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DIMITRI FROM PARIS
Cruising Attitude Discograph
***
Those who applauded Sacrebleu, that smart and chi-chi 1997 opus from Dimitri from Paris which launched a thousand cocktails, should greet Cruising Attitude with a similar ovation. After a heavyweight selection of mix albums - most working off a Playboy Mansion riff, thanks to Dimitri's connections with Hugh Hefner, and most laboriously unexciting in the extreme - Cruising Attitude is a return to form, Dimitri rediscovering a languorous ability to mint classy, stand-alone grooves and tempos. While there's both a rich wash of styles here, from jazzy house to cinematic samba, and a clatter of guests onboard (including Omar, Helena Noguerra and Pizzicato Five's Maki Nomiya), it's the sure, steady hand of Dimitri the conductor that guides Toi Mon Auo, La Vie and the chic, buzzing Venusienne Dance beyond the lounge door and to somewhere much more interesting.
www.discograph.com
Jim Carroll