Dimitri from Paris | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Dimitrios Yerasimos |
| Also known as | Dimitri |
| Born | 27 October 1963 Istanbul, Turkey[1] |
| Origin | Peckham, London, England Paris, France |
| Genres | Lounge, electronica, downtempo, house, shibuya-kei, French house |
| Occupation(s) | composer, remixer, producer, DJ |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Labels | Yellow Productions ITH Records |
| Website | www |
Dimitri from Paris (born Dimitrios Yerasimos, Greek: Δημήτριος Γεράσιμος; 27 October 1963) is a French music producer and DJ of Greek descent.[1] His musical influences are rooted in 1970s funk and disco sounds that spawned contemporary house music, as well as original soundtracks from 1950s and 1960s movies such as Breakfast at Tiffany's, La Dolce Vita and The Party,[1] which were sampled in his album Sacrebleu.[2] Dimitri fused these sounds with electro and block party hip hop he discovered in the 1980s.
Contrary to his musical pseudonym, Dimitri was born not in Paris but born in Peckham, South London, to Rûm parents (Greeks of Turkey), Dimitri grew up in France where he discovered DJing at home, using whatever he could find to "cut and paste" samples from disco hits or in to montages heard on the radio, blending them together to make tapes. This early experimentation helped him launch his DJ career.[1]
He started out by DJing at the French station Radio 7, before moving on to Skyrock and finally to Radio NRJ, Europe's largest FM radio network, in 1986. There, he introduced the first ever house music show to be broadcast in France,[1] while simultaneously producing under the direction of sound designer Michel Gaubert, runway soundtracks for fashion houses such as Chanel, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hermès and Yves Saint-Laurent. He also released two solo EPs from 1993 to 1994 and contributed to the Yellow Productions compilation La Yellow 357.[1]
In 1996, Dimitri gained worldwide recognition with the release of his first full album, Sacrebleu, released on Yellow Productions.[1] A blend of diverse influences including jazz, original film soundtracks, samba, and organic house, Sacrebleu sold 300,000 copies worldwide and was named Album of the Year by UK's Mixmag magazine.[1]
In 2000, Dimitri followed Sacrebleu up with A Night at the Playboy Mansion (Virgin) and Disco Forever (BBE), followed by My Salsoul in 2001, After the Playboy Mansion in 2002. In 2003, Cruising Attitude was released, to be closely followed by his first outing on UK's premier dance music label Defected: Dimitri from Paris In the House.
He has followed a somewhat glamorous musical path by recording soundtracks and advertising campaigns for fashion houses Chanel, Jean-Paul Gautier and Yves Saint Laurent and remixing hundreds of artists as diverse as Björk, The Cardigans, James Brown, Michael Jackson, New Order and Quincy Jones.[1] He also did the music for the anime Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase and mixed the soundtrack for the French luxury dessin animé Jet Groove produced by Method Films.
2005 saw Dimitri go back to his Funk and Disco roots, with Japanese hip hop producer and über collector DJ Muro for Super Disco Friends a double CD mixdown. In 2006 he offered his House of Love outing to Valentine's Day's lovers. Later on Dimitri produced Los Amigos Invisibles "Super Pop Venezuela" album which grabbed a nomination for a Grammy Award.
2007 saw the release of the Cocktail Disco project with label BBE. Dimitri described in the notes to the project that he arrived to the material through a "kind of evolution in music collecting [where] the more you complete one genre, the more you move to a sub genre, a sub, sub genre, eventually branching out to different musical paths, to avoid being stuck in dead ends. It turns out records I would overlook a few years back, are the ones I feverishly hunt now. One of many such sub genres I grew up to love over the years, is a type of Disco that I could best describe as Cocktail Disco."[3]
Dimitri described the Cocktail Disco sub-genre as having "that ubiquitous 4/4 beat and flying open high hat, complemented by rich orchestrations, campy over the top vocals, and an often tropical latin vibe. Something that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Broadway musical."[3] He also pointed out that he believes "the same style was called Sleaze back in its days, from roughly 1976 to 1979. There were even DJs specialized in the Sleaze sound which was usually played after hours, in spots with a strong sex-oriented drive."[3]
The Cocktail Disco compilation includes tracks from Astrud Gilberto, Blue Velvets, the Ritchie Family and Paul Mauriat ("The Joy of You," from his New York-recorded disco album collaboration with Gérard Gambus Overseas Call).[4]
2009 saw the release of the Night Dubbin', a post-disco R&B compilation remix album.[5]
