Toro Y Moi: From Trap to Americana, the Unerthed Dichotomy of Hole Erth
Toro Y Moi created two different versions of the same album: Hole Erth, the most recent release Unerthed Hole Erth: Unplugged is an entirely different version of the first. Our convo was slightly socio-political in funky leftist way; he analyzed capitalism, pop-culture, and the internet. It’s interesting to hear his takes because Millenials ran so Gen-Z could walk.
Chaz Bear explored the dichotomy between a synthetic reality that’s separating and alienating where “the internet is like a black hole,” that one drifts towards as they doomscroll—versus being unplugged, getting off your phone, out of your head, and reconnecting with nature.
Chaz collabed with Don Toliver, Kevin Abstract, Benjamin Gibbord, and Dckwrth, these big names go to show how far Chaz has come in his career. Cheflee even commented and said that “Chaz is a genius!
I created a collage to explore the evolution of Hole Erth, I put together a collage combining the various album versions, along with the cover art from the music video. In Chaz’s studio, there’s a custom-built photo wall with a curve designed into it so there’s no need for a fabric backdrop. Dope.
Here’s what Chaz had to say:
Q: In CD-R there’s a reference to the Ghost Dance. What’s the connection between the spirituality of the Ghost Dance and the inspiration for this song?
A: Early (Indigenous) ceremonial dance was to dance until emotions come out in a natural way. To connect with a bigger force. I’m talking about a circle pit. To form a circle with other people and dance in rhythm, worshipping the music in the room.
“To think about how dope that bass feels in a club. It’s like you’re in the room with a spirit when frequencies of air come out of the speaker.”
“Reality’s Tight When the Music is Right,” 2 Days of Music, Big Sur, 9/19/25.
Featuring the song “The Difference”
He talked about the philosophy of Arienne Angeles who wrote about the Ghost Dance and had four questions for when a person felt disheartened which can bring you a sense of groundedness.
When did you stop singing?
When did you stop dancing?
When were not enchanted by stories?
When were you not comforted by silence?
Then he paused for a moment. He asked:
“Can you be alone with yourself? When did you leave yourself?”
Chaz answered:
“Doomscrolling. It’s the ultimate distraction from being able to be alone with yourself.”
The record is about our modes of coming back down to earth, about a black hole and drifting to it. The internet distracts us from that very intention.
A woke magazine that ran from 1970-1996. It was part of the inspo for Hole Erth, according to Wikepedia. :^) What started off as as an environmental and astronomy based zine, began to include software in the 80’s in which they “continued the tradition of tool and book reviews interspersed with ecological and technology topics and articles treating social and community subjects.” It’s a funky, groovy, woke vintage magazine that’s still relevant and I think that’s why it gave Toro Y Moi so much inspiration for this album. Not to mention, their graphics are awesome.
Q: Tuesday is about two people meeting in the same room, an indie artist and a pop-star. When they meet, they’re just two people. What does fame mean to you?
It turns out that I was totally wrong…
A: Tuesday is about two kids who are part of a subculture and they’re bonding over a pop-song. This song is about how ironic it is that they don’t participate in mainstream culture but they’re bonding over it.
It’s about mainstream, terrestrial, Top 40 radio stations over indie radio stations like college radio or NPR.
“Even if you’re not part of mainstream culture, there’s that one song on terrestrial radio that still puts an earworm in your head.”
Q: I think of pop-culture when I think of an earworm.
A: Yeah exactly! Pop-culture is Americana. To me, everyone is doing their own spin on Americana. That’s what these two albums are about. The dichotomy between two things, in this song it’s about the dichotomy between mainstream culture and subculture.
Q: What do you mean by Americana? And what does Americana mean to you?
A: Americana is anything purely American. I think of those Statue of Liberty trinkets that they sell in tourist traps. But where were those made? Overseas. If there’s a guy who makes t-shirts and screenprints them who’s on your block, go buy from him. Don’t order those shirts online.
My version of Americana is conscientious capitalism.
It means reducing down to buying local and spending on your block. Spending money locally and on communities you want to support is the fast track to healing the consequences of globalism. Americana is a concept. It’s like Virgil Abloh’s mindset on Tourist vs Purist in brand marketing.
Q: Yeah, I think of the Global North and Global South dichotomy which is bad for the environment and bad for labor practices too.
A: Mhm. Yeah.
Q: Do you have any fun LA stories?
A: “ One time Eric Andre invited me to Jimmy Iovine’s party in the Hollywood Hills!”
Chaz Bear and Eric Andre in the Jeepney from the video for “Goes By Too Fast” off of the Mahal album. It’s lit, if you haven’t seen it you gotta check it out.
Me and Eric had been hanging out and he was like ‘hey wanna come to this party with me?’ I was like “uhhh– yeah!” It was cool, there were all different kinds of people (in the industry) there.
When I tried to order an Uber to leave I couldn’t get any service because we were all the way up in the hills. So, I had to walk outside, away from party, and down the hills to get service. That was the inspiration for the song “Hollywood.”
Q: I really liked the song ‘Madonna,’ it’s super light and breezy. I like your reference to “Ray of Light” by Madonna too. Did you have any specific inspirations for this song?
A: “‘Madonna’ actually started off as a jam with Don Toliver when we were in the studio together. He started playing music and he had had been working on some lyrics. Then I joined in and I finished writing the song.”
“She bout to pop that bra, show you who are,” it’s like following what she does because she’s an icon. But, there’s a dichotomy of who the religious figure is and who the pop-star is.
‘Madonna’ is about the dichotomy between two different icons, one is a religious figure and one is a pop-star.
“The Madonna Dichotomy.”
Q: What was your favorite part of creating this album?
A: My favorite part of writing Hole Erth was just being able to bring the project to different locations and different studios. Technically this is my first record that I made inside of ProTools and so having that sort of freedom kind of allowed the creativity to come out in a different way.
I first met Chaz in 2022, right after Mahal dropped. Toro y Moi had a pop-up on 4th Street in Berkeley to celebrate the album and his collab with Warby Parker. I was social manager at my co-op CZ, a 124-person house known for its parties and community. Every inch of wallspace is covered with murals which date back to the 1970’s. The first mural ever painted was the pyramid from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon in the Hundred’s Hallway.
So, a bunch of us rolled up to the event—dancing, vibing, feeling the energy.
Somewhere between the crowd and the music, I got this wild idea: what if he played at our house?
I went up to him, wide-eyed, and said, “Hey, Toro—”
He smiled and said, “It’s Chaz.”
I told him I lived in Casa Zimbabwe — CZ — the party co-op where Green Day played back in the ‘90s.
“Green Day??” he asked, half-laughing. I nodded.
Then he told me his wife used to live in a different co-op, Cloyne, while she was getting her master’s at UC Berkeley. Next thing I knew, he was pointing to his agent, telling me to give them my info. I didn’t really expect much, I was a random person who just walked up to him. His agent could have just blown me off.
I texted the agent later—but Chaz texted me instead. He was down. He wanted to play CZ.
He came by for a tour, and later I got invited to his studio. We talked for hours — art, festivals, life — then passed a joint. He showed me the ashtray Seth Rogen sent him and told me about the time Mac Miller smoked him out. It was surreal, but also… just real.
The show at CZ was a total success. Chaz played on our rooftop, Ito’s, it was a clear summer night, the stars were out, our view was of San Francisco across the Bay Bridge, surrounded by Berkeley Hills. Tony MF and Luckystrike were playing alongside him. Everyone in the house was so excited for him to be there, we had a full guest list. Chaz and I took mushrooms and some of my friends took 2CB. Chaz even brought free Toro Y Moi merch for everyone in the house and by the end of the night it was all gone. Friends still come up to me and tell me about how awesome that night was, it was unforgettable.
Three years later, after I graduated, I was grabbing sandwiches with a friend before sneaking into Outside Lands, and there Chaz was. Serendipity.
I told him I’d applied for a press pass to his festival, 2 Days of Music in Big Sur. He just grinned and said he’d put me on the guest list. It felt like some kind of cosmic full circle.
Now, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing him for his latest album.
Crazy to think — when I first met him at that pop-up, I had no idea any of this would happen.
