smartbeats - Toro Y Moi: Review
is the stage name of Chaz Bundick, one of the pioneering voices in the rise of Chill Wave during the first half of the 2000's. After releasing six records under the name and a collection of side projects Toro y Moi teamed up with some acclaimed indie artists to dip his toes into the world of ambient music on smartbeats.
Review By Lavender:
While I haven't always agreed with Chaz on the sounds of Chill Wave he is clearly an incredibly talented musician and has a number of albums in his catalog that I really enjoy. Earlier this year he released a record that I thought was a bit too inconsistent but highlights like Ordinary Pleasure and Monte Carlo have been in my rotation all year. On smartbeats Chaz switches up his approach and drops a mostly ambient album that recruits vocals from a number of indie darling vocalists to assemble some longer form tracks with minimal instrumentation and chopped up original vocal samples.
The first and third tracks of the EP are the ones that mostly dabble in ambient music stylings and they do so pretty effectively. Flow is the opening song and it features tons of open space and stark cut up vocal samples, the track really takes a turn for the haunting in its second half and it comes out pretty solid in the end. Connect features Empress Of with some much more frontal vocals worked into the song. I admire Chaz's willingness to leave grand moments of open space and very little sound but the track itself didn't particularly wow me, although it is nice while on.
The two songs I enjoyed much more are the second and final cuts the record has to offer. Move is a much more frontal track with some prominent percussion and a grainy mix that makes the entire song sound like field recordings from a strange part of the world. One of the most meticulously assembled pieces of production on the record results in the song that sounds so beautifully natural and wonderfully put together. During the songs fade out there is also a moment where the drums start to resemble the iconic drum line from Joy Division's Atrocity Exhibition and it is the icing on the cake of an excellent song.
The final track is Balance and features sung vocals from Washed Out that sound like a really good dream pop song stripped down to only its most necessary elements. With a huge wash of ambient space and a soft and distant vocal performance that ties the song together in an absolutely gorgeous way. It closes the record in a soft but very impactful way that puts icing on the cake of a short but very enjoyable project.
Toro y Moi has always been a musical innovator and on the smartbeats EP he successfully crosses over genres into the ambient world of musical minimalism. Whether with truly ambient tracks or indulgent long form sonic experimentations he proves that his musical repertoire extends beyond the world of chill wave and has me looking forward to whatever he is doing next. 8/10
For a review of Toro Y Moi's last record Outer Peace look here
