new worlds together.

What For? is a glimpse into the life of a guy trying to figure out what it all means. The music is influenced by bands like Big Star, Talking Heads, Tim Maia, Todd Rundgren, but it doesn't quite sound like any of them in particular. And it isn't trying to. It has that special something that Chaz imbues in every Toro Y Moi album, his personal filter on the world he experiences. So whatever message you take from the album, don't forget that it's good. As Chaz himself so candidly believes, ''Good is good. Good finds it's own audience.''