School of Chaz: The Chilled-Out Chameleon Behind Toro y Moi and Les Sins Just Wants To Penetrate Your Mind, Man 

"Peace," Chaz Bundick says as he waves two fingers, slings a beige canvas backpack over his shoulder, and leaves. I watch him walk away, wearing a red Patagonia jacket and green jeans, his poofy hair sticking up as he smiles through clear-rimmed glasses. I can't help but think to myself after meeting the transplant from South Carolina, "He's becoming one of us."

We'd just finished talking about Bundick's latest projects and imminent performances at the Noise Pop festival. The Berkeley resident (for the past five years) is now married to the girl he moved out here with, and is set to release his fourth Toro y Moi LP, What For?, April 7 on Carpark Records. In between preparing for his festival appearances with both Toro y Moi and his electronic project Les Sins, he sat down to talk about how the Bay is shaping him and his music.

"The new record definitely has a California sound," Bundick says. It's an understatement from someone whose forthcoming album is littered with the psych- and subtle garage-rock vibes that have been a signature of Bay Area music. "I feel like I was already into that kind of stuff even before I was here, too," he says, "but being out here motivated me to just go for it."

What For? is the second Toro y Moi album Bundick has created while living on the West Coast, but while 2013's fantastically synth-heavy Anything In Return was produced at S.F. staple Different Fur Studios, this time the laid-back Bundick opted to self-produce at his home studio. "This is the most comfortable I've been making a record. I definitely felt like I could just relax and walk away from it and come back whenever I wanted, and it was easier to get in my zone."

That isn't a surprise. Bundick seems like a guy who's normally in tune with his surroundings. On this particular day, he's eased comfortably into a chair at a Berkeley cafe and quickly settled into the landscape. "The nature out here, the sun ... just the type of people that are around here, they can influence you immediately," he says.

To a Bay Area music fan, What For? comes across like something from the Sonny & the Sunsets school of rock. But Bundick says Alice Cooper, the Brazilian funk/soul legend Tim Maia and "white-guy '70s funk" were primary influences. "For this record, I really want it to be..." he pauses and smiles. "For real, this is the kind of music I want to penetrate your mind with."

The Maia-inspired "The Flight" does exactly that, with a decadent arrangement featuring funky drums, the signature Toro synths and — Bundick's new element du jour — the guitar. "My roots are in guitar music," he says and alludes to his artistic comfort zone, admitting "it wasn't until this past record that I felt like I could be myself. Not that I was faking it, it's just a smaller interest of mine — that [electronic] realm. I have so much more music that I'm interested in."

His other interests have shown in his Les Sins moniker, under which he released 2014's Michael on his Company Records label (a Carpark subsidiary). I tell him it feels like a test kitchen for electronic experimentation. "I think for Les Sins, it's a playground ... to get some ideas out that I wasn't able to get out on Anything in Return," he says. "And maybe get some ideas out that I had before I started on What For?"

For "a playground," Les Sins is more than just a tossed-off project. It sees Bundick flexing a dynamic take on electronica with the quiet confidence of an artist who's accepted by many as one of the best in the indie-sphere. "You have to go into it with confidence, and really just go for it if you're gonna jump around genres like that," he says. "There were times when I was recording the album where I thought to myself 'This sounds a little too heavy for Toro.' But I want people to think 'Oh, this is Toro y Moi, I didn't think it was possible for him!'"

A stretch of tracks on Michael goes from a mushroom jazz-style groove on "Bellow," then leads into a funky disco beat on "Sticky," before we're nothing short of earfucked by a dark and synthy drum 'n' bass banger in "Call." Bundick laughs when we dissect these tracks, though there's a look of pride across his face. "['Call'] is where I left my brain in the electronic world. I still want to get darker and heavier and really fuck with people," he says.

There's no evil undertone to this because he's so damn cool about it. He tells me how Nate Salman, from Oakland's Waterstrider, ended up on the Les Sins single "Why": "I met Nate through my friend Anthony (of Astronauts Etc.) and was like 'Dude, you have an amazing voice. I'd love to see what it sounds like on top of a dance track.'" Ever so soft-spokenly, that's how Salman ended up on a Les Sins track.

As he prepares to leave, Bundick confesses that he's headed to a ceramics class. "I really appreciate using my time wisely to learn as many skills as possible when I'm not doing stuff with Toro," he says. At the moment, he's embarking on a quest to make all of his own dishes, and then start making his own furniture. "I just wanna make my own stuff. And if it's shitty, it's OK, 'cause I made it." He's also been schooling himself on photography, in addition to being an aspiring vegetarian chef.

"I love cooking! I've found that ginger really takes food where it needs to go," he says. "Ginger, lime, and cilantro give it that restaurant-quality flavor. It wasn't until I started using ginger that it went to the next level."

There's an overarching DIY philosophy to Bundick's aesthetic, whether he's cooking up music or dinner. "It's kinda my approach to everything: Have simple ideas that are executed really well," he says. 'If it's a cup or a table ... it should just be simple, and use good material and technique. That's how you make it long-lasting."

It's not hard to hear how this approach comes through in his music. Bundick's multifaceted (yet simple) skills will be on display at Noise Pop this week, right in his own backyard — which is feeling more like his than ever before.

"It feels like home for sure," he says of the Bay Area. "I love to come back from any tour or trip and seeing the bay out of a plane ... knowing that this is where I live, this is my home." His voice carries a hint of awe. "It's still really new," he continues. "It's kinda unreal."