Long and winding road leads to solo CD

The puddles of beer on the floor made the dancing, for some, akin to an escapade on ice. Crossing the darkened hall was like walking in sticky rain.

The flier-worthy DJs had pummeled the space rented from a Catholic fraternal organization with soul, hip-hop, break beats and other genres.

It seemed like people, even the crappy-hour crowd, were tiring, ready to go home.

Shortly after 3 a.m., Chaz Bundick turned the word-of-mouth party (you had to send an e-mail to get tickets) into his own petri dish, injecting the party with energy.

He was twisting knobs, experimenting with the sound of his solo band, Toro Y Moi.

"I was just trying to get an idea of what I would do live, if I would even play shows," Bundick said.

His beach-tanned music - smooth, layered, exotic - was like a warm spring shower inside the party, dubbed Equinox 1, that was held in March of last year.

At the start of his set, dancers swarmed the floor again.

"That's when I was like, 'People can dance to it,'" said Bundick, who had played a WUSC-FM 90.5 dance party in February with similar results. "I didn't realize that. I never thought of it as dance music.

"That's the first time I thought Toro Y Moi could be something."

On Tuesday, Bundick's first solo CD, "Causers of This," will be released by Carpark Records. The music, which has received glowing endorsements from influential indie-rock Web sites, could be a first for the music scene: an indie musician from Columbia who scores a hit record.

But this record is more for driving, hanging out, reminiscing. It's not for the dance scene.

"I quickly strayed away from that because I don't want to be associated with dance music or my shows to be a dance party," Bundick said. "I didn't like that."

Web zines such as Gorilla vs. Bear, Stereogum and Pitchfork have recognized Bundick's sound, which uses synths and digital manipulation underneath enveloping vocal harmonies.

Bundick, according to some posts, is part of a glo-fi or chillwave movement that also includes bands like Neon Indian and Washed Out. But the genre designations, which seem overused, don't stick with Bundick.

"I never understood that," he said. "I can see where they're coming from with solo artists that are coming from unexpected towns that started off as bedroom projects, but really I think we all have our own unique sound."

TWO BANDS IN ONE

Bundick, 23, looked a little anxious and nervous standing there alone.

He was about to start a solo set, his first show as Toro Y Moi, his first performance without his band The Heist and The Accomplice.

The Garage, the now-defunct art space off Rosewood Drive, was nearly empty on that August night in 2006. The crowd that was migrating from The Walkmen show at Headliners hadn't arrived yet.

Bundick played a set of folky acoustic guitar pop.

"I don't even remember that show," he said recently over brunch at Cafe Strudel. "I'm sure I just did guitar and singing. I can't even remember what songs I did."

Toro Y Moi, in a sense, is two bands: one electronic, the other is guitar based. "Causers of This" is the electro-minded side, and Bundick is working on a second, guitar-centric album to be released later this year.

"That's what I want to hear," Bundick said of his music. "I'm not going to lie, I listen to Toro Y Moi all the time. That's my first concern. What am I in the mood to listen to?"

Apparently, when he wrote "Causers," Bundick was in a bleeding-heart sanctuary. An August 2008 breakup elicited this wrenching couplets heard in "Talamak": "When can we get together again / Nevermind, I've lost you / How can I tell if I love you anymore / Nevermind, I know I do."

As Bundick sings, the keyboard pinches at the drumbeat and samples float in and out of the mix, acting as a counterbalance to words expressing loss, hurt.

"The whole album is pretty much about her. And it's her mouth on the album cover," Bundick said of his ex-girlfriend. "She's kind of not that cool about it. She doesn't like how I'm putting all her business out there.

"If you knew me and her, you would know everything those songs were about. All my close friends definitely know.

For the entirety of "Causers," Bundick wrestles with the time and space between what he had and his life without. That distance inspired him to write "Blessa," the album's blissfully crushed lead single in May of last year, nine months after the breakup.

"That's the first time I went back to electronic music," he said.

Just three months later, Bundick was signed to Carpark and touring the country.

And what about her, the "causer" of the record?

"She says that she can't listen to it," Bundick said. "She likes the music, but it touches a button."

'AWESOME' MUSIC

"Masters of None," a song originally written by Beach House, a band the sways in ambient and hazy tones, was remixed into a staticky and contemplative song by Bundick. The track was featured on Pitchfork in October 2007.

"That got some buzz going," he said. "Once Pitchfork puts it up, it has the echo effect. There's no other way I think that this would've happened.

"It's not sending out press kits. It's definitely through technology."

When Ed Droste, the frontman for one of last year's most-lauded bands, Grizzly Bear, tweets about your music, that helps, too.

Todd Hyman of Carpark Records was intrigued by the Beach House cover. Bundick sent the label samples, but told them he had to finish his graphic design degree at USC before making a deal.

The label waited.

"It all boils down to the fact that the minute I heard his music, I knew it was special," Hyman said. "We get along really well, so it's really been a pleasure to see how things have progressed for us so far.

"I signed him 'cause I think his music is awesome."

The label wants to release a second album later this year. Bundick, who has been suffering from a cold that affected his hearing, is currently writing the music.

"When Carpark came to me, I already told them I was working on two albums," he said. "That's the way I work. I do electronic stuff and then non-electronic stuff just to keep it refreshing and not boring to me."

"If they didn't come to me, I would've given them out at the same time," similar to what he did with "Woodlands" and "My Touch" in 2007.

Bundick is working on a tight schedule: He wants to have the album finished before he leaves for a European tour next month.

He'll play in Spain, Berlin, Copenhagen and London.

"That's really cool," he said. "I'm excited."

CASH CRUNCH

He had to call home.

Sure, he was touring the Western part of the country, opening for Islands, but he didn't have enough cash to fill up his Ford Focus or to pay for hotel rooms.

"On the Islands tour, I definitely had to ask for money," Bundick said. "I just wasn't getting paid enough at the shows.

"I owe so much money to my parents. I'm telling them it's an investment."

If you've been at the shows of The Heist and The Accomplice, Toro Y Moi and (going all the way back to 2004) The Taxichaps, Bundick's first band, you've seen Greg and Dee Bundick.

They knew that call was going to come.

"We try to anticipate the reality of what more than likely will happen," Greg said as he reclined in his Blythewood living room. "We'll make it a collaboration as a family.

"We're in this together."

The Bundicks know about taking chances. In 1984, the couple took out their savings and moved from New York to Columbia to be closer to Dee's family in Augusta. They found Columbia when they stopped for gas on Broad River Road.

"Everyone thought we were losing our minds for sure," Greg said of the decision to move south. "We were really committed to getting out of the city before we started a family."

They settled, initially, in an apartment on Avenue B in West Columbia, not far from State Street and New Brookland Tavern, the club where Bundick honed his performance skills.

Bundick walked into the living room wearing sweat pants and sat next to his mom on the couch. She asked if he could hear yet.

"Did you see his new video?" she asked, referring to "Blessa," which was shot at a house in Columbia in December.

A question for the parents: Do you know Pitchfork debuted the video on its site, which is a pretty big deal?

"No, is it?" Greg said. "I guess when you're on the inside, you know.

"We try to keep him ..."

"Level-headed," Dee said, completing the sentence.

Bundick has tried to clue his parents in on what's happening.

"The only thing they can relate to is The New York Times," he said. "When you guys saw that, that's when you knew.

"I tell them about blogs, but that's just a Web site to them."

A DREAM

"Causers of This" will be in stores physical and electronic on Tuesday. What do most bands do when they have a new album? Have a release show.

Not Bundick.

"It totally slipped my mind," he said. "I was just so lost in my work."

The CD is a collage that swirls with influences from hip-hop to electro-pop. The music is radiant, but what's most remarkable is Bundick's lilting falsetto, how he carries notes and sentiments.

His sound is what got him noticed, but his look might soon get him more looks.

Bundick will soon appear in ads for Uniqlo, a casual fashion brand. He got the gig through his friendship with Chris Taylor, a multi-instrumentalist in Grizzly Bear.

"I'm not used to it at all," Bundick said.

Modeling. Really?

"I'm dead serious," he added. "I did a commercial and print ad."

On Sunday night, Bundick was walking down Main Street with a friend. They had just seen "Antichrist" at Nickelodeon Theatre. Bundick isn't in any rush to leave Columbia behind.

"I've had friends say Columbia isn't that great, but for me it is," he said. "I don't need a crazy night life. I stay in my house all day."

Many who have followed Bundick's music might assume that he's leaving his bandmates in The Heist behind. But Bundick sees his success as benefit for the quartet.

"I'm really sad about it, but I want to get to a status where I can do both," he said. "Look at Wolf Parade. Once they got big, Spencer Krug brought Sunset Rubdown with him. He just waited it out and used the position he's in to get his other project bigger.

"This has been a dream of mine forever, so I gotta take it while I can."

He'll take it even if we want to dance to the music.