Chazwick Bundick is known for the music he makes as Toro Y Moi, but he’s also incredibly tuned in to multiple creative endeavors. From the carefully curated aesthetics of his music, performances and videos, to his secret painting practice, sartorial choices and visual culture vibes, he is the total package, so we asked him to break down his many influences. He’s perpetually on that “New Beat.”

Album Art
Chaz Bundick: My very first album was Weezer’s The Blue Album. It was the first one that I really connected to and felt like I was part of some sort of subculture. That was an album cover that I would draw, and just stare at the blue and be like, "Wow, that's so blue." It's iconic. It's so stuck in my brain. When you say Blue Album, there's only one in my mind. I guess that stems from The White Album by the Beatles. My parents had it on vinyl and, as a kid, I didn't understand it. It wasn't until... maybe after I took acid, that I was like, “Oh, I get it. Nothing.”

My album covers are slowly getting better. My favorite one so far is Anything in Return because the actual packaging has interchangeable covers—a color version and a black-and-white version. I think that's kind of fun, those little things you can do to make the experience of the record more personal. I want to get more into having photos as the album cover. I always appreciated that, whether it be a surreal photo shoot or a still life. I think that kind of simplicity is missing these days. I really like Frank Ocean's new cover. It's just a photograph. It's not even the best photograph. It could have been an iPhone photo, and to be honest, that's even more amazing. I think that's where iPhone photography is going, more professional. Even now, I sample iPhone recordings that I make off my phone, so to have the iPhone take the album cover and provide the samples for the album, this is a different world.

Toro y Moi Anything In Return

iPhone Photography
The distortion and degradation that you get from iPhone photos and iPhone recordings is equivalent to when people first started sampling vinyl. Everyone was like, "Are you sure you want to sample that? That has crackles in it. There's like, pops and stuff." But that fucked-up sound is the best part. When you see iPhone photography, that shittiness is the best part of it. You can scroll through someone’s Instagram for 30 seconds and get a sense of someone's entire life. You can get their color palette, their sense of humor, their taste in music.

I think cell phone photography may be the next anti-art form, in a way, because using it in an artistic way is so popular with such a large percentage of people. It's an interesting medium and there are a few specific photographers I’m really into. One, by the name of Kristy Muller, has an amazing color palette and a really good eye for texture. It's a little abstract but, at the same time, it's got a lot of humor and a sort of grim sincerity to it.

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iPhone photographs by Chaz Bundick

Graphic Design
I chose to study graphic design in college mostly because my photography teacher from high school told me that it's something she thought I would be interested in. She saw me making flyers for the bands I was in, and I was into skateboarding and its different graphics. Everything just lined up. Out of all of my pop culture interests, it kind of whittled down to which art class I might be able to get a job from. And I'm glad I did, because graphic design is definitely its own language. It's like music, in a way, where you just see it, and all you have to know is whether you like it or not. It doesn't have to be deep or meaningful.

Painting
I've been doing these paintings for about a year now. I'm slowly getting more used to the idea. It still makes me uncomfortable. I’m not really a hundred percent into my style yet, but I'm growing. The funny thing is, I don't even paint what I'm drawing in pencil. It's a different approach, but I want to eventually get to the point where the first thing that comes off of the brush is just... there. I’m not as attached. Whatever happens, happens. Painting can immediately elevate an art piece. As a medium, paint is so much more high art, in a way. It's like when you work with music and you use a different microphone, or you use an analog sense, it all of a sudden becomes timeless. Paint can translate that same aesthetic.

Jordy van den Nieuwendijk is definitely one of my favorite artists right now. He’s kind of got a Matisse/Picasso vibe.

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Chaz Bundick painting in his studio

Breakthroughs
My music has become a product because it's so popular now. My art, my visual art, is still very personal, just mine, and barely anyone has really seen it. It's still a little naive, like the approach. I like that, but as far as it becoming something for the popular masses to enjoy like my music is, I don't see it there yet. I am trying to work towards that, though. Once you experience what it's like to become successful off your art, you crave other things. What else can I pursue so that I can still find myself and yet still sell myself in a way?

Live from Trona and Collaboration
A couple of years ago, Harry Israelson and I were talking about organizing a live concert in the desert. We were primarily referencing Live at Pompeii by Pink Floyd and we knew we wanted nature, a full six-piece band, but no audience. We had a white stage, a circle dolly track, and it pretty much it came down to the clothes we wore. There wasn't too much art direction. We did pay attention to color, but we've been working together for so long now that we understand each other's taste and vibes and process, so it's pretty easy.

Harry is kind of my go-to guy. He's definitely like my visual half. Having that makes your aesthetic a little bit more cohesive. If you're changing directors all the time, they're all trying to emulate the same style that you're going after, versus the same director who's growing and progressing at the same rate as you. I'd rather do that because change is good.

Music Videos
I'm a big fan of Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. I like any of their videos that are super simple, where it's just one person. So many rappers have so many good videos these days that are just handheld SLR videos, but they know what they're doing as far as coloring and editing goes. It's so guerrilla style, but inspiring at the same time; it's quality versus quantity, just trying to find that balance and knowing when enough is enough. I'm not going to make a video for every song, but I do appreciate that effort when I see people doing that. I think Tyler the Creator is an amazing video director. Everything he does is quality.

Kanye West
I think Kanye does a good job trying to balance art with mainstream culture. It's not easy. There's so much more at risk when you alienate average listeners, or people who aren't open to art. But that's what I like about him, how he challenges people. He challenges the listener, and I think with visual art, it's a little bit easier to be challenging. You can just paint something that's completely black and then give it to an audience who’s not going to get it, but at the end of the day, there's nothing to get. That's the whole message. I think with music, it's even easier, because the music will draw the mainstream audience, but the art and the visuals can also bring in the more obscure listener.

Waves
I definitely think this is the wavy generation. It has become a thing now and once it becomes a thing you want to move on. Ty Dolla $ign just put out a song called "Wavy." That term wavy comes from this post-internet generation, that internet art vibe. Now that it’s a thing, there's a new subculture that is growing elsewhere. I think Picture Plane really pioneered that aesthetic, that ironic CGI vibe that slowly made its way into mainstream hip-hop. Now you see Rihanna imitating that kind of stuff on Saturday Night Live. It's interesting to see how culture floats to the top of the mainstream. It's natural, though.

I'm constantly searching for new influences, mostly for music, but my tastes change in general, from art to fashion tastes, I'm always changing. But there's still always a link to subculture in a lot of my stuff. That's kind of my world. I'm not ever going to really go with the flow. I'm always going to go a little against the grain. I could sign with a mainstream label and go more pop, but I don't want to go more pop. I like to be right on the border. It's nice to just do what you want.

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Originally published in the December 2016 issue of Juxtapoz Magazine, on newsstands worldwide and in our web store.