Young Chad Bundick and his associates in Toro y Moi flipped more than a few wigs with last February’s stellar Underneath the Pine (TMT Review) on Carpark. The groovy sophomore outing bested the band’s solid debut LP and showcased both Bundick’s vastly improved songwriting abilities and knack for arrangements, and dredged the group up from the dingy chillwave basement and into the sunny living room of psychedelic pop.
They also released a damn good EP this past September, Freaking Out (TMT Review), and recently decided it’s time to plunder the vaults and reissue some of Bundick’s earliest material. Entitled June 2009, the new box of early 7-inch material was once available as a tour-only CD-R but will now be handsomely re-packaged as 10 songs spread across five snazzy records, all ready to order April 24. Toro y Moi are also set to be featured in the upcoming infamous Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue as a “featured artist” to watch. The band will join 16 other “featured artists” in both the magazine (Toro y Moi is one of six other bands with a prominent feature story in the magazine) as well as performing at the appropriately titled “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Beauties & Beats” two-day event in Las Vegas where they’ll be joined by other “featured artists” A-Trak, Black Lips, Delta Spirit, Maluca, White Denim and more.
June 2009 tracklist:
1-A. Best Around
1-B. Take The L To Leave
2-A. Girl Problems
2-B. Dead Pontoon
3-A. Ektelon
3-B. Drive South
4-A. Sad Sams
4-B. Talamak (First Version)
5-A. Warm Frames
5-B. New Loved Ones
• Toro y Moi: http://toroymoi.blogspot.com
• Carpark: http://www.carparkrecords.com