British dance music label founded by Simon Dunmore.
Former Cooltempo and AM:PM A&R Dunmore incorporated parent company Defected Records Ltd. in September 1998 and launched Defected, with funding from Ministry Of Sound, on 1 January 1999, when A&M's owner PolyGram formally merged with Universal Music Group.
Janet Bell, Dunmore's promotions partner at AM:PM, with whom he launched the label, departed in December 2001 to run Big Love.
Defected has various sublabels with separate A&Rs and musical identities and owns the catalogues of a number of heritage house labels from the 1990s.
Former MD Wez Saunders acquired the label and its subsidiaries via a management buyout in July 2022 and became the company's CEO in the process.
Dunmore continues to work for the label as A&R Consultant.
Some great albums but I refuse to buy Digipacks - great pity that Defected switched to these in 2018 or so. They don't seem to be releasing any CDs at all currently.
This was one of those label that was on point during late 90's till around 2005..after that the vibe that this label has been delivering isn't what we used to love about the hype Defected label was doing back in those days! I know house heads can dig what I'm saying. Nonetheless, this remains among one of my fav house music label of the 90's!
Let's face it: Tech House and Techno are the new "cool", every major label that was once making EDM, Progressive House, Big Room House, Electro House, Techno House, Soul/Disco/Funk House, and even Deep House and Future House, is now making Tech House and Techno: Defected, Toolroom, CR2, Anjunadeep, etc. Although many will say (and I'd agree to a certain extent) that EDM is dead and gone and there is none of what there was back then today, I encourage all those who say that to try and appreciate and be grateful for what you can hear today. Although it's crappy compared to the "good old days", try giving these new artists and labels credit, find what interests/fascinates you the most, even if it isn't an entire label or even one artist, find a track, or two or many that although made in the modern day, have some way of inspiring you. And even if you don't, you can learn to tolerate the new EDM sound just like you learned to tolerate EDM at the very beginning (or at least most of you who grew up with acoustic music before electronic music), and like I learned to listen, appreciate, and tolerate almost every EDM genre out there today (although I'm still having a trouble with a few- Drum N Bass for example). Find what's out there, or don't listen to anything anymore, although I highly recommend NOT doing that because there are gems today, you just have to search out and find them, they don't just appear in front of your face in the commercialized way as they did back then. And to me- that's what a true gem is- something that is unique in its time, not just in its composition- something that one has to look out and search and find. In the "good old days" it was harder to find these gems because everything was awesome, but now it is easier to find these gems because everything is crap. Don't know if this made any sense or not, but I hope it does.
Im in to underground labels like the next man, but what Defected have done with their 12"s and comps over the years is nothing short of admirable. And still going stronger. Ignore the idiots rubbishing the label. They've moved with the times and largely turned their back on pop-house.
Used to be very good but really seem to have lost their way. The Ibiza in the house annual compilation in particular was a pretty decent round of top tunes until a couple of years ago. Now the tracks are all a snore-fest, tapping away in the background. Soulful? Eh, no.
Any label that releases work by Awa Band, Olav Basoski, Banda Sonora, K.O.T., Una Mas, Il Padrinos, Chus & Penn, DJ Gregory & Dubitribe Sound System in the UK gets my respect. The quality of their releases is exceptional from the cut to the packaging. One of the few labels to acknoledge the CDJ, they release CD singles with all the full length mixes on which means no chart inclusion. Obviously, the bills need to be paid and overheads met, hence the Cheese & the mix cd's. That's reality people!
Great label, bringing a wide range of US house styles to the UK. Defected have found thier place in the industry and they are working it - good luck to them. A great example of how well the Defected label can work can be found in the 2002 2x12" re-releases. Re-releasing classics from Eddie Amador, Soulsearcher, Masters at Work and others is an easy enough task and nothing new. But Defected went that extra mile and presented such re-releases in fabulous double vinyl packs with all the best remixes of said tracks in one place. If you're a house lover, these '02 2x12's and numerous other Defected releases are essential purchases.
Defected is simply the best label for house music around at the moment - sure they do release some commercial tunes, but these are the exception rather then the rule. The type of music it is though does need a half decent DJ, the labels 'In the House' nights are amazing, and until you've been to one of those nights I really don't think you can appreciate the defected stuff fully.
Garyinsydney
March 11, 2023