Dimitri From Paris: "Sacrebleu"
Yellow, YPCD 011A (70 mins) Dial-a-disc: 1531
If only those silly loungecore clubs sounded like this... Cheeky, cheerful, sexy and innovative, Sacrebleu is another indication that France and dance music are suddenly very productive kissing cousins Air Motorbass, Emmanuel Top, Daft Punk, Ollano, St Germain and Melaaz having already provided musical reasons to cheer Vive la France/this year. Dimitri, from the comfort of his Montmarte pied a terre, provides a soundtrack for romantic loafing, nonchalant lounging and exuberant laziness by the Seine. Press play, sit back, relax and closy your eyes.
Dimitri's skill lies in creating moods and tones which evoke sophistication and a certain languor without succumbing to the cheesy irony of the easy listening set. Tracks like Sacre Franca is and La Rythme et La Cadence rhumba along, coaxing the lizards onto the dance floor to sweat a little. On the other hand, the slinky cool of Une Very Stylish Fille trips and hops along a la Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. However, Dimitri doesn't merely stick to a slo-mo deck of cards; both Dirty Larry and Free Ton Style ooze deep house allure and appeal. For high fidelity freaks everywhere.
Tricky: "Pre-Millennium Tension"
4th & Broadway, BRCD623/524302-2 (45 mins)
Dial-a-disc: 1641
Or, if you like, "Post Maxinquaye Tension". Here's the rub challenging artist produces challenging album but everyone goes mad for it. You, Tricky of Bristol, are now everyone's favourite anti pop star. This was not part of your master plan. Still, you get to hang out with Bjork, play some baffling but brilliant live shows, smoke a lot, travel a lot, release a Nearly God album and eventually decamp to Jamaica to record album number two. On your return, you think to yourself, we'll see what they'Il make of this.
Pre Millennium Tension is intense, intricate, smoky and blunt: The insights and innovations which made Maxinquaye such a fix are still in place though obscured by clouds of suspicion and unease. Mutters instead of raps, broken beats instead of fluid breaks monochrome rather than technicolour Tricky is determined that you must dig deep to see where his head is at on this occasion. He may pinch the "don't push me cause I'm close to them hard not to lose my headline from White Lines yet he can also conjure up a few dozen paranoid lines of his own to indicate fear and loathing.
Sweetback: "Sweetback"
Epic 485390 2 (58 mins)
Dial-a-disc: 1751
Post modern Barry White, anyone? Sweetback are Sade's backing band, helping to bring cocktail bar beats to the masses. This debut album is one part Sade, one part soul and a couple of generous dashes of weirdbeard beats and effects. Combining some mighty voices (US soulster Maxwell, Groove Theory's Amel Larrieux and rapper Bahamadia) with a range of sultry grooves and beautiful melodies,
Sweetback is the perfect early morning post clubbing comedown.
Gaze is a gentle lurve ballad, all purr and no trousers, while the Arabesque instrumental ducks and dubs into a swirl of sandy images and snapshots. Accomplished and blissed out, it's this month's essential purchase for in tune smoochers everywhere.
Various Artists: "Blue Note Club Culture"
Acid Jazz EYECDI (74 mins)
Dial-a-disc: 1861
. . . as in the north London club which is currently enjoying flavour of the month status thanks to hosting some of the best one nighters in clubland. This CD presents a selection of suitably cutting edge tunes from some of the clubs attracting queues around Hoxton Square.
While there's no contribution from Andy Weatherall's excellent Bloodsu Doe Scott's Drums 95 - (from Goldie's dark Metalheadz gathering) and Interference's Emotionalize (from the eclectic Giles Peterson's Far East shebang) are two indications of the diversity prevalent among dancefloor soundtracks right now.
With samples also on board from Talvin Singh's delicious nu Indian night Anokha, Ninja Tune's Stealth rocket and the Wall Of Sound label's Back 2 Mono event, Blue Note Club Culture really makes you wish there was a venue like it over here.
