There's nothing more important than having a strong stage name. Whether it's 50 Cent, Prince or even Meatloaf, these monikers seem to have a catchy nostalgia to them that’s only intensified by the artists themselves.
How about a name that indicates where you're from, but has no relevance as to what you play? Take Dimitri from Paris as an example. The man is French, but he's not associated with the Ed Banger or Bob Sinclar types his motherland is known for. This guy takes it back, way back. With his new release, Return to the Playboy Mansion, the Frenchman mixes house classics into two CDs that can accommodate polar moods, Partytime and Sexytime. With tracks by some of the greatest soul legends including Barry White and Teddy Pendergrass, the album's a hit out the gate.
Clubplanet caught up with Dimitri before and chatted about the release of his new album, his disco influences and America's music scene community.
Clubplanet: Approaching this album, when you went into the studio, did you already have a concept in mind?
Dimitri from Paris: Yeah, the thing is the concept actually started in 2000 with the first CD featuring the Playboy brand, A Night at the Playboy Mansion, which turned out to be one of my most successful CDs. The concept was to recreate the vibe of what the Playboy mansion is. The second disc, Sexytime, was really my first mix of ballads. Those are proper love songs. I starting putting together the tracks for this album about a year ago.
CP: What would you say are some of the similarities between the Playboy albums?
Dimitri from Paris: I think that they all have the same concept. You have different series and episodes. This album is a more refined version of the other ones.
CP: So you already had in mind what songs you wanted to include into each CD?
Dimitri from Paris: Well, when I decided to take on the project, I started thinking about what I was going to do, so the double CD, Partytime and Sexytime, were the first two that came up. Then I started making a list of what songs could fit the concepts. I had about 50 songs per CD and then I narrowed the list down, got all the songs from my library, listened to them and then tried to compile songs that would make sense together from a lyric and a title point of view. From those that would fit lyrically, I whittled them down to those that fit musically. It’s a fairly lengthy process for me, but it’s what I like doing the most. Putting together a mixed program is something that I love more than working as a DJ.
CP: Speaking about DJing, how did you get into music?
Dimitri from Paris: I’ve loved music forever. When I was young, there used to be this radio show when I was a teenager that was done by this crazy guy who would mix disco records together. That was back in the late ‘70s. I was amazed by how he could just mesh two different records together and it was something that caught my ear. Then I started buying disco records and I didn’t even know you needed two turntables for it! (laughs) Gradually, I figured out how it was done, borrowed the turntable from my parents’ stereo, got my own little mixer, and started learning about the whole DJ culture. I think what I liked the most was that music was something that you could listen to passively, but also actively interact with. I never thought that I was going to be a DJ—I just picked it up as a hobby, but then things picked up and it became my job.
CP: I know that you talked about disco being one of your musical influences, but do you have any others?
Dimitri from Paris: I have a lot. In terms of dance music, I think that disco is the mother of all dance music. Any dance record that you hear in the club borrows 10% to 80% from disco. What I like from disco is that it’s very rich musically; it uses a lot of instruments and acoustics. In terms of stature and harmony, it’s the richest dance music you can find and people like it. They really don’t need that much exposure to disco. They respond to it the same way that they respond to something that could’ve been produced two days ago.
CP: So what are your thoughts on the music scene in America compared to that of Europe today?
Dimitri from Paris: The thing with America is that the internet exploded very early on here and a lot of people connected with one another and the dots were scattered around the country. There’s a very strong community stacked around the music and a lot of those people talk and occasionally get together for events like Coachella. It’s a very interesting country because you know that every time you go somewhere, you’re bound to find someone that supports your music.
CP: Do you think there are any other DJs out there that can compare to your style?
Dimitri from Paris: I don’t know. I think that everyone’s unique. There are a lot of DJs that kinda sound the same. Then there are those guys that stick out, but they usually have a different sound. I think I’m in the family of the old-school disco DJs—a lot of them came out of New York.
CP: Where do you get the most response here in the states?
Dimitri from Paris: I would have to say Chicago. I think that every time I’ve played there, I’ve gotten an incredible response. It’s the motherland of house music—we should never forget that. There wouldn’t be house music if Chicago wasn’t there to take all of those disco records and loop them in a quirky way, making what we call house music today. I think the culture is there, like Detroit and how it created techno. You can really feel that a lot of older people have passed it on to younger kids.
CP: Would you say that Chicago is also the most musically conscious city?
Dimitri from Paris: Well, I’ve only been to the major cities in America, but I would say that Detroit and Chicago are the most musically conscious.
CP: So what are your plans for the remainder of the year?
Dimitri from Paris: We’ll I’m off to Japan for a mini tour. I have a lot of gigs until the beginning of fall and the end of the summer.
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