Alot of people put Washed Out, Neon Indian, and Toro Y Moi in the same group back in late 2009/ early 2010. It made sense because they had all debuted within a 6 month time frame. Neon Indian’s album was ahead of all the others categorized as Chillwave, musically. He was more indie-rock oriented, and had more clear similarities to the old 80’s pop music it imitated than others. Washed Out and Toro both were more beat oriented, with tracks that crackled and had clear Dilla-style boom-bap. 

All three of the forerunners for the chillwave movement are either done or in the process of releasing their second full-length albums. Washed Out had actually a few EP’s out, and they just released their debut LP over summer. Toro Y Moi released his second album, Underneath The Pine, earlier this year, and his new follow-up EP, Freaking Out, is coming out tomorrow. Neon Indian’s sophomore album, Era Extrana, is also being released tomorrow. Very interesting…

Anyway, I didn’t meant to write this much shit, I just wanted to say that as of now, Toro Y Moi is ahead of the game, as far as Chillwave goes. Unless Neon Indian’s new album blows me away. No pressure though.