Flattered to hear Thursday that he would be performing at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s inaugural Revelry Music and Arts Festival May fourth, indie artist Toro y Moi was also a bit surprised: Before the announcement, he was unfamiliar with the school, Madison and Wisconsin as a whole.
“To be honest, I thought for this whole time that the Green Bay Packers were from Milwaukee, that northern suburb of Chicago,” said the king of electro-funk over the phone Thursday. “Wait, Milwaukee is Wisconsin too? No shit!”
Toro y Moi, who is much better known by his real name, Chazwick Bradley Bundick, is credited as being one of the leading figures in the well-established traditional musical genre known as chillwave since “way back” in 2007.
He has performed several times at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, which hosts thousands of down-to-Earth, unpretentious music fans each spring. He has also toured significantly all over Brooklyn, Chicago and Brooklyn. “I’m looking forward to bringing my show to all of the Toro y Moi fans in Madison. I hope things don’t get too crazy out there—I know how well chillwave and brats go together.”
His two studio albums, Causers of This and Underneath the Pine can be found at every Urban Outfitters location. Bundick plans on finding his way to Madison by “Google Mapping the Wisconsin address printed on the side of PBR cans.”
The Revelry lineup announcement also featured some disappointing snubs. Despite the popular support for inclusion around campus, Chancellor David Ward and Dean Lori Berquam’s death metal duo “Lords of Bascom” was left off the final roster. The group is most known for its mosh-tastic viral sensation “Don’t GO (to the Depths of Hades),” as well as its gentler work on the Madison-area Bar Mitzvah circuit.
Atmospheric and Oceanic studies Professor Jonathon Martin’s four-piece cover band the Sundogs, (click to watch), known for their covers of the Police and the Rolling Stones, was also left off this year’s set list, along with Piccolo Pete and that other guy who sings in front of Memorial Library.
The numerous groups hope, and/or insist upon, consideration for next year’s lineup.
