*** Dimitri from Paris

A NIGHT AT THE PLAYBOY MANSION

(Astralwerks)

Before the likes of Stardust and Cassius populated the pages of American music mags, the most visible face from the French electronic-dance scene was Dimitri from Paris, whose breakthrough 1998 album, Sacrebleu, was actually downtempo lounge fodder, not hands-in-the-air material. His latest disc, A Night at the Playboy Mansion, is a CD mix that's more representative of his status as an international club-hopping DJ -- it leaves behind chilled-out beats for the four-on-the-floor grooves of deep house. The album does keep Dimitri's retro-fetish going, except that he's exchanged Sacrebleu's Rat Pack-isms for a sexy '70s disco-house feel, complete with stamp of approval from the swingers at Playboy. Only four of the album's 14 tracks are actually late-'70s disco numbers; the rest of the late-'90s material is updated via the sweeping strings, R&B vocals, and wah-wah guitars of that classic sound plus some dub tweaks and tasty drum programming and the currently in-vogue Brazilian influences. Delicately mixed by Dimitri, it's 76 minutes of smooth and delicious dance music that macks like Hugh Hefner and grooves like Studio 54.

-- Michael Endelman