Anything In Return (studio album) by Toro Y Moi

From buzzdainer 07/21/2017 07:47

"While tech-obsessed, sonically omnivorous, and emotionally distracted music typically serves as fodder for 'sound of life today' thinkpieces," writes Ian Cohen in his review for Pitchfork, "Anything in Return embodies a certain ideal of young adulthood at the pace it's actually lived; of fluidity between creative pursuits and careers[;] between hanging out and making out." I'm not even sure Toro Y Moi comes off as nearly as emotionally distanced as Cohen suggests; for instance, I think "High Living" feels like a warm celebration of good times, anchored to a groovy bass line and shimmering keyboard effects, like one of those hot July nights when the light lingers far later than anyone could reasonably expect, and the gin and tonics just keep coming.

It's pretty good

From RockyRaccoon 07/10/2013 00:51

Toro Y Moi, the moniker for musician Chazwick Bundick, has released a few pretty solid albums. 2011’s “Underneath The Pine" was very solid, not amazing, but a good album for sure. “Anything In Return", however, doesn’t seem to give any kind of progression from “Underneath The Pine". The album is decent, sure, it has its moments, but overall it’s a whole lot of the same thing. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of movement towards something on this album. As I said, there are good moments for sure, but it’s not what I was hoping for from someone who I’ve come to see as a pretty solid musician. It’s decent, but I feel like Toro Y Moi has the potential to really do something special.

Summery, poppy R'n'B and house vibes abound. A little too poppy at times (I'd have preferred some rougher edges), but still a satisfying listen. At least his career trajectory has been interesting.

From ShaneSpear 01/28/2013 18:51

Pretty boring. The only thing I can really remember is that the last track ends very abruptly and I wasn't disappointing by that.

There are some unique sounds on here and a few tracks that have a great flow to them, but there are some that just sound clunky and don't really go anywhere or just weren't that interesting to begin with. I'm not really a fan of his singing and some of the vocal samples used are questionable, especially on Say That. Except for the track Cake, which I find barely tolerable, the album is still worth a listen.