***1/2

PHUNKY DATA: FASHION OR NOT?

(Edel Americana)

From France comes this 11-track debut CD by the DJ duo Niko and Olivier Raymond. They do a slightly dreamier version of the Paris house-music style established recently by Laurent Garnier and Daft Punk. The dreamy component -- woozy instrumentals, beats with a soft exterior -- closely resembles the Eurodance music of Milan (Robert Miles, Gala, DJ Dado), and it blends surprisingly well with the basic techno funk of these tracks, which is droll and bittersweet, like most Paris house. Almost always non-vocal, the music of Nico and Raymond expresses every detail of dance-floor attitude and angle -- which means that listening to the entire CD is like watching a 3-D movie of disco bodies heaving and twittering. Here you'll find the soft and flirty, in "Original" and "Miss"; the drop-dead cool, in "Fashion" and "Mental Machine"; the slap-me-five joyful, in "Who Need the Funk" and "The Way"; and both tender and throbby in the CD's brashest house track, "Rotation of Life." And all of it works.

-- Michael Freedberg