[Podcast] Music Ninja Radio – Episode 46 (Recap)

Music Ninja Radio
Episode 46

Music Ninja Radio is a weekly podcast broadcast live on San Francisco’s BFF.fm — Best Frequencies Forever. You can tune in here every Friday from 4-6PM PT / 7-9ET. 

Last Friday’s show marks the one year anniversary since we took our talents to the airwaves of BFF in San Francisco’s best kept secret(alley). From deep in the Mission District, through the port of a pirate ship, we’ve been bringing the best of the best to your ears – Best Frequencies Forever wasn’t voted ‘Best Radio Station‘ in the Bay Area for nothing!

With that in mind, now seems as good a time as any to start providing our fellow Ninja readers with a weekly recap of our show, Music Ninja Radio aka Dojo by the Bay. Curating the best releases each week, themed shows coinciding with specific artist releases, and a fair amount of throwbacks sprinkled throughout, Music Ninja Radio has something for everyone.

The full show’s playlist can be found on the website’s archive here.

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Lollapalooza 2015: Our Top Takeaways [Event Review]

Lollapalooza-2015

As with any music festival, after Lollapalooza is over, it always takes us a few days to digest everything and snap back to reality. For locals, the festival serves as a three day escape within our own city. For outsiders, it provides them with a completely unique way to experience Chicago. The magic of Lollapalooza is simply unmatched, and despite a weather scare on the final day, Lollapalooza 2015 turned out to be just as memorable as years past. On the next few pages we’ve broken down some of our lasting impressions from Lolla.

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[Hip-Hop] Toro y Moi – Pitch Black (feat. Rome Fortune)

Toro y Moi
Pitch Black (Ft. Rome Fortune)

A few months back, we wrote a piece about Toro y Moi titled “5 Faces of Chaz” exploring the broad-ranging styles and experimentations he’s taken with his music thus far, which really just scratches the surface of his creative scope. Chaz Bundick, the enigma behind Toro, has dabbled in hip-hop in the past (Tyler, the Creator loves him and they’ve got a song together called “Hey You”) and, shortly after releasing a stellar indie-rock leaning album in What for?, he seems to be re-opening that facet of his style. Through his Soundcloud page, he’s released a couple unique trap and hip-hop inspired productions including “2Late,” a collab with former Das Racist member Kool A.D., as well as an epic instrumental titled “That Instead of This,” which we can only really describe as “trapwave.”

Yesterday, he released a collaboration with TMN-favorite, Atlanta emcee Rome Fortune, who couldn’t be a better partner-in-crime for a producer as adventurous as Chaz. In some ways similar to Toro y Moi, albeit much earlier in his career, Fortune has been consistently ahead of the curve proving audacious when it comes to stepping out of any genre constraints. His work with Four Tet, most recently on “Leaders,” is the perfect example of how Rome Fortune can be a chameleon of sorts shaping his delivery to match an unconventional instrumental.

Toro y Moi and Rome Fortune’s inventive styles fuse masterfully on “Pitch Black,” which starts off with an ominous bass-line and disorienting arpeggiated synths before falling into a smooth groove. In Toro’s keys and trickling percussion, you can hear bits of the production style on his 2013 album Anything in Return but with a marked cadence friendlier to an emcee. That being said, it’s not by any means a traditionally structured hip-hop strong with a constantly shifting backdrop. Rome raps accordingly, though, with flows that span slow and spread-out raps, melodic chorus-esque portions and traditional hard-hitting delivery sections. Similarly, the lyrics mirror the juxtaposition created by the instrumental as Rome calls himself the “coolest motherfunker in the planet” all the while talking about a soul-sucking relationship.

Collaborations like this one are important for music and have become increasingly feasible in the digital age. Songs like “Pitch Black” tear down genre walls and, in doing so, push culture forward by bringing together fans of both styles. In short, Rome’s right he really is “the coolest montherfunker on the planet.”

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[Event Review] 5 Faces of Chaz: Examining Toro y Moi’s Evolution at The Independent, SF 3/28

DSC_0344Over the last five years, Chaz Bundick, as both Toro y Moi and Les Sins, has repeatedly redefined his style bringing refreshing facets of his reserved, enigmatic persona to light all the while maturing with each album. A true musical chameleon, Chaz has worn many hats but, regardless of genre, he maintains his aesthetic always remaining true to himself. This realization couldn’t have been more evident as I watched Toro Y Moi perform a hometown show at The Independent in San Francisco last weekend in which he intertwined his various musical identities into a cohesive and career-spanning set.

Backed by several talented musicians, including ninja-favorite Astronauts, etc. on the keys, Toro y Moi’s countless jams, from hazy bedroom productions to groovy indie rock, were presented in the most vibrant way possible. Almost signifying transitions between old and new, Chaz swapped between MIDI keyboard and guitar through out without losing a beat. As an avid fan, and music geek, I found myself not only dancing steadily through out, but also hit with a flurry of thoughts and emotions inspired by the diverse, yet unified, setlist. To best capture those feelings, I decided to recount the performance in the context of a career retrospective. Flip through the pages and explore the five faces of Toro that I witnessed last Saturday with photos and songs from the set to match.

Toro y Moi’s upcoming album, What for?, drops on April 7th but can be streamed via NPR Music now. You can pre-order on iTunes here and find upcoming tour dates here.

All photos by Dom Powell

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[Alternative] Toro y Moi – Run Baby Run

Toro Y Moi
Run Baby Run

The latest single from Toro y Moi solidifies the direction of his highly anticipated upcoming album, What for?. Continuing in the vein of dreamy indie rock, “Run Baby Run” features a breezy guitar backdrop, with the lightest touch of funk and psychedelia, teamed with Chaz Bundick’s vocals, which feel like they could soundtrack a 90s movie. It’s yet another showcase of versatility adding to Toro’s many successful musical pivots. The results make for as enjoyable and pleasant a listen as any Toro track and, similar to “Buffalo,” grows on you with every play. Enjoy above–What for? drops on April 7th. Pre-order here.

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[NEW] Toro y Moi – Buffalo

Toro y Moi
Buffalo

With the upcoming Toro y Moi album only a few days from official release, fans got a little gift at midnight with the appearance of “Buffalo” on iTunes and Spotify. The latest offering from Chaz Bundick takes the more indie rock instrumentation of the first single, “Empty Nesters,” and injects the funk of his last album, Anything in Return, for a groovy jam. “Buffalo” proves a dynamic piece of music with the signature Toro vocals tying together the retro aesthetic and making us even more excited for the release. Give this one a spin above–What For? drops on March 7th and can be pre-ordered via iTunes now.

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[Chill] Harriet Brown & Astronauts etc. – Fiction

Harriet Brown & Astronauts etc.
Fiction

After dropping the impressive Sadie EP last year, Oakland-based producer/vocalist Anthony Ferraro, aka Astronauts etc., has returned with his first release of 2015, a phenomenal collaboration with rising LA talent Harriet Brown. “Fiction” rests on a wobbling bass-line layered with psychedelic, wavy instrumentation creating an ethereal atmosphere. It is the soulful vocals, though, that really bring the sonic on this track to life as Brown flexes his creative vocal delivery and range. With Toro y Moi‘s Chaz Bundick also contributing to the production, it comes as little surprise that “Fiction” ends up sounding like a chillwave masterpiece. If you’re not yet familiar with Harriet Brown, we’d also definitely recommend checking out his refreshingly unique New Era EP. Zone to this marvelous song above and, for all the SF ninjas, Harriet Brown and Astronauts etc. will be performing together for free tonight at Brick & Mortar Music Hall

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