Ears To The House

2 Minutes

News

Did Defected REALLY try to find a venue in Antarctica? As label mysteriously goes silent on Instagram, Wez Saunders makes suspect claim in end of year address – so we looked at whether it could actually be done…

Ears To The House Team 5 January 2024

Since the beginning of the year, Defected has done something rather unusual – it’s gone quiet. Regular Ears To The House readers might have noticed that the label appears to have deleted everything on...

4 Minutes

News

The Defected backed Faith fanzine doesn’t confront the big issues facing dance music, nor ask any difficult questions in its puff piece interviews – so what IS the point of it?

Ears To The House Team 2 January 2024

Today is the first regular day of 2024 for most of the UK – with the exception of Scotland, who get another bank holiday to enjoy. It’s the day when many in the dance...

2 Minutes

News

You DJs realise you’d be nothing without singers, right? Defected proudly showcase Jazzy singing “Giving Me” – whilst Belters Only are reduced to background bit players…

Ears To The House Team 28 December 2023

If there’s one thing that Ears To The House believes in more than anything else, it’s a sense of fair play. We don’t really care if one person or twenty were involved in the...

1 Minute

News

Have we had too much to drink this Christmas? Defected are selling earplugs on their site – but one of our colleagues thinks there’s something they’ve missed…

Ears To The House Team 27 December 2023

One of the most crucial aspects of the modern business world is presentation. No matter what the product being supplied is, if it’s being showcased to the world in the wrong way, you’re going...

2 Minutes

News

Beatport’s majority owned IMS Ibiza announces the first topics for discussion – with “rebuilding community” and Defected’s gobbling up by Wez Saunders top of the agenda…

Ears To The House Team 8 December 2023

Is the International Music Summit in Ibiza a place where business in the dance music world gets done, or nothing more than, to use a term that the event’s British founder Pete Tong might...

2 Minutes

News

Aren’t you the ones who just get Sam Divine and Low Steppa to play all your events? Defected post a meme about going to see new artists – and their hypocrisy couldn’t be clearer to see…

Ears To The House Team 7 December 2023

One regrettable truth about the dance music world is how many within it possess almost no sense of self-awareness whatsoever. It’s not hard to explain – this is what happens to people and businesses...

1 Minute

News

Is Defected lining up their next tech-house cash-in record? Label jokes on X about people sampling “Prisencolinensinainciusol” by Adriano Celentano on their own track…

Ears To The House Team 3 December 2023

When thinking about dance music, the name Adriano Celentano is probably not the first that comes to mind – well, not unless you work for Defected’s social media team, anyway. During the week, they...

2 Minutes

News

Sleigh it ain’t so! Defected are getting in the mood for Christmas by selling some special festive jumpers – but what persuaded Wez “Santa” Saunders to put them on sale?

Ears To The House Team 26 November 2023

As of this Sunday afternoon, there are just 29 days until a rather fuller-bodied bearded man wearing a red suit comes down everyone’s chimney – and they find out whether they’re on the nice...

2 Minutes

News

Is Wez Saunders a fan of recycling? Defected have been getting into the garage house scene – by getting Crackazat and Sean McCabe remix stuff from the old Sub-Urban catalogue they own…

Ears To The House Team 22 November 2023

There are a truly endless number of dance music sub-genres in existence. So many, in fact, that Ears To The House can’t help but wonder if some of them are just made up –...

2 Minutes

News

One of Louie Vega’s many hats, a painting by David Morales and Sam Divine’s trainers – the weird and wonderful items up for auction now ahead of a Defected fundraiser for homeless charity Shelter…

Ears To The House Team 13 November 2023

As another Monday inevitably continues its endless trudge into another Tuesday, Defected’s Wez Saunders finds himself with yet another busy week. Saunders, of course, wouldn’t have it any other way – many sources within...

2 Minutes

News

So is this why Sondela was shown the door? Defected launches a new afro-house label called Mahaba, just months after waving goodbye to its last one…

Ears To The House Team 6 November 2023

Defected is a company that devotes its existence to becoming larger, not smaller. This was one thing that stayed constant throughout the Simon Dunmore years, and Wez Saunders shows no sign of changing that...

3 Minutes

News

It’s like the McDonald’s budget menu! Defected unveil their offering for shorter four dates in Croatia in 2024 – and the names are as stale as a three-day old Big Mac…

Ears To The House Team 3 November 2023

When Wez Saunders made the decision to raise the capital to buy the Defected empire of companies in 2022, questions inevitably arose as to what he wanted to do with it. No one spends...

2 Minutes

News

That’s a bit more like it! After Defected get panned for measly $600 donation to Kathy Brown fundraiser, boss Wez Saunders stumps up $2000 of his own money- $500 more than his predecessor…

Ears To The House Team 30 October 2023

Yesterday, Ears To The House pressed the publish button on an article about a fundraiser aiming to raise $50,000 for house music’s very own Kathy Brown – currently recovering from major surgery and fighting...

2 Minutes

News

Couldn’t you have donated more than that, Wez? Amidst Kathy Brown Stage 4 cancer battle, Defected’s old boss contributes $1500 to fundraiser – but the label only gave a measly $600…

Ears To The House Team 29 October 2023

Around two weeks, Kathy Brown was doing what she did best – namely being Kathy Brown. The American singer, known in the house music world for countless records including “Joy”, “Turn Me Out” and...

2 Minutes

News

Whatever ARE they trying to tell us?! Duck Sauce – the collab between A-Trak and Armand Van Helden – describe their relationship with Defected as “tantric”…

Ears To The House Team 26 October 2023

During our two and a little years in existence, Ears To The House has come across a lot of different statements on a lot of different subjects. The language in such statements varies from...

3 Minutes

Business

Why ARE they teaming up with a three week old startup? Now Wez Saunders signs Defected up for a partnership with The Circuit Group – and it’s all about the mutual scratching of backs…

Ears To The House Team 25 October 2023

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again – nobody spends tens of millions of pounds on acquiring a company, and then proceeds to do things in the same way they’ve always been....

Defected Records