Poolside is an LA based recording project comprised of musicians/DJs Flip Nikolic and Jeffrey Paradise. The duo’s sound attempts to capture the carefree decadence expressed in disco and is often a blatant throwback to 80s pop. Their music while not necessarily innovative is refreshingly idiosyncratic.
Prior to the emergence of Poolside both Nikolic and Paradise pursued other projects. Nikolic is originally from Denmark and gained moderate popularity in his home country as a DJ, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. In addition to performing as a solo artist he also fronted the group Djosos Krost, playing alongside Horace Andy and John Holt. He also acted as the bassist for the Danish indie dance-pop group Junior Senior. Nikolic moved to Los Angeles, California, United States in 2004 and filled in as the bass player for the group Ima Robot. He went on to form the electronic duo Guns n’ Bombs and eventually Poolside with Paradise in 2010.
Paradise had previously been a fashion design student at San Francisco State University, a renowned DJ at the venues Blow Up and Club 1994 as well as a member of both the Calculators and the Rapture.
While in San Francisco Paradise met Nikolic at a party called Frisco Disco. The two hit it off and a year later they were casually collaborating in the studio. No serious recordings were made at the time, but by 2010 the duo released their 1st single “Do You Believe” under the moniker Poolside. The group started to gain recognition for their summery, optimistic beats and also partly due to LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy frequent inclusion of their Neil Young cover, “Harvest Moon” into his DJ sets.
The duo’s gauze of vintage synths and tactful studio tricks has often garnered them comparisons to fellow artists such as Washed Out, Neon Indian, Memory Cassette, and Air France and their sense of melodic hooks and deep grooves have gained them praise from contemporaries like Todd Terje and Dimitri From Paris. In 2011 Poolside released another single “Take Me Home” and two mixtapes “Day & Night” and “Night People”. A year later they issued their studio debut “Pacific Standard Time/ Day & Night Recordings”. Another mixtape “Seasons Change” and a single “Only Everything” also came out this year. The two have also remixed a diverse array of artists ranging from Little Dragon, Matthew Dear, the Rapture, and Black Sabbath.
Struggle Jennings
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