TORO Y MOI: watching the Bull and Me.
Andy Woodward, Jordan Blackmon, Pat Jeffords & the author.
TORO Y MOI: watching the Bull and Me.
By: Aimee Marcos
I had the pleasure of seeing this act (band is not quite accurate) last February 15th at the Hard Rock Café. First and foremost, I must say, that setting up the concert at this venue was actually good, there was ample parking, ample space for the audience and the sound system was not that bad.
Back to the concert…
When I first went into the venue, I was greeted by none other than front man of Halik ni Gringo / recording studio owner / groovy DJ extraordinaire, Joey Santos doing an opening set. He played for about 30 minutes to an hour, setting the mood of the night, using what I assume were looping and sampling machines with his laptop. Then came on one of the most talked about acts (again, the word “band” does not quite cut it as a description) of late, Tarsius, an experimental electro pop duo headed by the music chameleon Diego Mapa. Backed tonight with my personal favorite drummer of the moment, Pat Sarabia, one of the formidable members of The Wilderness. They have recently released an EP for download along with the Number Line label. Following Tarsius were the Techy Romantics. The trio of Ryan Villena (formerly of Narda), Dondy Virrey and the ethereal voiced Camyl Besinga. Their 5-song set helped set the mood for Toro Y Moi.
Tarsius.
Techy Romantics.
The main man of Toro Y Moi is Chazwick Bundick, or Chaz, who manned the keys, samplers and looping, while guitar and keyboard duties were on Jordan Blackmon. Both were supported by bassist Pat Jeffords and Andy Woodward on the drums. Their set was amazing, and as I’ve now come to learn, chillwave, which is the genre of music they play, is more than a little chill. It is groovy too. But I digress.
The set list is as follows (as far as I can remember):
New Beat
Talamak
All Alone
Light Black
Go with You
Still Sound
Freak Love
Low Shoulder
Saturday Love
I get love
Elise
Both his major albums, Underneath the Pine, and Causers of This, were more or less represented, though I must say, a personal favorite is “Still Sound” as well as “New Beat”; so when he played that early on in the set, I kind of went all dancey. There was a moment or two, in the end when they went off stage, and encored with “Elise” but then after that, which everyone thought they’d be back on stage, doing perhaps another hopefully, longer encore, but alas, it was not to be. The band was kind enough to pose for pictures as well as sign and autograph bits and bobs that the fans brought with them. (I saw Mic Benedicto of Outerhope with a vinyl record…) Kindassault aka Joff Cruz, had already told me that they had come straight from the Laneway festival in Singapore that previous weekend and were tired from all the traveling. It was especially so with this trip because even though they have more or less had their share of traveling across the western hemisphere, they’ve never really come to Asia, the Philippines in particular. Indeed, Chaz being half Filipino has never really come home to his home country until this gig. So it was understandable that the jetlag and time difference would take the wind out of their sails, however excited they may have been to perform.
Nonetheless, it was a great night out, a lot of familiar faces and with great music. It is a great hope for us here in the Philippines that our music world is starting to open up to all sorts of genres of music and not only the popular kind.
Toro Y Moi proved that a little indie act, can travel around the world and reach our ears, so long as we’re willing to listen. Maybe Chaz’s being half Filipino has something to do with it, but even so, we can see that this sort of music is now being appreciated by an audience who is willing to embrace our own however different and from far away they come from. I only hope that this trend continues with the next few acts that Kindassault is going to be bringing in.
Kindassault’s Joff Cruz with Andy Woodward.
The author with Chaz…and some other dude!
