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Hear Vampire Weekend’s Chris Baio Go Solo on ‘Tanto’

Chris Baio

In written music, “tanto” means, literally, “too much.” Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio’s solo track of the same name joins a trend, of indie rockers making sunny electronic dance music, that threatened to become too much a couple of years ago but now seems potentially inexhaustible. From Baio’s three-song Sunburn EP, due May 21 on Greco-Roman, “Tanto” unfurls patiently over six-plus minutes — a comparison to a beach blanket would be a stretch, but it gives you an idea — as finger-snaps, chopped-up steel drums, and the “tanto, tanto” vocals of Chilean kindred spirit Matias Aguayo float over a rigid bass pulse. Closer to the blissed-out Balearic disco of John Talabot or Blondes than the guitar-and-lyrics dance-rock hybrids of Delorean or Tanlines, “Tanto” nevertheless shows you never can have too much endless summer.