Lab 4 are a
hard dance act from
london, formed by Adam Newman and Lez Elston in 1994. Their musical style is unique. Lez and Adam were originaly involved in M.A.D, a little known
industrial metal band, and formed lab 4 upon its demise. However, although you can see the metal influences in lab 4's music if you look for it, they are clearly a dance act. Their music is variously categorized as
hard house,
hard trance,
dark techno and more broadly as hard dance.
Lab 4 are also more like a metal band, and less like dance producers, in 2 ways. Firstly, they play
live sets. The very concept of live dance music seems alien, or even ridiculous to many rock fans, as they envision pressing a few buttons on a
powermac g4, and watching it run off an entire set. This is not, however, at all realistic. Although, clearly, all of the samples are pre-recorded, and much of the structure of tracks is set out on computers, drum machines, a live set is still live. It will be varied according to the venue, audience, mood of the artists, and audience response. Unlike with traditional DJs, who can only vary what songs they play, and in what order, lab 4 can modify the songs as they play them, which is what makes them unique in dance music. See lab 4s website (lab4.com), for their retort to charges of faking their live sets.
Moreover, lab 4 have been around for a lot longer as a stable unit than most dance music
producers, and have produced an extensive
discography of tracks, and
remixes of both their own, and other artists, music. They have produced some very varied music for
adverts and media, as well as playing several live sets a week, and producing dozens of tracks; much more work than most producers or DJs seem capable of.
Lab 4 play regular sets at The Fridge in Brixton, amongst other places, and there are several mp3s of these sets around on the internet (probably bootleged by promoters). If you want some of these (they're around 100megs) or are gonna see lab 4 live, /msg me.
Some info from lab4.com