Cruising Attitude

by Joshua Glazer Sometimes it's possible to do something too well. Take Dimitri from Paris, for example. A king of lounge-y disco-house behind the decks, he scored huge with all of his mix CDs, most notably the Playboy Mansion series, which catapulted him from underground tastemaker to international player. Often in the case of such high-profile DJs, an eventual artist album is released to excessive fanfare, only to disappoint when placed against the diversity and creativity that can be displayed on a DJ mix, where the best records by a variety of producers are all assembled together. However, in the case of this Japanese import of all new original material, the press and public at large seem to have overlooked it completely, which is a shame since Dimitri delivers a fantastic array of disco and lounge-pop songs that are informed by, yet don't mimic, his lauded DJ style. Dimitri heightens his deep disco senses on "Not Quite Disco" and "Brooklyn," which he recorded with Masters at Work affiliates Los Amigos Invisibles. He also works with Japanese vocalists Kisen Horino, Helena Noguerra, and Maki Nomiya to create Bacharach-esque pop confections and joins with acid jazz gurus Omar and Victor Davies on "Strong Man (For Real)" and "This Is Your Life," respectively, with both supplying soulful vocal parts. Unlike Dimitri's debut album, Sacrebleu, released prior to his rising DJ status in 1996, Cruising Attitude stays clear of any sample-heavy club fare or studio trickery in favor of far more mature grooves. It can only be hoped that more people get on board Dimitri's newest flight of fancy.