DJ T is back with a new album on Get Physical, and the follow-up to 2009’s ‘The Inner Jukebox’, is being held as a disconnection with the clinical European edge of his immediate peers and a focus more on song-writing with a worldly twist. ‘The Pleasure Principle’ is certainly vocal heavy (only three of the eleven tracks aren’t bolstered by a singer), and it’s a combination of loosely dancefloor-focused material set off against more introspective cuts, shoe-gazing as important as the feet-tapping grooves.
In terms of out and out dancefloor fodder, the Nick Maurer vocalled ‘Burning’ marries Maurer’s robotic commands to a percussive stomper where elsewhere James Teej bring his off-beat soul to the very Germanic deep house of ‘Sense’. Nothing really screams out anything other than slightly left-centre deep house though, it’s almost as if the focus is on a four-four beat as a loose theme for an album rather than it’s defining centre-thought.
‘City Life’, probably the album stand-out in terms of floor fillers, is a handclap bolstered paean to the more sophisticated edges of chicago house, but even that wouldn’t trouble peak time on even the most intimate and discerning of floors. It’s still a gorgeous affair mind, Carl Golden’s androgynous vocals complimenting the gentle stabs and making for the kind of house music that yields that wonderful neck snapping grin combination.
DJ T does get it very right on the ‘sit-back’ moments though. ‘Nothing even comes close’ is his contribution to the ever swelling chill wave set up and a glorious slab of languid synth action; perfectly timed as the clocks swing forward and sunshine permeates our thinking once again. ‘Pattern Exit Drama’ and are owed respectively in equal parts to beatless Detroit techno and bubbling electronica, and help keep the overall feel of the LP like it is threading itself masterfully..
There’s nothing on here that will suddenly elevate T beyond his fanbase or give Get Physical the kind of hit that three or four years ago was their birth-right each summer, but it’s still a decent collection of electronic music that won’t make your stereo balk in displeasure. Solid, and occasionally very inspiring.