Mistletone

Artwork by Carl Breitkreuz

Mistletone proudly presents the return of Toro y Moi.

TORO Y MOI TOUR DATES:

• ADELAIDE: Friday, March 3 @ Adelaide Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• PERTH: Sunday, March 5 @ Perth Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• SYDNEY: Thursday, March 9 @ Oxford Art Factory with Felix Lush + SKULL AND DAGGER. Tickets on sale now. * SELLING FAST!
• BRISBANE: Friday, March 10 @ The Zoo with S>c>r>a>p>s + Spirit Bunny. Tickets on sale now. * SELLING FAST!
• SYDNEY: Saturday, March 11 @ Days Like This Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• VICTORIA: March 10-13 @ Pitch Music & Arts. Lineup and tickets info here.

Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Chaz Bundick unveiled his Toro y Moi guise in 2001, channeling a wide swath of stylistic influences from indie rock and ‘60s baroque pop to ‘80s R&B, French house and underground hip-hop. By the time he graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2009 in graphic design, Chaz had refined Toro y Moi into a captivating project, his hazy recordings touted as the sound of summer. His Mistletone-released debut album, Causers of This, followed in 2010 and garnered high praise from NME and Pitchfork. Chaz has proven to be as prolific as he is diverse, always pointing Toro y Moi in new directions while never sacrificing his melodic sensibility or keen ear for arrangements and texture. With 2011’s Underneath the Pine, he delivered a set of motorik space-age funk; his Freaking Out EP brought ‘80s-inspired R&B, freestyle, and quiet storm soul, and 2013’s Anything in Return effortlessly glided between smoky 4/4 house-tinged pop, electro-funk and late-night electronic soul. What For? captured the feel of a rock band playing together in the same room with members of his touring group as well as guest musicians like Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson.

Last year Toro y Moi released Live From Trona, filmed in the middle of the Mojave desert; an entire concert album recorded live beneath the geological wonders known as the Trona Pinnacles. With a spectacular natural environment that feels otherworldly, the film pays homage to rock films of a previous era. As the sun sets behind the pinnacles, which formed thousands of years ago in what used to be a prehistoric lake, the supernatural setting weaves seamlessly together with 13 psychedelic tracks. Live From Trona offers viewers a surreal concert experience, placing them front row at a private Toro y Moi show.

Toro y Moi pic by Jordan Blackmon

Given the state of modern music and its fabricated pop icons, what Chaz Bundick Meets The Mattson 2 achieves is a collective music victory in a new era of progressive soundscapes. Chaz has teamed up with the psychedelic-jazz grooves of The Mattson 2 for an album that unifies a trio’s creativity into a refreshing project of unhinged sonic originality.

Oddly enough, this collaboration may not have happened if The Mattson 2 hadn’t forgotten a drum throne at an Oakland performance in 2014. The twin’s longtime friend and photographer, Andrew Paynter, came to the rescue and called his friend Chaz to ask about borrowing the throne. Jonathan, the Mattson drummer (who’d also never met Chaz), accompanied Andrew to Chaz’s home in Berkeley where they were greeted by Chaz with a warm smile, a drum stool in hand, and Michael, Chaz’s dog (which his Les Sins record Michael is named after).

The next day Andrew and the twins met Chaz at a cafe in Berkeley to return the gear. Over coffee they waxed about music, design, furniture, and skateboarding. After a series of hangs with Chaz in the Bay Area, the crew decided to join forces and schedule studio time for their newfound trio. And the rest, as they say, is intergalactic, mega-creative history.

In February of 2016 the relationship was officially christened the night they finished tracking their new record. And to tie the knot with flare, they scheduled a secret show at the Battery and a historical public show at the Starline Social Club in Oakland, where the trio performed all new music from the project for the first time live.

The group and the album, Chaz Bundick Meets Mattson 2, explores psychedelic, jazz, and improvisatory influences ranging from Afrofuturistic Sun Ra, to electric Miles Davis, to groove-fueled Serge Gainsbourg and The Zombies. Grounding the album are break-beats, synthesizers, acoustic strums, and guitar fuzz reminiscent of David Axelrod and Arthur Verocai. With cosmic structures, timeless influences, rich harmonies, and melodic interplays, the trio brings an intergalactic edge to both their live shows and an album worthy of repeated visits.

Toro Y Moi: Live From Trona from Primary Colors on Vimeo.

Artwork by Ben Montero, layout by Carl Breitkreuz

Mistletone very proudly presents Kurt Vile, returning to Australia for a supreme solo tour. This show has now sold out.

KURT VILE SOLO TOUR DATES:

• PERTH: Monday February 27 @ Perth Festival. Tickets on sale now. *SELLING FAST!
• PERTH: Tuesday February 28 @ Perth Festival * SOLD OUT!
• SYDNEY: Friday 3rd March @ Taronga Zoo. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Taronga Zoo. *SELLING FAST!
• MELBOURNE: Saturday 4th March @ Melbourne Zoo. Supported by Mick Turner. *SOLD OUT!
• MEENIYAN: Sunday 5th March @ Meeniyan Town Hall. * SOLD OUT!
• BRISBANE: Thursday 9th March @ Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Qpac.
• MELBOURNE: Friday 10th March @ Northcote Social Club. Supported by Lost Animal + Tammy Haider. *SOLD OUT!
• MEREDITH: Saturday 11th March @ Golden Plains Festival. Ticket info via website.
• TASMANIA: Sunday 12th March @ A Festival Called Panama. *SOLD OUT!
• ADELAIDE: Tuesday 14th March + Thursday 16th March @ Adelaide Festival. Ticket info via website.

Artwork by Carl Breitkreuz

Mistletone proudly presents the return of Toro y Moi.

TORO Y MOI TOUR DATES:

• ADELAIDE: Friday, March 3 @ Adelaide Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• PERTH: Sunday, March 5 @ Perth Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• SYDNEY: Thursday, March 9 @ Oxford Art Factory with Felix Lush + SKULL AND DAGGER. Tickets on sale now. * SELLING FAST!
• BRISBANE: Friday, March 10 @ The Zoo with S>c>r>a>p>s + Spirit Bunny. Tickets on sale now. * SELLING FAST!
• SYDNEY: Saturday, March 11 @ Days Like This Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• VICTORIA: March 10-13 @ Pitch Music & Arts. Lineup and tickets info here.

Mistletone very proudly presents Kurt Vile, returning to Australia for a supreme solo tour. KV’s debut solo tour of Australia will include stops at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo on Friday 3rd March, Melbourne Zoo on Saturday 4th March, Queensland Performing Arts Centre on Thursday 9th March and a sunset appearance at Golden Plains. Full ticket details below.

KURT VILE SOLO TOUR DATES:

• SYDNEY: Friday 3rd March @ Taronga Zoo. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Taronga Zoo.
• MELBOURNE: Saturday 4th March @ Melbourne Zoo. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Zoo.
• BRISBANE: Thursday 9th March @ Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Qpac.
• MEREDITH: Saturday 11th – Monday 13th March @ Golden Plains Festival. Ticket info via website.

Toro Y Moi: Live From Trona from Primary Colors on Vimeo.

TORO Y MOI TOUR DATES:

• PERTH: March 5 @ Perth Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• VICTORIA: March 10-13 @ Pitch Music Festival. Lineup and tickets info here.

Following extensive touring behind What For?, his fourth studio album as Toro y Moi, acclaimed musician Chaz Bundick brought the band to the middle of the Mojave Desert in April 2016 to play a special concert. Live from Trona documents this experience, recorded live beneath the geological wonders known as the Trona Pinnacles, which formed thousands of years ago in what used to be a prehistoric lake. The album features unique live arrangements of songs from across the band’s catalog, new music, and an expanded band line-up. On the congas, Bay Area multi-instrumentalist Brijean Murphy adds a layer of rhythm, switching between propulsion and deep atmosphere. And for a brand new song, “JBS,” the group is joined by tourmates The Mattson 2. This collaboration between Chaz Bundick and the Mattson twins takes on a classic groove with a jazz fusion approach.

For the film, nine-time Vimeo Staff Pick director Harry Israelson chose to break the fourth wall, revealing the filmmaking process by making equipment, lights, and crew visible at all times. With no audience in attendance and a spectacular natural environment that feels otherworldly, the film pays homage to rock films of a previous era. As the sun sets behind the pinnacles, the supernatural setting seamlessly weaves together with the 13 psychedelic tracks, all recorded on site over the course of an entire day. Through the use of hand-drawn animations and behind-the-scenes VHS footage, Live from Trona offers viewers a surreal concert experience, placing them front row at a private Toro y Moi show.

Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Chaz Bundick has been actively involved in music going back to his early teenage years playing in punk and indie rock bands. Chaz unveiled his Toro y Moi guise in 2001, in which he began incorporating electronics and channeling a wider swath of stylistic influences – from indie rock and ‘60s baroque pop to ‘80s R&B, French house and underground hip-hop – into his own solo music. By the time he graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2009 with a BA in graphic design, Chaz had refined Toro y Moi into a truly unique, captivating project, with numerous music magazines and blogs touting his hazy recordings as the sound of summer. His Mistletone-released debut album, Causers of This, would follow in early 2010 and garnered high praise in many publications including NME and Pitchfork.

Chaz Bundick has proven himself to be as prolific as he is diverse with his subsequent records, always pointing Toro y Moi in new directions while never sacrificing his melodic sensibility or keen ear for arrangements and texture. With 2011’s Underneath the Pine, he delivered a set of motorik space-age funk, trading the smeared production of Causers of This for a more crystalline sound that was still steeped in atmosphere, even without the aid of source material and drum machines. Toro y Moi’s Freaking Out EP, which came out later that year, brought ‘80s-inspired R&B, freestyle, and quiet storm soul into the 21st century via its shimmering digital sheen, and set the stage for 2013’s introspective Anything in Return, which effortlessly glided between smoky 4/4 house-tinged pop, electro-funk and late-night electronic soul.

Toro y Moi’s new album, What For? (out now on Mistletone via Inertia), was written and recorded over the course of eight months at his home studio in Berkeley, CA, with Chaz’s meticulous production capturing the feel of a rock band playing together in the same room. Stereo-panned guitars sit high in the mix next to buzzing synthesizers, funky keys and live drumming, with members of his touring group as well as guest musicians like Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson and multi-instrumentalist Julian Lynch all contributing to the sessions.

While Chaz cites Big Star, Talking Heads and Todd Rundgren, as well as the psychedelic soul of Brazilian legend Tim Maia and the ‘70s-era jazz-funk of France’s Cortex, as some of the inspirations behind What For?, these names just act as signposts dotting Toro y Moi’s vivid musical landscape. Even as this may be his most direct outing to date, the nostalgia and reflective essence of these songs remain very much his own.

“I’ve done electronic R&B and more traditional recorded type R&B stuff. I just wanted to see what else was out there,” Chaz says in describing the direction of the new album. “It’s all coming from the same mindset and point of creativity. It’s just me trying to take what I already have, and then taking it further.”

Toro y Moi pic by Jordan Blackmon

Artwork by Ben Montero, layout by Carl Breitkreuz

Kurt Vile will be stopping by the picturesque Meeniyan Town Hall as part of his supreme solo tour on Sunday March 5 with special guest Jess Ribeiro. This show has now sold out.

• “The music is quiet and the melody, like a hymn, folds in on itself, and embraces full strength in a sexy, floating forcelessness that slowly gathers into a wave that doesn’t go where you think it will” – KIM GORDON
• “The former forklift driver is now one of the most adored artists around. He has a canon of cool songs: feelgood, insightful, reflective, comforting, jubilant tunes. It’s been a slow burn, but he hasn’t put a foot wrong – he’s one of only a few that you’d trust to still be making cool music decades from now. Give Kurt Vile’s music some little chunks of your life and you will be rewarded. Handsomely” – AUNTY MEREDITH

Since releasing his debut solo album Constant Hitmaker in 2008, Kurt Vile has ascended to an elevated stature as one of the most accomplished and charismatic songwriters of our time. A firm favourite with Australian audiences, KV has packed out rooms across Australia (including Sydney Opera House earlier this year, with his band The Violators).

Kurt’s latest album b’lieve i’m goin down…, released last year via Matador / Remote Control, won universal acclaim; The AV Club called “the purest distillation of Vile’s idiosyncratic style to date”, and Pitchfork bestowed it Best New Music, noting: “Kurt Vile has a persona, and you know him by now: He is the weird quiet kid in the corner, the one who seems at first lost in his own world and disconnected from everything around him, but turns out to be smart, observant, and low-key hilarious. So while his albums draw you in with the vibe—the impeccably recorded and mixed songs that shuffle bits of folk, new wave, or country in the mix but are always squarely down-the-middle rock—you return to them for their human qualities, the way they offer a manner of seeing the world, a glimpse at a perspective that feels both voyeuristic and easy to connect to your own life.”

Last year, Kurt told Rolling Stone that he wanted b’lieve i’m goin down… “to sound like it’s on my couch”, citing Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush as a reference point. “Not in a lo-fi way,” he explained, “just more unguarded and vulnerable. I wanted it to feel like I was on a couch in a familiar living room even if I was somewhere else. To me, it’s sort of that home vibe that I had to capture somehow…to make it sound like it was played there in the room.”

This intimate and immediate power that Kurt Vile’s songs possess is one of the qualities that KV fans hold dear to their hearts, and it will be in generous supply on this rare and auspicious occasion of a Kurt Vile solo tour.

Kurt’s friend Mick Turner will be opening for him at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, Melbourne Zooand Queensland Performing Arts Centre, performing his highly acclaimed solo work. Mick Turner has had a dynamic and celebrated career as founding member of Dirty Three and simultaneously with his solo project, releasing four LPs on the iconic US label Drag City (Bill Callahan, Joanna Newsom, Ty Segall) with The Australian labelling him “one of Australia’s most distinctive guitarists.”

Mistletone very proudly presents Kurt Vile, returning to Australia for a supreme solo tour. This show has now sold out.

Artwork by Carl Breitkreuz

Mistletone proudly presents the return of Toro y Moi.

TORO Y MOI TOUR DATES:

• ADELAIDE: Friday, March 3 @ Adelaide Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• PERTH: Sunday, March 5 @ Perth Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• SYDNEY: Thursday, March 9 @ Oxford Art Factory. Tickets on sale now.
• BRISBANE: Friday, March 10 @ The Zoo. Tickets on sale now.
• SYDNEY: Saturday, March 11 @ Days Like This Festival. Tickets on sale now.
• VICTORIA: March 10-13 @ Pitch Music & Arts. Lineup and tickets info here.

Mistletone very proudly presents Kurt Vile, returning to Australia for a supreme solo tour. KV’s debut solo tour of Australia will include stops at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo on Friday 3rd March, Melbourne Zoo on Saturday 4th March, Queensland Performing Arts Centre on Thursday 9th March and a sunset appearance at Golden Plains. Full ticket details below.

KURT VILE SOLO TOUR DATES:

• SYDNEY: Friday 3rd March @ Taronga Zoo. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Taronga Zoo.
• MELBOURNE: Saturday 4th March @ Melbourne Zoo. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Zoo.
• BRISBANE: Thursday 9th March @ Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Qpac.
• MEREDITH: Saturday 11th – Monday 13th March @ Golden Plains Festival. Ticket info via website.

Mistletone very proudly presents Kurt Vile, returning to Australia for a supreme solo tour.

KURT VILE SOLO TOUR DATES:

• PERTH: Monday February 27 @ Perth Festival. Tickets on sale now. *SELLING FAST!
• PERTH: Tuesday February 28 @ Perth Festival * SOLD OUT!
• SYDNEY: Friday 3rd March @ Taronga Zoo. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Taronga Zoo.
• MELBOURNE: Saturday 4th March @ Melbourne Zoo. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Zoo.
• BRISBANE: Thursday 9th March @ Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Supported by Mick Turner. Tickets via Qpac.
• MEREDITH: Saturday 11th March @ Golden Plains Festival. Ticket info via website.
• TASMANIA: Sunday 12th March @ A Festival Called Panama. Ticket info via website.

• “The music is quiet and the melody, like a hymn, folds in on itself, and embraces full strength in a sexy, floating forcelessness that slowly gathers into a wave that doesn’t go where you think it will” – KIM GORDON
• “The former forklift driver is now one of the most adored artists around. He has a canon of cool songs: feelgood, insightful, reflective, comforting, jubilant tunes. It’s been a slow burn, but he hasn’t put a foot wrong – he’s one of only a few that you’d trust to still be making cool music decades from now. Give Kurt Vile’s music some little chunks of your life and you will be rewarded. Handsomely” – AUNTY MEREDITH

Since releasing his debut solo album Constant Hitmaker in 2008, Kurt Vile has ascended to an elevated stature as one of the most accomplished and charismatic songwriters of our time. A firm favourite with Australian audiences, KV has packed out rooms across Australia (including Sydney Opera House earlier this year, with his band The Violators).

Kurt’s latest album b’lieve i’m goin down…, released last year via Matador / Remote Control, won universal acclaim; The AV Club called “the purest distillation of Vile’s idiosyncratic style to date”, and Pitchfork bestowed it Best New Music, noting: “Kurt Vile has a persona, and you know him by now: He is the weird quiet kid in the corner, the one who seems at first lost in his own world and disconnected from everything around him, but turns out to be smart, observant, and low-key hilarious. So while his albums draw you in with the vibe—the impeccably recorded and mixed songs that shuffle bits of folk, new wave, or country in the mix but are always squarely down-the-middle rock—you return to them for their human qualities, the way they offer a manner of seeing the world, a glimpse at a perspective that feels both voyeuristic and easy to connect to your own life.”

Last year, Kurt told Rolling Stone that he wanted b’lieve i’m goin down… “to sound like it’s on my couch”, citing Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush as a reference point. “Not in a lo-fi way,” he explained, “just more unguarded and vulnerable. I wanted it to feel like I was on a couch in a familiar living room even if I was somewhere else. To me, it’s sort of that home vibe that I had to capture somehow…to make it sound like it was played there in the room.”

This intimate and immediate power that Kurt Vile’s songs possess is one of the qualities that KV fans hold dear to their hearts, and it will be in generous supply on this rare and auspicious occasion of a Kurt Vile solo tour.

Kurt’s friend Mick Turner will be opening for him at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, Melbourne Zooand Queensland Performing Arts Centre, performing his highly acclaimed solo work. Mick Turner has had a dynamic and celebrated career as founding member of Dirty Three and simultaneously with his solo project, releasing four LPs on the iconic US label Drag City (Bill Callahan, Joanna Newsom, Ty Segall) with The Australian labelling him “one of Australia’s most distinctive guitarists.”