Toro y Moi has spent over a decade establishing himself as a respected, colorful, vibrant voice in overlapping music circles. From tracks that embody a house music revival sound paired with Frank Ocean style vocals to funky, impressive bass-driven ballads to pioneering a chill-wave movement — Toro y Moi has been around. Which is precisely the reason why he felt taking a stab at covering “Ordinary Guy,” a 1960s Latin-soul song, would be the perfect challenge.
“Ordinary Guy” was originally written and composed by New Yorker and Latin-soul musician, Joe Bataan — not the only collaboration Toro y Moi has engaged in. In the last handful of years alone he has featured on tracks with Blood Orange, Flume, Travis Scott, and Tyler, the Creator. One collaboration that Toro y Moi keeps returning to is teaming up with The Mattson 2, who also features on this track.
Toro y Moi, whose real name is Chaz Bundick, and The Mattson 2 joined forces on Star Stuff in 2017 going under the name Chaz Bundick Meets The Mattson 2. The Mattson 2 is comprised of twin brothers Jonathan, who specializes in drums, and Jared Mattson, who specializes in guitar, making them a perfect fit with Toro y Moi’s wonderful vocals and Thundercat style bass lines.
From the minute “Ordinary Guy” begins, the production value is off the charts. The mixing sounds so pleasant to the ear as Jonathan keeps the hi-hat and snare locked; welcoming in the harmonizing oohs and aahs between Jared’s shimmering guitar licks.
As Toro y Moi sings of ordinariness once written about by Bataan, the percussion leads us into the bridge where a trippy, washed-out guitar plays as the bass line drives the rhythm. The bass line itself combined with Toro y Moi’s unorthodox, Of Montreal singing style creates one of the most fun and groovy songs of the summer thus far. To finish the song, a complementary rhythm guitar joins the fold accompanying the continuous bass work as the instrumental plays out the track through the outro.
Toro y Moi is set to rerelease his eleven-track debut album, Causers Of This, from 2010 as all instrumentals expected on June 27th.
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