Menu

Album review


DIMITRI FROM PARIS

Cruising Attitude


Paris 

27/08/2004 - 

Eight years after Sacrebleu, his first album hailed today as a classic, Dimitri from Paris is making a comeback with Cruising Attitude, a new work recorded with the participation of a plethora of singers (Omar, Pink Martini, Victor Davies, Daniel Wang, Los Amigos Invisibles, Helena Noguerra…). Will the unassuming charm of this Parisian continue to hold its spell ?

print

send

react



Since the mid-eighties, Dimitri from Paris represents a certain style of Deejaying. Chic and understated, fresh-faced, he is king of the turntables. If his name suggests Russia of the Tzars, (he was born in Turkey to Greek parents), his "From Paris" situates him well and truly in France. The hit from his first long format with the label Yellow Productions was called Sacré Françaisnonetheless. By toying with this slightly kitsch labeling, he has confirmed his position on the international scene as one of the heavyweights of the “French Touch” without ever going over the top. If Bob Sinclar, Yellow’s multifaceted boss, bears a resemblance to Jean-Paul Belmondo, then Dimitri is more like a Jean-Pierre Marielle.

The elegant DJ for the jet-set


Worshipped in Japan where Cruising Attitude has been available for over a year, but also in England, and in the Anglo-Saxon world in general, this elegant, impeccably dressed DJ, producer and remixer is a born charmer. Behind a sophisticated even aloof gaze, hides an endearing, affectionate person, who is highly attentive to those around him, and always very considerate. The perfect son-in-law. It is in fact with a series of “unions” that Dimitri the producer has returned. Wedded to many musical styles, he has come up with a second work which won’t scare away potential mother-in-laws. With the same care he takes over selecting his suits, Dimitri here tailors an album where easy-listening and house, with which he made his mark in the beginning, are judiciously combined with studio recorded singers’ voices. A confirmed traveler thanks to his career as DJ for the jet-set, Dimitri has hand-picked his singers from the four corners of the earth. Among the selected we find the British singers Omar and Victor Davies as well as the Parisian Helena Noguerra, the Japanese Maki Nomiya (ex-Pizzicato Five), the Americans from Pink Martini and the Venezuelans from de Los Amigos Invisibles.

Immediate boarding


What could be more natural then to have the sounds of a plane taking off, called Welcome Aboard providing the introduction to Cruising Attitude? Not Quite disco, the first proper track on this album, sets the tone for the journey. Fluid, smooth, and exclusively instrumental, it’s not without a certain sway factor. Be warned, although this album is to be found under electronic music, because of its producer, it gives free reign to instrumental compositions, without overdoing the “sampling”. Strong Man, recorded with Omar, a British soulman discovered more than a decade ago on Talkin Loud, Gilles Peterson’s label, gives us a touchdown in London before a first stopover in the land of the Rising Sun. Okinawa Love is a gentle melody, perfect for accompanying the rising orb in a blue sky, a calming ritornello flowing with the words of Kisen Horino. La Vie hummed by Helena Noguerra sounds like the original soundtrack to a lovers’ embrace on the Place de la Concorde filmed by a third millennium Lelouch. Back to London with the groovy This is Your Life, a track sung by Victor Davies just before The Soundtrack, a new instrumental on top of which a non-credited minimalist vocal sample can be heard. A favorite piece is the remake of Syracuse performed by Pink Martini and is, according to his biography, "One of Dimitri’s favorite tracks”. Exquisite, it doesn’t revolutionize the original version but gives it the distinctive mark of this producer, whilst remaining faithful to the original intentions. Merumo reverberates with the sounds of a languorous trumpet, providing a beautiful accompaniment to the exotically foreign tones of Nippone Maki Nomiya. Toi Mon Auto sung by Helena Noguerra is an old-fashioned ode to the God Automobile, a ballad with Brazilian rhythms. Venusienne Dance has a more obvious beat, and was produced with Daniel Wang, the Taiwanese living in New-York Live Jazz and San Juan Five-O are two new instrumentals, the first of which has been remixed at the very end of the album by the New-York duo Masters at Work, just after Paris-Brooklyn. This track, sung by the Venezuelans from Los Amigos Invisibles (stars in their country and known for their albums on Luaka Bop, the label of the ex-Talking Heads singer, David Byrne, another smartly dressed man) livens up the dancefloor. An enjoyable cruise which marks the passage of time without going overboard. .

Dimitri from Paris Cruising Attitude (Discograph) 2004

Squaaly

Translation : Caroline  Preller