TuneLab
JOHN DIMAS in The Lab LDN
John Dimas doesn't do peaks and drops; he does tectonic plate shifts of sub-bass, and in The Lab LDN, we are all willing subjects of his minimal techno experiment. The room feels like a sensory deprivation tank with a killer sound system, where the only light is the glow of the CDJs. This is a masterclass in minimalism, locked into a rock-solid 128 BPM groove with an almost exclusive focus on the 12A key for a hypnotic, unwavering tone.
The energy analysis tells the whole story: a staggering 0.80 low-end focus, with mere whispers in the mid and high ranges (0.18 and 0.02). This creates a physical, pressure-based experience where the space between the kicks is as important as the kicks themselves. Dimas is a digger's DJ: he starts with the atmospheric tension of Sebastián Bianco Ariza's 'Despertar' and later unleashes the raw, modular crunch of Ohmme's 'Little Helper 341-5.' Marc Marzenit's 'Perron,' remixed by Wehbba, is a peak-time weapon of distorted funk, while Bad Intentions' 'Monster' provides a jacking, loop-based finale.
The journey is a linear descent into the groove, beginning with atmospheric anticipation, spending a small eternity in the percussive labyrinth of Paluma's 'Rapture,' and finally ejecting us with the monstrous, looped hook of that closing track.