Mall Grab

Mall Grab's Lab London session is exactly the kind of genre-hopping, nostalgia-baiting chaos we live for. It's the sound of someone raiding their older sibling's record collection after three Red Bulls, and we are here for every glorious, messy second. The vibe is a sweaty, low-ceilinged room where someone just shouted 'ARE YOU READY?' unironically. Technically, it's a rollercoaster. With an average BPM of 140.3, it straddles the line between UK garage bounce and trance propulsion.

The key of 12A provides a harmonic anchor for three tracks, but we get detours into 7B and 10B, keeping things interesting. The energy balance leans low at 58%, with a significant 37% mid-range, meaning the basslines and melodic hooks are given equal weight in this eclectic electronic journey. The mixing is quick and punchy, reflecting the set's party-first ethos, with transitions that often rely on bold cuts rather than smooth blends. The tracklist is a treasure trove of references. The opener, Mall Grab's own 'You' with Flansie, sets a warm, garage-inflected tone.

Then comes the inevitable drop of Tempa T's 'Next Hype', a dubstep-era anthem that still clears a room in the best way. The trance injections are masterful: Rank 1's 'Airwave' gets the radio edit treatment, its vocals soaring, and System F's 'Out of the Blue' is a timeless classic thrown in with zero pretension. Salute's 'Heaven' offers a moment of contemporary bliss, while Mall Grab's 'Love Reigns' adds a deeper, house-inflected groove. The closing gambit of Bloodhound Gang's 'Uhn Tiss' is a meme-tastic, beer-soaked finale that we can't help but adore. The journey rockets from the soulful start of 'You', hits its peak with the euphoric rush of 'Airwave', and crash-lands with the punk-rock silliness of 'Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss'.