Looking at the discography of Gated Recordings you’d think it’d been on the go for years. Set up a little over twelve months ago by DJ Node and Jadey Smith, the fledgling label has already released two tapes, a double LP album, a Christmas compilation and seven 12”s with artists from far and wide being represented. And far and wide is the expression with the two bosses living in the UK and Japan.
Good music? An understatement. Variety, for sure, and above all quality
Looking at the discography of Gated Recordings you’d think it’d been on the go for years. Set up a little over twelve months ago by DJ Node and Jadey Smith, the fledgling label has already released two tapes, a double LP album, a Christmas compilation and seven 12”s with artists from far and wide being represented. And far and wide is the expression with the two bosses living in the UK and Japan. Not bad going eh? Even better once we get on to the subject of quality.
Gated’s doors opened with Simial and his Personal Music 0.75. Across six tracks, this vinyl debut explores a glut of styles. Centred around the edgy acid tinged borders of braindance, the 12” speeds on racing rhythms as it burns energy with the free-for-all will of a manic aerobics instructor. Past influences surge to the surface in the broken beats and raver refrains of “Unknown Territory.” Despite this, the EP is firmly set to a modern pulse with melodies and key changes fizzing with frenetic frequencies.
The label has an open policy when it comes to sourcing talent. Alongside demos, “most releases are discovered by listening to a lot of music… just spotting people who perhaps have had one release on a compilation or just some random bits” picked up tells Smith. This approach has allowed an amazingly wide variety to be released.
Electro is well represented with Sound Synthesis offering five tracks in the form of Xjenza Eletronik. Sound Synthesis will be known to some for their collaboration work with the late Microlith. Styles are divided on this 12”. The A-Side dives into the colder side of machine funk. Lancing beats and icy melodies from Keith Farrugia’s solo project. Interestingly, it is the flip that offers a deeper experience. “Traveller,” for example, is a superbly immersive pieces of electronic music. Soaring strings and lush pads introduce before 303 barbs add some bite. This introspective mood takes hold, being further investigated in the echoing swirls of “Waiting Rooms” and the sublime “How It Feels.”
Gated have not been afraid to take chances on new artists either, releasing debut 12”s from Goldefish and Dopefish. Genres vary quite wildly over the back catalogue, Goldefish’s breakneck breakbeats juxtaposed by Dopefish’s lullaby-like electronica. Joel Brittain finds a middle ground between the two with States of Mind, a considered four tracker that leans between the more introspective borders of house and playful techno.
Even amidst the COVID-29 crisis, Gated have continued and so too has the quality. March saw The Jaffa Kid being drafted in. For those who might not know his music, this alias of Daniel Pringle is an absolute must for fans of melodic 90s infused electronics with a touch of hardware rawness. Soft Celebration opens with a perfect example of The Jaffa Kid sound. “Forestry (Acid Mix)” is intense yet mellow. Beats collapse against juddering basslines as dreamy notes float and sail atop simmering 303 currents. The EP is part jagged and frenetic, part calm and collected. This balance is simply masterful at times, the rinsing rhythms and melting bars of “Virtus Entella.” Beats are bold, at times roughed up or given an industrial galvanizing, with rich textured melodies allowed to flow and surge around them, as in the exquisite “Echelon.” A tribute closes the 12”, the cascading “Simonetti” and a homage to the soundtrack maestro of the 1970s from a modern day one.
April, often quoted to be the cruellest month, was made that bit better by a belter split 12” by Krokakai and Liðvarð. Glasgow’s Krokakai debuts with two diverse and deep 303 romps in the form of “Doubleplus Acid” and “Lost Acid.” Liðvarð is taking no prisoners with Quadcore Hardcore, a rainbow kaleidoscope rave-up of heart bursting proportions. In need of something to bring the pulse down, “Rave Research” is not going to be the tonic your after. The bpms may drop, but they are set to rise as a fragile balance between lounge listening and foaming at the mouth all-nighter is found. Respite comes with the ambient rest of “Kosmosis.”
Although the imprint follows “no central style”, it is recognised that “broadly most” of the releases are electronic. That was the case until the latest double LP from Sol Seppy, described by the bosses as “in some ways is its own genre.” I.A.A.Y.A. Part One certainly does not follow the electronic line of. Self released by the artist two years back, the full nine tracks have been given their vinyl debut. Sol Seppy, aka Sophie Michalitsianos, is blessed with a beautiful voice and a song-writing style that is knowingly intimate. Pianos and strings are the instrumentals chosen to accompany this voice, electronic dashes supporting. At times the works on the album border between song and spoken word, the latter coming to the fore in “Said Cat to a Phoenix.” The compositions across the album are incredibly fragile, gentle movements that draw strength from their clarity and selective ingredients, such as in “Meeting IS” and “Mercy.”
This is Gated’s first double album, and it has been a labour of love and time. Speaking about how the release came about, Smith believes Sol Seppy’s debut album to be one of the “most under-rated albums of the 00s.” I.A.A.Y.A. was released “before Gated was even started”, in 2018. “It’s taken a lot of work to get to the final product,” but no doubt it has been worth it with the quality of the album now reaching an even wider audience.
Trying to sum up Gated is a near impossible feat. What DJ Node and Jadey Smith have established is a diverse platform, one where a spread of sounds co-exist and genres are merely boundaries to audio enjoyment. Smith quips on this point. “Tom wrote the tagline“—Gated Record Label for a variety of good music” I think for a laugh, but then we just left it because, well… it’s true.” Good music? An understatement. Variety, for sure, and above all quality.
Visit Gated on Bandcamp or Soundcloud.
