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Feb 23, 2011The resulting record is a shiny, dreamy affair that retains all the hooks and feel of the first album but adds some energy and pop immediacy.
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Mar 17, 2011Sweet, ephemeral, with a quick comedown.
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Feb 22, 2011There isn't the clarity that characterised his lovelorn debut. It's a minor criticism, though, and one that doesn't tarnish an album as equally rich in invention as his first offering.
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Mar 1, 2011He remains an original, talented musician with his influences worn firmly on his sleeves; a contemporary proving that the past is still very much relevant.
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Mar 23, 2011Underneath the Pine is at its best on songs like Got Blinded, Still Sound and Divina, with solid grooves and discernable melodies that leap out from the kaleidoscopic bramble.
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Feb 22, 2011Underneath is crisp, clean, smooth, and smart.
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Feb 22, 2011A shift away from the sampling of his debut, Underneath The Pine keeps things sweet and traditional, leaving you lazily grinning from ear to ear.
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Mar 8, 2011The rest of the album holds up to the single's brilliance, as Bundick traverses quite a few genres-from his trademark chillwave, to acoustic dream-pop ("Before I'm Done") and severe piano-led ballads ("Good Hold").
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Jun 6, 2011You can get long way into Underneath the Pine without gaining any clear impression of exactly what kind of record it is that you're listening to. But amorphous isn't the worst thing in the world to be.
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Feb 22, 2011He's been able to continue on his path without compromising his talents or ability and with Underneath the Pine, this is now two outstanding albums in the span of just as many years.
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Feb 18, 2011The overall effect is like a lighter, more self-conscious, throwaway, altogether 2011 take on David Bowie's Low, a collision of popstar and avant-production that is all the more interesting for not quite knowing where it is.
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Apr 4, 2011Underneath the Pine is anchored by Bundick's reverbed, strangely ethereal voice-it's just as malleable and expressive as the rest of the electronics in his impressive repertoire.
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MojoApr 6, 2011Chillwave premier goes in search of the funk. [March 2011, p. 95]
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Feb 22, 2011The novelty-obsessed stay-at-homes who made Toro Y Moi the buzz hit of 2009 might react unfavourably to all this accessibility, but by digging deep, Underneath The Pine shows Toro Y Moi setting down roots and, perhaps more swiftly than expected, flourishing.
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Feb 22, 2011Chaz Bundick and Toro Y Moi have with Underneath The Pine taken a step back from the Chillwave label, and a very positive step forward.
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Mar 18, 2011This record a solid improvement over the excellent Causers Of This, and I am excited for his continued growth as an artist.
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Feb 25, 2011Because Toro Y Moi is so closely linked with the likes of Neon Indian, Washed Out, and Memory Tapes, it's tempting to read into the success of Underneath the Pine as some predictor of those bands' collective staying power, or a direction others might take. But Bundick seems to be following nothing but his own internal compass.
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Mar 17, 2011Whilst Underneath the Pine may not cuddle you on greeting you, it makes your brain work, and its whole approach to the band's new sound is, dare I say it, progressive.
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Feb 23, 2011Underneath the Pine, like Causers before it, is slightly padded, with ambient passages helping bump this past the 35-minute mark.
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Q MagazineMar 1, 2011Second album confirms sonic wizard's wizardry. [March 2011, p. 116]
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Feb 22, 2011As Bundick reveals more of his esoteric pop sensibility, comparisons to Beck feel increasingly apt. Whatever wave Bundick is riding, he's likely to be at the front of it.
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Feb 18, 2011Despite the oversaturated warmth of Beneath the Pine's production, this is a cold record, an archetype of technical mastery and genre-worship prevailing over the artistry of an individual voice. As a result, Bundick often sounds not like one artist, but the amalgamation of a whole movement's worth of ideas and styles, borrowed and rearranged into a faceless, forgettable whole.
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Feb 23, 2011While Underneath The Pine is another killer late-night make-out album, it doesn't do much to help Toro Y Moi stake out its own identity.
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Feb 23, 2011So what subgenre tag is appropriate now? Is this discogaze? Funkwave? Only time will tell.
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The WireMar 1, 2011Thankfully, Underneath The Pine burns brightly at both ends. [Feb 2011, p.51]
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Feb 28, 2011That Toro Y Moi's new record Underneath the Pine is distinctly a product of his songwriting, without sounding exactly like his 2010 debut, suggests that chillwave may still have some legs to it after all.
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UncutFeb 18, 2011Exactly a year since the release of his dreamy debut Causers Of This, South Carolina's Chaz Bundick is back with a very different and impressively cultured second album. [Mar 2011, p.105]
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Under The RadarMar 23, 2011This album seemingly floats on a pool of nostalgia, pop culture references momentarily bursting to the surface before slowly sinking back into its blue depths. [Feb. 2011, p. 69]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 32 out of 37
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Mixed: 3 out of 37
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Negative: 2 out of 37
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Feb 26, 2014
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Mar 23, 2012
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Nov 4, 2011