Dimitri From Gotham
Before he became Dimitri From Paris, Dimitri Yerasimos was a young Parisian music lover and a radio DJ in love with Afro American dance music coming from New York. Through the 1980’s, he was digging for records all over the French capital and playing them on nationwide radio. He was also remixing French pop songs the Manhattan way. As those early forgotten remixes are rediscovered, Dimitri tells us the stories of those early years, when flying to New York was still just a dream.
Dimitri from Paris (1984)
NOUVEAU YORK: We’ve all been through some tough and weird months and I’m sure your routine has been transformed. What did you learn from those last months?
DIMITRI FROM PARIS: I probably learned that a slow pace works better for me [laughs]. Past the initial anxiety generated by the sanitary situation, I started getting comfy not having to rush to airports every 5 days. I did use up a lot of my savings, but again, I felt lucky I was able to buy myself that peace. That allowed me to spend much more time in my home studio as well, which is always more difficult in between gigs.
NY: New York has had a huge influence on you, and that is especially true at the very beginning of your career, so let’s go back to 1981! We’re in Paris, 30 years ago exactly, you’re a teenager and François Mitterand just got elected the first Socialist President of France. It’s a seismic cultural change. What do you remember of that year?
DFP: To be honest I wasn’t very much into politics at the time. The concrete result for me, and for a part of culture, was with radio. Up to 1980, FM radio airwaves were only available for public broadcasting. There were about 5, state run, FM radio stations. Added to that 3 short wave private radios. Most were talk oriented, so the musical offer was next to zero, in particular for anything not mainstream. With the change in power, airwaves were “unlocked” and private stations could apply for a slot, and start broadcasting a much wider variety of content. There was an air of freedom, when a lot of those new stations were breaking ground with a fresher, more colloquial discourse, and also playing more music that was rarely heard. After a few years, things settled and the more commercial stations killed most of the more rogue ones. That short period though allowed me to discover a lot of the sounds that became the foundation of my musical culture.
NY: Do you remember a specific broadcast?
DFP: By browsing around the airwaves I found my favorite, and it was aptly called the Manhattan Show on Canal 89. It was a mixshow with no talk at all, playing very upfront dance music, most of it from New York labels. In an extra twist, if you wanted to know what a track was, you had to call a phone number, and at the other end one of the team would tell you it was available to buy at their “secret shop” tucked away in the basement of a residential building!
NY: Tell us about the teenager Dimitri in 1981.
DFP: I was really quite the geek at the time, it was quite difficult to find anyone in my age bracket even remotely interested in music of Afro American origin... Outside of record digging, making mixtapes and primitive edits, I guess my other thing was going to the movies, developing also an interest in Japanese pop culture through collecting anime related toys, and regularly browsing the only Japanese bookstore there was in Paris.
Dimitri from Paris (1987)
“My fantasy about New York came from movies and TV where you could hear groovy music soundtracking a heist, or some drug deal gone wrong, all that amidst the fascinating Gotham like New York scenery.”
NY: In New York, in 1981, Studio 54 owners are released from prison, Africa Bambaataa deejays for a Keith Haring party at the Mudd Club, and MTV goes on air. Disco and punk give way to hip hop. What was your fantasy about NYC at that time?
DFP: It came from movies and TV where you could hear groovy music soundtracking a heist, or some drug deal gone wrong, all that amidst the fascinating Gotham like New York scenery. I also happened to attend a “hip hop concert” where Grandmixer DST was scratching, Rock Steady crew dancing, Futura 2000 painting, and Fab Five Freddy rapping, all on one stage.
NY: When was that?
DFP: It was a tour all over France organized by the radio Europe 1 in 1982. “Rappers Delight” and “The Message” had been commercial hits by then. The Parisian show happened at Pavillon Baltard in the near suburbs. The underground magazine Actuel had done some coverage of the NYC hip hop scene. And US/French label Celluloid was behind it as well, as it featured all their recording artists. Very few in the audience, including myself, had any idea who they were, they all became historical founding fathers soon after.
NY: What did impress you the most?
DFP: Seeing DST (who scratched eventually on Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit”) was kind of an epiphany moment. I wasn’t aware you could manipulate records – which then with cassettes were then the only format to play music – to create something different. That made me want to do the same. I didn’t have the very long term determination needed to become a good enough turntablist, so I turned my way to editing, then remixing, and eventually producing.
NY: So you were already a music fan, digging for records around town, and soon you would start working for French radio stations. One of the names you noticed on a lot of records that you loved is [music producer] François Kevorkian. You say “I was 18 year old and I was dreaming to do like François.” At that time, did you know François was born in France and moved to NYC in the 1970’s?
DFP: I was simply assuming François was French because of his name, but really I had no other info. I didn’t even know he was a DJ. I really liked how he was transforming the music with his remixes, and through his output, he became my first inspiration and spiritual teacher.
NY: Did you fantasize at one point to leave everything and move to New York?
DFP: It was already too big of a dream to become a remixer like François, so I didn’t even imagine moving to NYC, which was a bit of a scary city too back then.
“I only realized much later that 90% of the music I liked made its way through NYC one way or the other.”
NY: In our Internet age, we forget how difficult it was in the early 80’s to have access to information about music, especially dance music. One of the sources were the credits on the record covers. That was how you built your music knowledge…
DFP: Well, indeed, outside of analyzing the credits on the labels, trying to find connections, there was little else. Word of mouth was the next best thing: ideally finding someone who knew someone that was living in NY [laughs].
NY: And the names that you followed were a who’s who of New York dance music: François K, Tom Moulton, Arthur Baker, Tony Humphries, Shep Pettibone, Larry Levan, Bruce Forrest, Frankie Knuckles… At that time, what kind of common thread did you see between them?
DFP: I only realized much later that 90% of the music I liked made its way through NYC one way or the other. Retrospectively, I would say that the common thread could be a very strong layer of sophistication in how the music was produced. We’re talking about dance music here, so its primary goal it’s to get people to dance. Underneath that effectiveness, a lot of the NYC produced dance music had many intricate layers for those who wanted to get into it.
NY: In what sense?
DFP: A lot of those original NY remixes tell a story, as opposed to just looping up a good beat. Great musicians, engineers, producers, remixers, were involved in making it, the musical standards were then very high to make it in the industry, and that really shined through in the finished products. There was also a lot of competition between the clubs and the DJs, and a significant part of their crowd was musically discerning. I believe there was this culture of excellence in dance music between the late 70’s til the mid 90’s. After that, technology allowed individuals to produce on their own, and maybe the reduction in the number of brains and souls needed to make a record, made it less sophisticated.
NY: Listening to your early 80’s NY music selection and reading the notes, it seems those NY producers were actually transforming music that was not necessarily from New York. Original tracks could be disco from Philly, Jamaican funk, or just pop from around the world, and those NY producers and DJs would give them a New York sound, a sound made for the dance floor. It reminds me of that New Order “Confusion” video featuring Arthur Baker taking the band to NY nightclubs. What kind of connection did you make between the music, the records and the NY club scene, at a time when you have not been in NYC yet?
DFP: That video you mentioned is the one that made me understand the connection between remixers and DJs. As I highlighted before I had no idea that François, Larry Levan, Jellybean etc. were primarily DJs in their own right. Most of them were adapting the records they were remixing to the crowds they were playing to. This is what I learned from them, and that I still apply today, whatever I do remix, I have to be able to play it myself first, and exactly like in the video, I crash test my remixes many times on gigs, and rework them until they’re ready. This is actually the one thing I missed the most professionally during Covid time as I did a bunch of remixes that I could not test.
New Order enter the Paradise Garage in “Confusion”
“Visiting New York for the first time really felt overwhelming, like walking through the screen and being in all those movies and TV shows set in the city.”
NY: Your real first trip in NYC was in 1987, with hip hop Parisian legend Dee Nasty. Could you tell us about your first trip in the city, your first impressions, sensations while walking in the streets?
DFP: It really felt overwhelming, like walking through the screen and being in all those movies and TV shows set in NYC that I’d seen. My first record store experience there was at Music Factory, a famous black owned record store in Times Square – before it got gentrified. The area was quite seedy then, and it was exciting but a little chilling at the same time. That store was amazing and it had all the records I was after. I realized years later they were all bootlegs [laughs].
NY: Was it for the [NY annual conference] New Music Seminar?
DFP: It was indeed for the New Music Seminar. You could buy this one pass, that would give you access to conferences with all the big NYC music industry figures day time AND to all the big clubs night time. It was very expensive for us aspiring DJs/Remixers – around $500 maybe – on top of the trip from France, but it really sealed in the idea that remixing was what I wanted to do. We were staying on a very low budget, at the YMCA sleeping in bunk beds, and all day we were hustling in record stores. We would visit labels (after finding their address on our favorite records!) to ask them for free promos. It was quite unusual for them to have two French DJs ring their bell out of the blue, and in most cases we got lots of smiles AND records! That’s when I got my favorite record ever: the Carl Bean “I Was Born This Way” remix by Bruce Forest and Shep Pettibone. My only regret is that the Paradise Garage had closed its doors a few months before, so I never got to experience what seemed to be the mother of New York dance music (the father in my humble opinion being David Mancuso’s Loft parties).
NY: In the mid and late 1980’s, you started doing your own remixes, while running a weekly radio show on the biggest French music station, NRJ. Your show is called “The Sound of New York”. At that time, you didn't call yourself “From Paris” just yet, but you started to make a name for yourself in Paris music industry. Tell us a bit more about the show. What kind of feedback would you get from the regular listeners?
DFP: I was happy to have the show at the time, mostly because of its biggest perk: getting a weekly allocation of free records, thanks to sponsorship from the best record stores in Paris! Feedback on the other hand was difficult to gauge. The show was broadcast throughout the whole country, but I was only getting feedback from the people in Paris where I lived. Paris had quite a large offer of radios. NRJ was the biggest but also the most commercial music station. While the music on my show had nothing to do with the rest of NRJ’s regular programming, I believe that commercial, cheesy image they had put away a lot of music minded people. It’s only years after the show stopped, that I realized it had a cult following outside of the capital. Indeed the musical offer was much more limited in the countryside, and my show was definitely the most cutting edge in terms of dance music people could find. As a result a lot of the show’s recordings have been published online by avid collectors, putting together dedicated web pages, forums, and later groups.
NY: At the same time, your own remixes get noticed by the French music industry and you start remixing many French pop stars, giving them your version of the NY magic touch… It’s a part of your career that went forgotten, this is pre-Dimitri “From Paris” and it’s great that some of those remixes just got reissued by Parisian label Favorite Recordings. They really have a special charm. You said the idea of re-issuing them would have never occurred to you. Tell us a bit more about the “complicated” relationship you have with those works of yours?
DFP: Well, I was into music that was coming from New York, it was mostly R&B, performed by a good number of Afro American artists. And in the case of a remixed pop song, it was still something in English with that “international” flair. On my end, I was given French pop music, which at the time was quite behind in terms of sonics from its UK and US counterpart. I was happy to be able to get in the studio, rework as much as I could, and get paid for it. But let’s face it, the majority of those songs I was commissioned to remix, weren’t the ones that matched my taste the best.
NY: How do you like those remixes now?
DFP: With today’s perspective, it’s probably that inherent contradiction that gives them their charm. French, rather traditional Chanson, over a melodic House backing isn’t something you come across too often. 25 years later, I’m happy with how they aged, and find them quite likeable myself! I’d like to mention other talented people, musicians, and sound engineers who were involved in those early remixes. A few of them later became figureheads of the “French Touch” electronic scene like Philip Zdar and Etienne de Crecy.
“Music is so much like cooking: while the ingredients do matter, it’s actually how you put them together that can make a difference.”
NY: Those remixes shaped the sound of a lot of nightclubs around France. At that time, were you going out to hear your work in nightclubs in Paris or France?
DFP: That’s kind of the same scenario that happened with my radio shows. My remixes were played around the country, because they provided DJs with a club tailored version of songs that were played all over radio. The labels were very happy with the results, and I kept getting a lot of work. On the other hand, the “cool” Parisian clubs that were playing the music I liked, they couldn’t care less. If the original song was all over the radio they wouldn’t play it no matter what. That’s where the “complication” laid for me [laughs].
NY: Back to New York. This is the early 1990’s and you go to listen to Frankie Knuckles at the Sound Factory Bar. It’s a revelation. Because of the music played by Frankie and the reaction on the dance floor. But also because literally your name “From Paris” was born that night…
DFP: I had met Frankie in Europe a few times through a mutual friend, I even warmed up for him on his second Parisian gig. When I’d travel to NY, I would call his management to be put on the guest list for his weekly night at Sound Factory Bar. I then only knew of [American dancer and choreographer] Willi Ninja because he had released a record, but nothing of his Vogueing royalty status. Although he was pictured on the sleeve, I didn’t recognize him at first either. So, I show up at the club’s door, and he’s holding the list. I’m asking if he can look up Dimitri on it. He looks at me in a mix of disbelief and amazement, and asks me in the campiest way “Are you Dimitree From Pariiiiiiiiisssss?” The way he rolled it out, the attitude, just made it an instant revelation. I really regret that he passed away before I had a chance to thank him for coining my artist name in such an effortless, natural way.
NY: How was it inside?
DFP: There was the music Frankie played, it was all the music I revered. It sounded so much better, sublime, and everyone in the room was getting it 200%. In France, I was struggling to get a reaction playing the same. The sound system was also otherworldly to my ears. The feeling of total communion in the room felt so out of my reach, that I seriously thought of putting an end to my DJ career, as I believed I would never get to experience that while playing.
NY: Is there any other decisive club moment in NYC that you remember?
DFP: Probably my first gig there, that happened to be at Twilo. I was asked to play for the release party of my first mix CD for Mixmag. I was very reluctant because I thought: what’s the point of coming from Paris to play New York music to the New Yorkers, they surely do it better than me. I ultimately gave in, and despite the initial anxiety, I felt very welcomed and the night went very well. It really made me realize that music is so much like cooking: while the ingredients do matter, it’s actually how you put them together that can make a difference.
François Kevorkian, Dimitri From Paris and Tom Moulton
NY: Almost every time you’re around in NYC you like to spend some time with [disco royalty] Tom Moulton and François K. I wanted to ask you which 3 New Yorkers, dead or alive, you would invite for a NY dinner, but I feel it’s something you already do regularly… Still, what would be your ideal NY dinner? And what’s on the menu?
DFP: I would like to invite Shep Pettibone, Bruce Forest, and Arhur Baker. I’m pretty sure it would be epic to have all those amazing personalities together. Larry [Levan], Frankie [Knuckles] and Walter [Gibbons] could watch us from wherever they lay, they could make the table squeak whenever they disagree. Foodwise I’d be probably too excited hearing their stories to eat, but I’d say that any after hours NYC dinner would be quite fitting for a reunion of old night owls.
NY: As a club DJ, do you feel a specific affiliation with New York DJs?
DFP: It’s hard to say as many of those who influenced through their remix work, I never heard live. I’d be happy if I picked a little something from all of those at that fantasy dinner, as they have all been teachers for me [laughs].
Dimitri Picks Five Early New York Classics
D Train “You’re the One For Me” (Shep Pettibone Mastermix) 1982
“The first record that made me want to become a remixer. I saw François Kevorkian’s name on lots of other covers, and I dreamed of doing the same “when I was older” (I was 18/19 at the time). This version is a re-edit by Shep Pettibone, and his work as a simple editor in 1981/1982 was the starting point of mine.”
Rockers Revenge “Walking On Sunshine ’82” 1982
“I was an absolute fan of Arthur Baker, who produced this record. There was a lot going on in his productions, and this one is a good exemple of the New York school of dance music, quite referenced and complex in terms of musicality, compared to the sound of Chicago, more minimalist, and a bit ‘heavy’. There are two other great figures of NYC on this one: Jellybean at the remix, and Bob Blank mixing it. Bob Blank was the sound architect of Walther Gibbons, Larry Levan, Arthur Russel, Patrick Adams and many others.”
Gwen Guthrie “Seventh Heaven” (Larry Levan remix) 1983
“It was with this record that I discovered Larry Levan, whom I knew nothing about, not even that he was primarily a DJ. It opened me up to the Jamaican funk sound (produced by Sly & Robbie) which brings a unique touch, with its slightly wonky and swaying side. It does not have the ultra pop aspect of reggae, which was the only Jamaican music that I knew before this record. For me, the blend of Levan + Jamaica is typically New York, the apotheosis of it being the great Grace Jones album. No one else has managed to reproduce that sound.”
Serious Intention “You Don’t Know” 1984
“A record that influenced me a lot, with a very particular sound, which is at the crossroads of several genres and which foreshadows the arrival of house music. It’s a collaboration between a New Yorker of Jamaican origin and a keyboard wizard, Fred Zarr, who has given a unique sound color to many productions of that time, including Rockers Revenge. A hybrid of house and dub, which has never been equaled in my opinion.”
Carl Bean “I Was Born This Way” (Better Days Version) 1986
“This version is a remix by Bruce Forest, successor to Tee Scott at the revered Better Days club (the other alternative to Paradise Garage in Manhattan) and Shep Pettibone. It’s for me the best remix of all time because of its complexity AND efficiency. The original is a pure Philly Sound track mixed by Tom Moulton, another great New York hero. It was with this track that I realized that the sound I loved the most came originally from Philadelphia, which it came out in a rather conventional way, then passed into the hands of New York DJs and remixers who transformed it as a dance floor filler. This title is the most telling example, but the best known is “Love Is The Message”, which Tom Moulton has completely revealed to the world.”
Alexander O’Neal “All True Man” 1991
“I’m a big fan of Frankie Knuckles’ sound, who has that New Yorker side, very musical and cultured. He has arguably produced the most sophisticated dance music in terms of musicality. His approach is an electronic transposition of the Philly sound, deeply sad and at the same time joyful, inspired by Afro American gospel. This title is of particular importance to me. On a trip to New York, I stopped by to listen to Frankie at the Sound Factory. I knew and loved this song, but I had a hard time making it understood in France. When he played this track in the club, on a sound system of clarity and phenomenal power, there was a communion in the afro, latino and gay audience, that I had never witnessed before. I was sitting on a staircase, and I vividly remember thinking that I would never get to touch that grace as a DJ. This period also corresponded to the explosion of house music, first in the English scene and then it was worldwide. New York DJs started to travel to Europe. Most people have began to conflate the sound of Chicago with the one of New York. Everyone started copying each others, and it is from there that the specificity of the sound of New York was less clear... The last holders of the ultimate evolution of the New York sound, in my opinion, are Todd Terry and the Masters At Work. After 2000, the New York sound has diluted in many micro niches, with DFA probably being the tip of the iceberg.”
