After the Playboy Mansion
Dimitri from Paris has the touch, and everybody wants to feel it. Testimony can be found in the 200,000 copies of his debutSacrebleuand the millions of 2001'sA Night at the Playboy Mansionthat have found their way out into the world. For his aptly titled follow-up,After the Playboy Mansion, Dimitri has divided the double CD into the yin and yang of his DJ approach, giving each disc its own name: "Uplifting" and "Laidback." But in DJ terms, things are not always as they seem. "Uplifting" and "Laidback" are both all over the map, and some tracks could easily fit onto either disc.Larry Levan's remix of Gwen Guthrie's "Peanut Butter" on "Laidback" could also work on "Uplifting," as couldDanny Tenaglia's glowing remix ofGrace Jones's "Feet Up." Most of "Uplifting" intimates disco and mixes in some breezy Brazilian house. French producer Llorca offers subtle samba/jazz on "Indigo Blues," then the groove changes to the Tower of Power-styled funk of "Best Friends Around," which segues into the '80s sound ofDe La Soul's "(It Ain't) All Good."Lil' Louis(of "French Kiss" fame) introduces "Laidback" with his mindless "Nyce and Slo," remixed byTony Humphries. Combining old-school tunes with contemporary downtempo, Dimitri adds a shuffling track byLes Nubians, chilled breakbeat by Beautiful People, and a rumbling Latin noir thriller by Norwegians Ralf Myerz and the Jack Herron Band. Blaze closes "Laidback" with "Seasons of Love," a summery Afrobeat groover.--Ken Micallef