| Samantha | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Mixtape by | ||||
| Released | August 28, 2015 | |||
| Recorded | January 2012 – August 2015 Berkeley, California | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 51:48 | |||
| Producer | Chaz Bundick | |||
| Toro y Moi chronology | ||||
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Samantha is a mixtape by American recording artist Toro y Moi, released on August 28, 2015. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Made up of songs recorded by Chaz Bundick between 2012 and 2015, this project differs from previous works. [9] The mixtape was originally released on the artist's Instagram page via a Dropbox link. [10] Moving past previous sounds that revolved around the chillwave genre and heavy synthesizers, Toro y Moi experiments with the sounds of beat machines and hip-hop in this work. [11] Leading up to the full release, B. had released singular tracks like "Pitch Black" and "2Late" via SoundCloud.
The mixtape resembles an album in length, though listens as a collection of songs made individually, some being songs left over from previous projects. Collaborations include artists like fellow chillwave artist Washed Out, Nosaj Thing, and hip-hop artists such as Rome Fortune and Kool A.D. In an interview with the website pigeonsandplanes.com in 2015, B. had this to say about the new project titled Samantha, "I hope to be as popular in the hip-hop world as I am in the indie rock world, or any other music that I like to make. I just try to make good music as much as possible, no matter the genre. If it's good it'll be spread on its own. I never really appreciated when people try to push their music on you. I like it when it's just good and it's there if you want it. That's how I'm approaching the hip-hop world."
"Something I've always done is just make music for me first. What would I like to hear? What kind of drums do I like? What kind of genres do I like? Second of all, see what's already being done, and then go against the grain. Whatever is popular I try to go anti, somehow. Like if things were more atmospheric than I would go opposite, or if things were dry, I would go more atmospheric. It's kinda hard to really say what you do. Just keep changing, make music for yourself, something you enjoy, not what you think other people enjoy." [12]
In October 2015, Toro y Moi released the "Dada Art Music Video". This music video includes the tracks "Boo Boo Mobile", "Ambient Rainbow", and "Want" from the Samantha mixtape. The mixtape takes a lo-fi visual approach, showcasing the life of a drug dealer as the video's narrative, with the songs playing over the video's visuals. [13]
The reception of Toro y Moi's 2015 Samantha was met with mixed reviews. The mixtape however did mainly gain positive reviews, some noted reviews are listed below.
Popmatters.com – Danilo Bortoli – Rating: 5/10. [9]
Prettymuchamazing.com – Austin Reed – Rating: B MINUS. [11]
Greenlabel.com – DJBOOTH – referred to it as the "lowkey album of the year" in 2015. [14]
Pitchfork.com – Eric Torres – Rating: 7.5/10. [15]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Power of Now" | 2:49 |
| 2. | "2 Late" (featuring Kool A.D. and SAFE) | 3:08 |
| 3. | "Driving Day" | 1:48 |
| 4. | "Good Song" | 1:16 |
| 5. | "Pitch Black" (featuring Rome Fortune) | 2:53 |
| 6. | "Us 2" | 1:13 |
| 7. | "That Night" (featuring Kool A.D. and SAFE) | 3:46 |
| 8. | "Stoned at MoMA" | 1:18 |
| 9. | "Room for 1zone" | 2:12 |
| 10. | "Want" (featuring Washed Out) | 2:46 |
| 11. | "ambient Rainbow" | 4:17 |
| 12. | "Benjiminz" (featuring Rome Fortune) | 4:22 |
| 13. | "Boo Boo Mobile" | 1:52 |
| 14. | "bytheneck" | 2:40 |
| 15. | "Real Love" (featuring Kool A.D.) | 2:41 |
| 16. | "Enough of You" (featuring Nosaj Thing) | 1:35 |
| 17. | "The Usual" | 2:26 |
| 18. | "Prayer Hands" | 2:09 |
| 19. | "Holy Nights" (featuring SHORE) | 4:28 |
| 20. | "welp, tour's over" | 2:09 |
| Total length: | 51:48 | |
Chaz Bear, known professionally as Toro y Moi, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He is often recognized as a spearhead of the chillwave genre in the 2010s, alongside contemporaries Washed Out and Neon Indian, although his music has explored various styles since. His stage name is a multilingual expression consisting of the Spanish words toro and y and the French word moi.
Chillwave is a music microgenre that emerged in the late 2000s. It is characterized for evoking the popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s while engaging with notions of memory and nostalgia. Common features include a faded or dreamy retro pop sound, escapist lyrics, psychedelic or lo-fi aesthetics, mellow vocals, slow-to-moderate tempos, effects processing, and vintage synthesizers.
Causers of This is the debut album from the artist Toro y Moi, released on January 4, 2010, on Carpark Records.
Vinyl Williams is an American neo-psychedelic band led by Los Angeles-based multimedia artist and musician Lionel Williams, active since 2007. Vinyl Williams has released six studio albums: Lemniscate (2012), Into (2015), Brunei (2016), Opal (2018), Azure (2020), and Cosmopolis (2022).
Instrumentals is the debut mixtape of American record producer Clams Casino. It was self-released as a free digital download on March 7, 2011. It features instrumentals of tracks that he produced for various rappers, including some bonus songs. In July 2011, Instrumentals was reissued by Type Records as a physical release.
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Anything in Return is the third studio album by American recording artist Toro y Moi, released on January 22, 2013 by Carpark Records. Toro y Moi describes it as a "bigger sounding album, more accessible and poppy", as he lyrically wrestles between relationship problems and life on the road.
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Cloud rap is a subgenre of rap that has several sonic characteristics of trap music and lo-fi in its hazy, dreamlike and relaxed sound. Many music experts credit rapper Lil B and producer Clams Casino as the early pioneers of this style. The term "cloud rap" is related to its internet birth and its ethereal style.
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But You Caint Use My Phone is a mixtape by American singer Erykah Badu. It was released on November 27, 2015, by Motown and Control Freaq. Following the release of New Amerykah Part Two (2010), Badu embarked on a five-year hiatus, during which she traveled to Africa in an attempt to record new music, though this never surfaced. After receiving a remix of "Bag Lady" from producer Zach Witness, Badu contacted him in order to record with him. Shortly thereafter, the pair met again and went to Witness's home in Dallas, Texas, and worked in his bedroom studio, where they recorded the mixtape in 11 days. The mixtape features appearances from rapper ItsRoutine and André 3000.
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Boo Boo is the fifth studio album by Toro y Moi, released on July 7, 2017 via Carpark. "Girl Like You" was the first single from the album and was released on June 9, 2017. Toro y Moi cites Travis Scott, Daft Punk, Kashif, Gigi Masin, Frank Ocean, and Oneohtrix Point Never as inspiration for the album. Toro y Moi said the album was written to help "cope with an identity crisis caused by his growing popularity".
Outer Peace is the sixth studio album by American musician Toro y Moi, released on January 18, 2019, through Carpark Records. The tracks "Freelance" and "Ordinary Pleasure" were released prior to the album. On January 10, the album became available to stream in full via NPR's website.
"So Many Details" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Toro y Moi. The song was released on October 15, 2012 through Carpark Records, as the lead single from his third studio album Anything in Return (2013). Toro y Moi is the recording project of musician Chaz Bundick, who wrote, produced, engineered, mixed, and performed all instrumentation on the track.
"Ordinary Pleasure" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Toro y Moi. The song was released on December 4, 2018, by Carpark Records, as the second single from his sixth studio album Outer Peace (2019). Toro y Moi is the recording project of musician Chaz Bundick, who wrote, produced, engineered, mixed, and performed all instrumentation on the track.
"Girl Like You" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Toro y Moi. The song was released on June 9, 2017 through Carpark Records, as the lead single from his fifth studio album Boo Boo (2017). Toro y Moi is the recording project of musician Chaz Bundick, who wrote, produced, engineered, mixed, and performed all instrumentation on the track.
