The New School’s Brightest Have All The Makings To Go Far

Domenick Filopei and Bo Pericic have accomplished a lot as the breakout DJ/Producer duo Filo & Peri since joining forces back in 2003. The New York natives were recently ranked number 77 by DJ Mag’s coveted Top 100 DJ list, ranking above well-known and respected artists like Miss Kittin, Victor Calderone and Daft Punk. Though that is not to say they don’t deserve to be ranked that high. In fact, in their short three-year career, they have been able to garner attention from the dance music crowd despite not having a full-length album. Not to mention support from heavyweights like Paul van Dyk.

“We realized shortly after we met, that what Domenick excelled at was my weak spot and vice versa,” Pericic explains. “We fill each others gaps basically, and most importantly we respect each other’s opinion tremendously. We don’t second guess each other.”
Pericic, who looks barely old enough to order a drink - yet speaks like he is older than he actually is, says there is no hierarchy within the duo. Both say they contribute to the music and sound of Filo & Peri equally.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Unknown World Management, 2006.

“In a lot [of duo acts], one guy is the DJ and the other one is the producer, but we are equal; we each contribute the same amount,” admits Filopei, who speaks with a mild, raspy Bronx accent. In order for them to be as good in the studio as they are as DJs, Peri adds that they both need to be good DJs so they know what’s at the forefront of dance music.

Just listening to their latest two releases, one can get a sense of who Filo & Peri are. “Ordinary Moment,” released on Paul Van Dyk’s Vandit Recordings, is a pulsing trance track, while “Long Train Runnin’,” released on Erick Morillo’s Subliminal Records, sounds like a Basement Jaxx inspired house track with a dash of funk for good measure. While most DJs/producers would avoid crossing into different dance music styles, they enjoy being unpredictable.

“Another thing that separates us is that we can produce any kind of record. We can produce a house record or we can produce trance, progressive and electro,” Filopei says. Not being tied to a label, they explain, allows them that freedom. “We love everything, so we try to incorporate as much as possible,” Pericic adds. “Our style is clean and high energy.”
According to Pericic, they have been working with traditional songwriters as of late in order to incorporate a more traditional element of songwriting into their productions. In the end, however, it is still about making people dance.
“You can make a track with pretty melodies and a good beat, but if it’s not structured to work on the dance floor, what good is the record? Especially, if you are making a club record,” Filopei explains.
The duo recently signed with Moist Music in the United States to release Crowd Control, a series of live mix albums. Filopei puts it very simple: they are going to take a live show and put it on an album.
“We are going to pick the events that we felt had the best vibe, the most energy and the best crowd, honestly,” he adds.
The first cut, “Mixed Live from Wetgrooves Las Vegas,” is due in February 2007. Some new tracks will also be released in 2007, including “Inside of Me,” “Jiggle It” and “Triple Crown.” But their most notorious release will probably be “Giddy Giddy Up” which was licensed to the Reno 911: Miami movie and will be released on their new label Crowd Control Recordings.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Unknown World Management, 2006.

“The group who is scoring the entire movie presented the track to Fox Pictures and they fell in love with the track,” Filopei admits. They say they track captures the silly vibe of the movie, which they describe as an electro-house party track with “interesting vocals.” But despite the slew of new tracks to be released next year by the duo, they don’t feel the time is right yet to release a full-length studio album.
“It takes months and months of work to do an album, and if it’s done too early in one’s career you can’t expose it to the right people or to enough people you want to,” Filopei says. When the time does arrive, they want to do it right, including large-scale distribution and marketing. However, the duo fears getting signed to one label might hinder their creative control. “We like the freedom of being able to do what we like,” Pericic adds.
Even though they are starting to gain notoriety, the duo still has bigger dreams to work with producers like Paul Van Dyk, who has been very supportive of their career. They’d possibly even work with people outside of their genre, such as some rock acts.
How soon they will accomplish these things will be seen. But at the pace their careers have progressed, there is no doubt the duo’s future is headed to bigger and better things, hoping their music will continue to keep the crowds moving.
Pericic sums up their music philosophy perfectly: “There are songs that have meaning, which people can relate to emotionally. Then there is music to dance and party to - that’s the kind of music we want to make.”