You know Poolside, the former DJ/production duo now solely masterminded by founding member Jeffrey Paradise. Coiners of the phrase “daytime disco” to describe their music which sounds exactly like what you think music tagged as “daytime disco” should sound like.
Paradise (or “Mr. Poolside”) tells us that the sound developed in the early 2010s in reaction to dubstep, at the time the most popular form of dance music. Paradise notes that dubstep was being played everywhere, including the backyard afternoon parties where he and his former bandmate Filip Nikolic (aka Turbotito) found themselves most frequently. The two agreed that the vibe wasn’t exactly right so they set out to make the type of music that they would want to hear while they were chilling (ahem) poolside. Early cuts like “Do You Believe?” and their blissed out cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” hit the scene just right. All of a sudden, it was as if “daytime disco” — with its seamless incorporation of classic disco, smoothed out yacht rock, tropicalia, and unyielding supply of easy-to-mix beats — had been there for us all along.
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But almost single handedly inventing a genre isn’t enough to have Paradise resting on his laurels, he tells us that he really wanted to let go of expectations while making his forthcoming LP, Blame It All On Love. “Let me ignore daytime disco,” he says. “Or any [of the] previous stuff… [let me] just make songs and see what they sound like.” … “It’s a little more personal from a lyric reading perspective,” Paradise reveals. “In the beginning, it was really just coming up with dance music, but slowing it down. And a lot of dance music is just one hook. So it's not impersonal necessarily, but there's just not a lot of songwriting to it. Now [it feels more like] they have to come from somewhere, I have to dig a little deeper to make a song.”
Paradise joins Morning Becomes Eclectic for a Guest DJ set that is appointment listening. His inadvertent involvement in what sounds like the beginning of a Malibu true crime podcast is infinitely worth the price of a click. Plus, he breaks down mutually assured friend-zoning in college; a New Wave supergroup that may or may not have formed for the sole purpose of trolling Morrisey; and the Roy Ayers track that is “vibes on vibes.”
Blame It All On Love is due Friday, Oct. 20 via Counter Records.
The following has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Roy Ayers – “The Memory”
This is an album track [from Ayers’ 1976 album Vibrations], I don't know if it's ever even been sampled. It's not one of those hip tracks that everyone knows, but the vibe like everywhere in the song is just immaculate. It's just vibes on vibes, every second of the song.
Big Star – “Thirteen”
From the moment I heard [this one], I was just like “dang, that's like a perfect song.” As a remixer and a DJ I [tend to think about] what would make this [song] better? It's really nice when you're like “nothing.” It just captures that teen love, like before you really know what love is. [It’s] this idea of love, so evocative and so perfect. The harmonies, the guitar playing — it's so simple in some ways, but very evolved.
I was in college at San Francisco State and a girl made me a mixtape [with this song on it]. It was CD culture by then, but she made an actual cassette tape. This was someone that I dated a little bit off and on in college. And it was this weird thing where we would go on dates, everything was great. And we'd start kissing, and that was as far as either one of us [wanted to take it]. It was like this familial vibe, where you didn't want to take it to the next phase of the relationship. We just kind of friendzoned each other? We wanted [to make it work] because we were really compatible, but it didn't ever seem to make sense to go more romantic than just kissing.
Giorgio Moroder – “Knights In White Satin”
Giorgio Moroder managed to take this Moody Blues classic rock song, and make it a slow tempo disco song which I’m obviously very inspired by. He made it an extremely sleazy, slinky disco song. But [it’s also] a techno disco song: drum machine, synthesizer, stripped down with these whispery sleazy vocals. It just works as a really good night drive song. You can picture the city lights driving by. Whether you're cruising home alone and remembering the night, or you're cruising home with someone — this song just feels like [driving late at night].
Electronic – “Getting Away With It”
So this is Johnny Marr from the Smiths, some guys from Pet Shop Boys, and I think on this particular track, other iconic New Wave people are involved, like Art of Noise — it's a crazy super group [editor’s note: Bernard Sumner of New Order was the other founding member of Electronic, alongside Johnny Marr].
I've always been a fan of synth pop, so I love this song. [And as] a San Diego suburban kid, The Smiths’ music really hit me perfectly. But I remember always just thinking that [these “Getting Away With It”] lyrics were so over the top… I don’t remember how I found out, but someone told me about the song’s backstory. Like, “yeah… this is Johnny Marr who hated [his former Smiths bandmate] Morrissey so he collaborated on these lyrics to make fun of him. [The lyrics in this song] are all of these things that are Morrissey-esque, but heightened and sarcastic to make Morrissey sound silly. It’s an even more amazing song through that lens.
Miike Snow – “Animal (Mark Ronson Remix)”
I thought the original of this was a great song, but then I heard the Mark Ronson remix, which is dub reggae, essentially, or maybe reggae with some dub elements more than dub reggae. But it captures the whole song, and adds some flavor to it. I just think it's a really well crafted song. The Swedish producers [behind the song] Bloodshy & Avant are great, and the song is really well written. And Mark Ronson’s remix makes it a little more like “okay, I'm still cool guys.” But it is a guilty pleasure because when it comes on I'm always like, [sheepishly] “this is dope…”