Polo & Pan

Parisian electronic duo Polo & Pan blend French touch with tropical and latin american influences. The unique blend has taken the festival circuit by storm. They’re on tour throughout Europe, Canada, and the American East Coast for the remainder of 2018, and you surely won’t want to miss them!

: It’s been written you’re inspired by Disney music. What are each of your favorite Disney movie soundtracks?

Alexandre Grynszpan (Pan): Wow. Ummmmmmmm...

: There's a lot to choose from.

Paul Armand-Delille (Polo): Yeah there's a lot to choose from...

AG: Well, of course for me, it's Peter Pan, because I am Pan.

PA: Jungle Book, obviously we have a lot of Jungle Book influences.

: Ya, that's mine! Louie Prima on "I Wan'na Be Like You," and Van Dyke Parks on "Necessities." So good!

AG: Oh yes, Louie Prima! But we were just working on a remix of the snake song, Kaa, the Kaa song, and have been starting to play it. And the last song of the movie, "My Own Home," which is a beautiful song we're also going to start with. What's another.... oh Robin Hood.

PA: Robin Hood. Of course.

: Some Roger Miller classics on there. So, on a similar note, there’s a DJ and visual artist named Pogo who does remixes of Pixar and Disney movies, and has even been commissioned by them. Have you ever tried your hand in that?

AG: He did the Alice in Wonderland remix?

: Yeah. “Alice.”

AG: Well we'd love to. We did an animation movie recently in France, which is called La Grande Aventure de Non-Non. It's about little animals, so we're interested in doing kids music and stuff like that, but this is our first experience.

: The videos for “Zoom Zoom,” and pardon my French here, “Plage isolee,” are animated. What’s the collaboration process like between you and animators?

PA: For "Zoom Zoom" and "Plage Isolee" we collaborate with two lovers, called Noemi (Ferst) & Benjamin (Moreau). They are old friends of ours we used to DJ with at Le Baron in Paris. We’re like a whole family, each with such different talents.

AG: Benjamin and Noemi also developed the live animations for our live shows. So we're really working hand in hand. They're like part of the band.

: Animated music videos have always been an obsession of mine. Tame impala, playing tomorrow, has some fantastic ones too that add a lot to their songs and aesthetic.

AG: Oh yes, of course. We love those.

: So what draws you to animated videos as a form?

PA: Well I think from the start we did this song inspired by the Wizard of Oz, "Dorothy."

AG: I think with animation... everything is possible thanks to animation, it's like a tree of possibility.

PA: There's also a naive childlike component to our music. We're very inspired by our childhood, so, obviously cartoons are the right way to express that.

: Are there some that you’ve seen through the years that inspired you to go that direction?

AG: Of course, I was born with Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze. I've seen all their stuff, and these guys were so creative, and we love to mix reality and cartoons, you know, like Gondry. Augmented reality, I think you say.

: You both got your start at the legendary Le Baron in Paris, which closed 2 years ago sadly. It’s said to be a defining club and scene of that 12 year era. What was it like working there? Any particularly wild stories?

AG: It was like a sanctuary, you know? A laboratory. We were able to put everything we want. It was easy to mix old French songs from 30s with Hip Hop, and it was funny, because DJ was not at the center of the club, you know? People didn't go to see a DJ. They wanted to go to have a party.

PA: And there were definitely some fun moments... Ummmm, the night when Bjork showed up and took the piano and played covers of dance music. She played 2 Unlimited, "No Limit," on the piano, and everyone was singing.

AG: Photos were not allowed...

PA: No bottle service...

AG: And it was not like, "Oh my god! That's Natalie Portman!" No. Natalie Portman was your neighbor and you were able to dance like normal.

: If you could go back in time and DJ any club or scene throughout history, which one would you go to?

PA: Studio 54 probably. It sounds cliche, but I would definitely love to see Grace Jones at Studio 54.

AG: I want to go to Maurice Ravel's night club, you know? It's a small room...

PA: A speakeasy.

AG: Yeah, like a speakeasy. He was playing classical music and he was playing chess. Maybe I want to go to this club.

: Right, because you guys sampled Debussy, who was a contemporary of Ravel's...

AG: Ahh yeah, maybe he'll be there.

: So I read, Alex, that you co-founded the website radioooooo.com, with five 0s, a site...

AG: Yes, the famous Radiooooo with Noemi and Benjamin who I mentioned earlier we work on the animated videos with. This is that same family.

: I was listening to it today for the first time. It's so cool to have a crowd-sourced playlists searchable by time period and geography. How did you get involved?

AG: Suddenly, one day, Benjamin, he had a dream, you know, like Martin Luther King (laughs). He told us "Guys, why is there no instrument to find the best music, all over the world, across any period?! Let's do it!" It's really hard to create this. But, we did it.

: I'm worried I'm going to get addicted to my points and ranking, but it's actually for a good cause compared to other social media!

PA: (laughs) Yes. And the medals! I like sharing, and it's perfect for hanging out with friends when you always put on the same music. You just put a country and decade, like Brazil and 60s, and just enjoy it.

AG: And each time, they are not just accepted. You cannot just upload, they have to be accepted. It's subjective taste.

: Can you think of something discovered that was great?

PA: There's a song I found by someone they call the Japanese Gainsbourg. It's like a really pimping blues song, but in Japanese.

: With your music drawing inspiration from South American music, and Colombian Cumbia in particular, have you had the chance to tour there?

PA: We haven't toured in South America. We've been to Mexico a lot.

AG: We were in Mexico yesterday.

: Well there’s great Cumbia in Mexico too of course! Where in Mexico?

AG: In Mexico City. We often go to Mexico now. It's like our second family.

PA: They have a complete culture. Good music. Good alcohol. Good food. Nice women. They like to dance. And they've got a mystical side with the jungle and the desert and the shamanism, so there's a lot of components to the country that we love.

: You should work for the Mexico board of tourism, because that was a fantastic promotional pitch!

PA: Haha. Maybe after Polo & Pan I will do t