365 – New Music Daily

A staple of my blog, Toro y Moi aka Chaz Bear’s 2013 release Anything in Return really put him on the map, marking a transition from chillwave to more traditional house music. For many, songs like Rose Quartz and So Many Details strongly associate this album with riding around in GTA V. Core memories.

Overall though, it’s an effort that is easy to see as an immature one, especially compared to Chaz’s more recent releases in Outer Peace (the more straightforward house album, which is great) and Mahal (a mesh of house and alternative rock, which is not only his most recent but his best). The newer albums are much more coherent efforts from front to back, whereas this is an album of house that could use a lot more polishing. Even his 2015 psychedelic rock release What For? seems to be much more of a coherent effort than this. The best songs are certainly worth checking out, but the three albums above clear this easily.

Favorite songs: Say That, So Many Details, Rose Quartz, Day One