Defected

Slowly but surely, Defected Records has cemented its status not just as a longstanding pillar of house music, but as a label that has managed to remain relevant, adaptive, and fiercely committed to quality through the ever-shifting tides of electronic music. Where many labels have faded into legacy or diluted their identity to chase trends, Defected has refined its core ethos — championing authentic house music — while cleverly embracing the new without ever forgetting where it came from.

Founded at the turn of the millennium, the label quickly established itself with timeless anthems like Kings of Tomorrow’s Finally and the indelible I Feel for You by Bob Sinclar, placing Defected at the heart of house music’s early-2000s golden era. But unlike many of its peers, it didn’t simply live off past glories. A transitional period followed, during which the label recalibrated its direction, bringing in a new generation of artists — names like Sonny Fodera, Sam Divine, and Ferreck Dawn — who brought with them a revitalized energy and a modern interpretation of the Defected sound.

This evolution hasn’t come at the cost of artistic coherence. Instead, it reflects a label that understands the genre it represents. Defected today offers a vibrant spectrum of house music — from the deep and soulful to the groove-heavy and club-focused — often in the same compilation or event. In fact, one could argue that it’s through Defected’s carefully curated events and live streams (most notably its Croatia festival and the Virtual Festival series) that the label has reasserted itself as a global tastemaker and community-builder, not just a record label.

In recent years, sub-labels like Glitterbox and DFTD have further broadened the sonic scope and demographic reach, with Glitterbox in particular acting as a flamboyant love letter to disco and soulful house, while DFTD serves up the raw, stripped-back cuts for the heads.

While part of me still treasures the era when Defected defined clubland with their towering vocal tracks and infectious grooves, I can’t help but ire the label’s ability to innovate without compromise. As we move into a new chapter for dance music — one ever more digital, diverse, and global — Defected continues to stand tall, not just as a purveyor of high-quality releases, but as a beacon of what a record label can be when it truly understands its culture.

And so, while I may look back fondly on those early classics, I look ahead with just as much anticipation. The spirit of house is very much alive, and Defected remains one of its finest custodians.

It seems that a bunch of older tracks that were previously copyright blocked are finally available on streaming here in the US. So far, I've found Rise, Strings Of Life, the KOT Classic Mix of Young Hearts, the Warren Clarke mixes of Soul Theory's Drama, Do It To Me Again, and The Energy. I can't find any announcements on this but each release was seemingly reed to the respective artists' YouTube topic pages a month ago.

I miss the old branding from 1999 to the digital D/colorful D days. New logos are too simple. What a shame. The colorful D is the ultimate branding. I like the sound wave too and the 2005 and to before the colorful D art branding. I applaud them for having great logos and design in the past. There should be a video on the evolutions

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 release is the debut of my favorite Defected logo era that I call colorful D logo https://www.discogs.sitioby.com/release/15611528-4th-Measure-Men-4-You before they did 3d D and more neutral colors and of course the now very simplified logos that aren't great imo

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 irable. 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!