JOHN DIMAS – LIVING LIES

Although only 6 releases young, the La Vie En Rose imprint have signaled their intent and highlighted themselves as purveyors of the finest underground house music. Lead by label-head Terence:Terry:, the longstanding “DJ’s DJ” hailing from Paris, an up-and- coming generation is pushing through with a new avant-garde sound.

After a string of well received releases on labels such as Dame Music and One Records, Greek native John Dimas has garnered a strong reputation and is most definitely regarded as one-to-watch for 2013. With 6 cuts of up front house music, Living Lies is the hotly anticipated debut LP for both label and artist… Up first we have an edit of Pain by Lee Marrow to kick the release off in style. This is a slice of real driving house which grows and grows until the original vocal paves the way for a monster bass line (an element that becomes somewhat of a reoccurring theme in this release) which is guaranteed to have people going wild on the floor.

Dimas then takes things deeper on Smoking Drums with synth chords working nicely alongside a big low end and intricate shuffly drum work. Thick 808 kick drums and off kilter percussion on Mind Games give the track real direction and purpose. A funk fuelled bass line gets the juices flowing before a heavily fx´d organ line takes centre stage. For the final vinyl cut things get tribal on Inside Your Soul with congas and shakers leading the way, alongside vocal stabs and snapping snares. The percussion section grows with shimmering glissandos and synth stabs, driving this one to an epic culmination.

On a digital tip we have Double You which gets the party started with a slice of old school, Chicago inspired house, characterised by sharp, shifting high hats and double kicks. Then on Hide and Seek a grumbly bass line sets the tone early on before echoed vocal stabs and eerie cosmic sounds pan throughout the mix. Synth melodies bubble along until things break down completely before returning incrementally to devastating effect.