Biography

About Toro y Moi
Toro y Moi

Chazwick Bradley Bundick (born November 7, 1986), better known by his stage name Toro y Moi, is an American recording artist and producer. His music has taken on many forms since he began recording, but he is often identified with the rise of the chillwave movement in 2010 and 2011. His stage name is a multilingual expression consisting of the Spanish words toro and y (meaning “bull” and “and”, respectively), and the French word moi (which means “me”).

Life and Career

Chazwick Bradley Bundick was born on November 7, 1986 in Columbia, South Carolina, to a Filipino mother and an African-American father. He attended Ridge View High School, where he formed the indie rock band The Heist and The Accomplice with three schoolmates.

Toro y Moi graduated from the University of South Carolina in spring of 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design. Late in his school career, Toro y Moi formed a close musical relationship with fellow chillwave artist Ernest Greene, who performs under the name Washed Out.

In mid-2009, Toro y Moi was signed to Carpark Records, on which he released his first full-length album Causers of This in January 2010. His second album, Underneath the Pine, was released on February 22, 2011. He was chosen by Caribou to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that they co-curated in December 2011 in Minehead, England. On September 13, Toro y Moi released an EP titled Freaking Out, featuring a cover of “Saturday Love” by Cherrelle and Alexander O’Neal.

Toro y Moi put out a collection of experimental “stream of consciousness” recordings under his side project Sides of Chaz. In an interview with website At the Sinema, he stated that he had moved beyond the chillwave genre: “All that stuff is really good music, like Ernest Green (Washed Out) and Neon Indian. I’m a big fan of all of that, but I think [chillwave] was just a small little period where we all were, coincidentally.”

In January 2013, Toro y Moi released his third studio album, Anything in Return, which he described as having “sort of a ’90s dance mix sound.” According to him, the album “was definitely influenced by lots of different types of house, from deep house to two-step […] The chords [‘Harm in Change’ and ‘Say That’] use—that’s just something I’ve been a fan of for a while. I really wanted to mess around with those kinds of elements and revisit what I did on Causers [of This], but make those elements a little bit better and more apparent.” The album was called “highly indebted to the late sacrosanct hip-hop producer J Dilla” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. In promotion of Anything in Return, Toro y Moi has embarked on a tour across North America and Europe, which started on May 27, 2013 in George, Washington, and will end on November 10 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Toro y Moi also has a dance side project named Les Sins. In February 2013, Toro y Moi was named one of Fuse’s thirty must-see artists at SXSW.