06 / poolside Danish-born Filip Nikolic and San Franciscan Jeffery Paradise are the brains behind chilled-out groove machine Poolside. They found each other in LA and worked on very different, separate projects before finally joining forces to create what some have dubbed “daytime disco.” See them live and you’d have to agree. Their energy and sound, much like their popular rendition of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon,” is mellow and smooth with a dose of vintage funk, lending itself to lounging poolside at some 70’s motel in the afternoon. We caught up with Filip Nikolic to further deconstruct the formula.
ASIDE FROM MUSICAL INFLUENCES, WHAT INSPIRES YOUR SOUND?
TELL US ABOUT THE MOST INTERESTING THING YOU’VE EVER SAMPLED, OR THE
We get inspired a lot by our surroundings, hikes through the local spots,
COOLEST SOUND YOU’VE EVER CREATED?
hanging by the pool, etc. Also Mezcal and wine gets us going really well.
For “Off My Mind” we used an old synth to make ocean wave sounds. It’s just a noise generator with a hand swept filter but a lot of people think that we
IF YOUR SOUND WERE A COLOR (OR A COMBINATION OF COLORS) WHAT WOULD IT BE?
actually recorded the real ocean.
Right now it’s definitely electric cyan! WHAT TUNE CONSTANTLY GETS STUCK IN YOUR HEAD? IF YOUR SOUND WERE A PERSON, CREATURE, OR IMAGINARY CHARACTER, WHO
Recently it has been Twin Shadow’s “Golden Light”—luckily it’s a great song.
WOULD IT BE? OR WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE? It would be a creature made out of slow moving water and he would gently be
WHAT’S THE BEST SOUNDING ROOM OR VENUE YOU’VE EVER PERFORMED IN?
petting our feet…
With Poolside, I think it has to be First Avenue and 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis or Lincoln Hall in Chicago
IF YOU COULD COMPOSE THE SOUNDTRACK TO ANY FILM... WHAT
I have no idea. Maybe Cocktail with Tom Cruise?
TOOL,
INSTRUMENT,
SOFTWARE
OR
INNOVATION
(IF
ANY)
IS
INDISPENSABLE TO YOUR SOUND? WHAT DO YOU IMAGINE PEOPLE DOING TO YOUR MUSIC?
I couldn’t do without my computer and my giant box of random percussion. And
Either relaxing in a nice chill environment or day dreaming about relaxing in
my broken Casio CZ-1000 is our “secret weapon”.
a nice chill environment.
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