Performer Notes
- Personnel: Dimitri From Paris (various instruments); Mademoiselle Atlantique (vocals); Grand Master Ben Amu (flute); Frederic Poulet (flugelhorn); Roger Poulet (piano); Steven Ely (Moog synthesizer).
- Includes liner notes by Sergent Bill T. Hawthorne.
- Personnel: Frederic Poulet, Roger Poulet (flugelhorn, grand piano); Steven Ely (Moog synthesizer).
- Audio Mixers: Dimitri from Paris; Bibi.
- Recording information: +30; Defrey; Mix-It Studios; Yellow.
- Creator: Karel Balas.
- Director: Dimitri from Paris.
- Arranger: Dimitri from Paris.
- For years, Paris had barely registered as a blip on the pop music radar screen. Beginning with the release of Daft Punk's Homework and the Source Lab compilations, however, the city burgeoned into one of the most promising scenes of fin-de-millennium culture--and Dimitri From Paris into one of its most important scenesters. SACREBLEU has it all; the stoned grooves of Kid Loco, the irony-free cheese of Air, the funky electro-pop of Daft Punk. On top of it all, Dimitri's hip retro-lounge style imparts an exquisitely cool vapidity that's comfortable in a world where too many things mean too much. If Grandmaster Flash or Derrick May had the entire Space Age Pop, Bacharach and Tito Puente collections, they would have made music that feels as good as SACREBLEU. But, alas, the French beat us to it.
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (3/5/98, p.70) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...a breezy mix of audio jokes, electro-samba, jazz and lush strings....creates a universe that is as goofily coherent as it is infectious..."
Spin (5/98, p.134) - 8 (out of 10) - "...A tightly composed soundtrack to some imaginary French New Wave film about a club-hopping ne'er-do-well, SACREBLEU imaginatively updates '60s spy jazz...deee-liteful disco...exotica...Burt Bacharach...not to mention the sounds of trip-hop..."
Entertainment Weekly (3/6/98, pp.80-81) - "...a back-to-the-future party where Portishead chill with Austin Powers, riding a mix of squishy hip-hop, giddy proto-disco, and screwy lounge grooves....Like French frommage, it often smells funny, but when it's good, it's marvelous." - Rating: A-
Q (5/97, p.119) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "The Revolution may not be televised, but the revolution will, it seems, be French....It's a sound somewhere between Beck, The Crusaders, and Lalo Schifrin. Yes, it really is that crazy. And it really is that good."
Melody Maker (7/8/97, p.49) - "...the first person to champion dance music on the French airwaves [but] SACREBLEU is no simple dance album...more lambada, salsa or cha cha than acid house, trip hop or techno, there are elements of the new school of house....superb."
