TuneLab
HAYDEN JAMES 'Just Friends' release party in The Lab Malibu
Of course it’s a release party. We’re here because we need to know if the new stuff holds up against the old stuff, and because someone will inevitably drop a track that sends the entire room into a collective, Shazam-fumbling frenzy. The Lab Malibu, all sun-bleached wood and ocean views, feels less like a club and more like the world’s most stylish waiting room for sunset, the energy languid but anticipatory. Hovering around a steady 120 BPM and anchored firmly in the warm, major-key comfort of 12A, this is a melodic house set built on feel-good momentum.
The energy profile—with lows dominating at nearly 48%—tells the story: it’s all about the bassline and the heartbeat, with mids providing the melodic flesh and highs used sparingly for glitter. James’s mixing is seamless, a harmonic journey that prioritizes emotional resonance over technical fireworks, using key modulations from 12A to 7A to gently lift the mood without jarring shifts. For crate diggers, the bold inclusion of Kula Shaker’s ‘The Winged Boy’ is a psychedelic rock curveball that somehow works, a testament to eclectic taste. His own ‘Permission To Love’ serves as the set’s emotional core, while the Disclosure & Fatoumata Diawara collab ‘Ultimatum’ is a masterclass in cross-genre sophistication.
Throwing Technotronic’s ‘Pump Up the Jam’ into this context is the kind of playful, confident move we live for, and Touch Sensitive’s ‘Lay Down’ provides a perfect slice of funky, rolling deep house. It begins with the sprawling, cinematic warmth of RÜFÜS DU SOL’s ‘No Place,’ peaks with the celebratory release of his own ‘Just Friends’ with Boy Matthews, and closes on a perfect, full-circle note with Ameriie’s soulful rendition of the same track.