The story behind DJ Lestat
DJ Lestat is the original DJ identity of French artist Cédric Dassulle, later best known as Talamasca. Dassulle began DJing in the early 1990s and became resident at Paris’s Rex Club during the period when Goa and psychedelic trance were taking hold in the city. The Lestat name therefore predates Talamasca’s production career and remained associated with Dassulle’s DJ work after the Talamasca project emerged in the mid-1990s. Cédric Dassulle adopted the Lestat DJ identity during his early-1990s career before creating Talamasca. Dassulle moved from hardcore and early trance DJing into the Paris Goa scene and held a Rex Club residency under the DJ Lestat name in the mid-1990s.
Talamasca became Dassulle’s principal production identity from the mid-1990s onward, while DJ Lestat remained the lineage name attached to his earlier and occasional DJ activity. A genuine precursor identity connecting early Paris Goa DJ culture to Talamasca and the French Psytrance network that developed around it.
Dassulle’s current artist activity is centred on Talamasca; DJ Lestat remains a historically distinct performance identity.
Origins of DJ Lestat
Cédric Dassulle adopted the Lestat DJ identity during his early-1990s career before creating Talamasca.
Early career
Dassulle moved from hardcore and early trance DJing into the Paris Goa scene and held a Rex Club residency under the DJ Lestat name in the mid-1990s.
How the project evolved
Talamasca became Dassulle’s principal production identity from the mid-1990s onward, while DJ Lestat remained the lineage name attached to his earlier and occasional DJ activity.
DJ Lestat sound
Goa Trance and Psytrance DJ identity historically tied to the Paris scene of the early-to-mid 1990s.
Legacy and historical importance
A genuine precursor identity connecting early Paris Goa DJ culture to Talamasca and the French Psytrance network that developed around it.
Connections and influence
Directly linked to Talamasca through Cédric Dassulle; the identity belongs to the same person but represents a distinct earlier DJ role , not a separate production group.
Later history and legacy
Dassulle’s current artist activity is centred on Talamasca; DJ Lestat remains a historically distinct performance identity.
Related projects and collaborations
Artists with overlapping styles
0101
Short-lived collaboration of Total Eclipse founder Stéphane Holweck and Greek producer Marios Trivyzas, preceding their modern Total Eclipse partnership.
Alien Project
Israeli producer Ari Linker’s long-running psychedelic-trance project, active since the 1990s and closely tied to the international full-on movement of the early 2000s.
California Sunshine
Israeli Goa Trance project created by DJ Miko and Har-El Prussky, whose classic late-1990s catalogue later split into separate branches using the same name.
Chakra
Pioneering Israeli Goa-trance and psytrance project associated with Ofer Dikovsky and the late-1990s transition from classic Goa into the emerging Israeli psychedelic sound.
Cosmosis
Bill Halsey’s British psychedelic project, rooted in classic Goa Trance but shaped by a guitarist’s feel for funk, phrasing and live musicianship.
Dado
French producer Frédéric Holyszewski, a foundational psytrance figure behind Deedrah, Transwave and numerous side projects, with Dado functioning as his broader artist identity.