Oakenfold: Perfecto Vegas

Paul Oakenfold belongs to that elite class of dance DJs who’ve become full-on brands. Perfecto is his label, remix alias, and club night; he no longer even uses “Paul” much. Oakenfold did more than anyone to put big, gliding, whooshing trance into club music’s forefront during the late ’90s, and he’s probably the most popular of that era’s big DJs, keeping up just enough to stay relevant without straying too far from his template. On Perfecto Vegas, a two-hour sampling of Oakenfold’s Saturday-night residency at the Sin City club Rain, a few cuts, including two by Perfecto signee The Fraction, likeably fold The Field’s cut-up template into Oakenfold’s typically pumping, slightly anonymous big-room sound, typified by Adam White’s contributions: by-the-numbers grinding percussion breakdowns, laser-beam synths, and strings to score blockbusters by. It’s largely harmless, but for anyone not on Oakenfold’s floor, it’s likely to evoke little more than overpriced drinks and hair-gel abuse—up to and including a completely unnecessary remix of Shannon’s 1983 Latin-freestyle classic “Let The Music Play.”