DJ T / ‘The Pleasure Principle’
CD / Digital / Vinyl
Get Physical / Released 28th March 2011
After playing an instrumental part in the rise to prominence of Get Physical (with M.A.N.D.Y. and Booka Shade) it’s good to see DJ T back. And adoring fans will not be disappointed, as things kick off with a kind of whiskey swagger, and refuse to sober up from there.
The Pleasure Principle is about house music, through and through- soulful, accessible and danceable. But there’s e-funk smeared all over the place too, which should remind us all why we fell in love with this producer in the first place. However, far from a simple walk down memory lane, as the Carl Golden collaboration City Life may suggest, this is contemporary as you like, and not just because the sounds we’re all told are ‘now’ more than vaguely resemble those of yesteryear.
Take Sense for example, a fantastically dirty and druggy workout with James Teej, which deepens the mood somewhat. Sparse arrangements accentuate soft percussive accents while disco-not-disco stylings win out, in vocals and synth. And closing track Remember the Future sounds a little like Derrick Carter (here read Jaw) in full on child-robot vocal mode, but would work equally well as the opening of a techno set or mid dubby house session. Like the man behind the beats, it’s a clever one to say the least.
Other nods for notes should come in the form of ‘most memorable tune’ Opera Buffa, a plodding, cow-bell and keyboard outing that’s the definition of this sound, and Yesterday, Tomorrow with Dave Aju, and the muted organ, heads down moods therein. That’s not to say the other six items on the list aren’t of quality, just an attempt to save time before reaching the inevitable conclusion. This might not be doing anything more than what it says on the tin, but what the label promises is really very good.