TIME flies when you are having fun and as David Morales’ classic house track Needin’ U celebrates its 20th anniversary this year we are reminded of that fact, asking ourselves where have the last two decades gone?
Needin’ U is a landmark in house music culture and is a record which has gone down in dance music history. Originally released in 1998 it became an instant hit for Morales, then came The Face vs Mark Brown’s version ten years later.
Now, the seminal track has been brought up to date to mark the second decade since its original release and has been rolled in glitter by Parisian producer Dimitri From Paris. The disco don has remixed the likes of Chic and Sister Sledge so we were incredibly excited to hear what he would do with such an important house record. He didn’t disappoint.
With disco’s influence on house music coming back to the forefront in such a big way over the last couple of years, the new remix from Dimitri will be setting dance floors all over the world on fire this summer. The remix is marked by Dimitri’s signature sound, incorporating live instrumentation alongside exquisitely programmed beats but maintains the fabric of David Morales’ legendary track throughout. The remix will be released digitally this week on Cr2 Records.
We caught up with Dimitri From Paris for a quick chat to find out more about how he approached producing the remix and what the original track meant to him.
Firstly congratulations on your remix of Needin’ U which sounds fantastic. What memories does David Morales’ original track evoke for you?
Thank you! I felt honoured to be asked to remix such a classic. I always remember David Morales playing it to massive reactions.
Was it a daunting experience remixing such an iconic track?
It always is, when people are familiar with an original I’m remixing. I don’t want them being thrown off, that’s why I only do remixes when I love the original, in order to keep its key elements in my final rendition.
The original still sounds very fresh, can you tell us how you approached your remix and keep the original vibe while adding your signature style into the track?
The original was using Disco elements and taking them into House territory, with the current resurgence of the original Disco sound, I wanted to do that in reverse: take the track back to its Disco roots.
I’m sure you were a fan of the original tracks from where the samples came from, The Chi-Lites’ “My First Mistake” and Rare Pleasure’s “Let Me Down Easy”? Were you tempted to sneak a little more from these tracks into your remix?
I was only granted permission to use new renditions of the samples as they were on the original, so I had to recreate everything else in the spirit of what was initially sampled.
Speaking of sampling, You have referred to House music as Disco on a budget in the past? How important is it for you to incorporate live elements into your music in the same way the classic Disco records were made and as you have done with this remix?
I’ve been a long time fan of live playing vs computer programming. It’s been a career long path to use more and more musicians to get closer to that original Disco sound.
Funk and Disco are back this summer in a huge way. For you and a lot of us the sound never went away. What do you make of these trends that come and go in electronic music?
New generations come to the dance floors, while older ones leave. I’ve been DJing for more than 30 years, so it’s always great to see music that I love get in the spotlight again, It allows me to re-introduce to a fresh audience with my own twist.
The Face vs Mark Brown & Adam Shaw – Needin U’ (Dimitri From Paris Remix) is out on 25th May (digital) and then a limited edition of 1500 12” numbered vinyl will be released on 27th July. You can pre-order the vinyl here now.
