 |
Features
|
|
|
| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna | | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! |
|
|
|
|
|
Laboratory "Experiment 2" - The follow up.
Reported by Steve Milton
/
Submitted 07-04-04 18:26
When you’ve been around or involved in the club and dance music scene for a decent length of time there’s probably very little left that will surprise you. You have good nights and average nights and of course some you’d rather completely forget, but it’s very rare that you’ll get completely blown away by an experience that’s unlikely ever to be equalled. These are the points in time that will stay with you for the rest of your life, carefully logged, labelled and stored in that secret place in your mind where all the good memories live so they can be called upon in the future to brighten up an otherwise dull moment or sometime when you’re feeling low.
As you’re probably aware by now this is going to be no ordinary review. I could quite easily say who played what and when, how good or bad the organisation was and have a moan about something which in all essence was probably a triviality anyway, but from my personal point of view that’s not what this is really about and it wouldn’t do credit to the event that was Laboratory “Experiment 2”.
A Sunday afternoon is an odd time for an event such as this and I have to say I had my reservations as to whether it would really go “off” but these fears were soon to be dispelled. Not having been to the venue before I was interested to see what it would be like. I think it’s best described as a small Brixton Academy only much better. I could see why now LAB4 had chosen the venue. Big enough to get a decent crown in and yet small enough to create a good and intimate atmosphere. Things however were not all going according to plan. Restrictions on the use of lasers in the Shepherds Bush Empire meant that prior approval had to be gained from the local council so an inspection time was organised to make sure everything was above board. This time came and went with a complete no-show from the council official and thus the laser’s fell by the wayside. But in all honesty this mattered not a jot as the occasion itself more than made up for the lack of a few fancy lights.
The whole thing was not like a club event at all but more like a concert, or that was the way it felt to me anyhow. I suppose this was partly due to the venue and partly because everyone was there for the same reason, to help celebrate ten years of LAB4 and have a great time in the process. All the DJ’s who played were chosen because of their style and friendship with LAB4 in the past and they got it spot on. From Meri warming up to the lovely Tara Reynolds taking it up a notch, then Ed Real really kicking it off and then Sterling Moss giving us another dose of those silky techno skills, the journey was well on it’s way to becoming something a lot more. Another nice touch was the time spent by all the acts going down into the crowd, posing for photos and signing autographs rather than just packing up their record boxes and moving on. Whether this was a spontaneous thing or not really doesn’t matter, the crowds approval was plain to see.
After Sterling’s set the decks were removed from the front of the stage and you could feel the already abundant positive energy in the room rise still further. The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Adam and Lez finally took to the stage. The intro kicked in, the crowd went wild and the boys tore into a set of manic and mindbendingly euphoric hard dance. The council inspector that failed to show should really give his friends in the structural safety department a call as I suspect the foundations of the Shepherds Bush Empire may need underpinning and the roof was certainly in danger of being removed. All the favourites were there carefully pieced together into a form of aggressively happy audio art. Adam amazed the now delirious crowd still further by jumping on the drums and kicking in with some serious stick work. I knew he was nervous about this beforehand as rehearsals hadn’t exactly been top notch but needless to say when the time came he pulled it off with style and not a broken stick in sight!
By now the spectacle was something to behold, a giant robot with dazzling red eyes and obscure stage dancers all adding their own ingredients to the mix. Standing backstage I can only image what it must have felt like to be out there but seeing all those happy faces was pleasure enough. Where those ninety minutes went, I’ll never know. They say time flies when you’re having fun but in this case it went supersonic.
There’s probably only one DJ in the world at the moment that could have followed that and so when Yoji Biomehanika made his entrance (which he’ll always do) we knew some more madness and mayhem were in store and boy does that guy put on a show. Within moments the crowd were eating out of the palm of his hand. A total showman and a delight to both watch and listen.
Last up was someone I’d never seen play before and I was keenly interested to see what Finland’s finest “Proteus” had to offer. And that was something akin to a dark and menacing mix of “Phantom of the Opera” meets “Friday the 13th”. Very dramatic and very impressive. From there he went on to tearing full tilt up and down the stage and jumping around like a complete maniac and still managing some fairly slick tricks on the decks all to some seriously pounding tunes. This guy will go far.
There was time for one last emotional moment as the final track of the night “Perfect World” was let loose and everyone joined together on the stage to drink in the applause from the crowd. Quote of the night came from Adam “We lost a fair amount of money staging this event, but that wasn’t what it was all about. It really doesn’t matter because the way we all felt at the end there made it worth every penny.”
To all those who were involved you should be congratulated. You pulled it off and created something really special that I felt honoured to have taken part in and now needless to say there’s a memory stored in that secret part of my mind labelled “Laboratory - Experiment 2”.
Share this ::  :  :  : 
Follow HarderFaster :: 
Other Features By Steve Milton:
The Final Zoo
The Death of Clubland?
Trousers, Caps and Trance Anthems - It's Dave Pearce!
Boom Box, Bulldog Breaks and V1 - It's Time to Reload with DJ-X(lab4)
Clubbers Guide to Photography: Part Two
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
|
|
|
|
|
![[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!](/images/mainbanner_top1.gif)
