DJ T. Boogie Playground

• Words: Peter Nicholson
• Label: Get Physical
• XLR8R Rating: /10

Retro ain‘t a gimmick when done by Get Physical guy DJ T.-it‘s glorious, giddy fun. Building on the electro he loved as a kid and the acid house that fueled his DJ career, T. and production partners Booka Shade have whipped up a frothy, era-ignoring album of dance tracks. From the clicking breakbeat snippets and lurching, Unique 3-style synths vs. early Nightmares on Wax vocals of "Rave d‘Amour" to the Italo disco-indebted cowbells and handclaps of "Rimini Rimini Rimini," DJ T. plunders the past for grooves that just want to have fun, even if they might be forgotten (or sampled) next year. It all reaches a peak on "Rising," which begins as a simple tech-house groove with an insinuating vocal sample before gradually layering liquid keyboard lines and urgent, Chicago-jacking percussion into a shimmering dancefloor juggernaut. This is simple, devastating dance music, and damn good fun.