Toro Y Moi: What For?
Chaz Bundick was burdened with the “chillwave” tag early on, but he’s spent the rest of his young career eclipsing it. The songwriter/producer has built an identity of sonic exploration, restlessly pushing himself from evocative bedroom soundscapes into full-fledged funk and psych-pop. What For?, his fourth album under the Toro Y Moi moniker, is another revelatory step forward, showcasing Bundick’s skills as an old-school rock craftsman. Recruiting like-minded collaborators Ruban Nielson (Unknown Mortal Orchestra) and multi-instrumentalist Julian Lynch, he hurtles himself back into the early 1970s—an era when virtuosity and hooks weren’t contradictory concepts. With its creamy funk-rock guitars and mind-melting fuzz-pedal solos, “Spell It Out” suggests the Doobie Brothers crashing a psychedelic disco; the hazy, jazzy groove of “The Flight” echoes both Steely Dan and Todd Rundgren. What For? condenses the entire decade into 10 shapeshifting tracks, each refracted through Bundick’s seductive lens.