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Gate

Biography

Gate is one of several aliases that experimental musician Michael Morley has used for his own mostly solo recordings. Starting with 1989’s ‘Fear of Music’ the majority of Gate’s earlier releases were cassette’s on Morley’s own Precious Metal label. Morley had first appeared in brilliant weirdo pop-group Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos, he was in The Weeds alongside Bob Scott and Shayne Carter, before forming The Dead C with Bruce Russell and Robbie Yeats in 1987. As Gate, Morley has played alongside such esteemed noise legends as Lee Ranaldo and Keiji Haino.

Gate’s music is experimental in nature, though it can take many forms. Much like The Dead C’s progression, Gate’s early material took on a song-like nature (though usually with a great deal of noise or unexpected elements), whilst later releases are distinctly free-form, often long utilising long drones. Morley is also not afraid to throw some humour into the mix – 2016’s ‘PRN’ EP is pretty clearly a tribute to the then recently deceased Prince using glacier-speed samples of ‘I Would Die 4 U‘ and ‘Purple Rain’, whilst ‘Saturday Night Fever’ (also from 2016) was described by The Chicago Reader as ‘a hostile takeover of disco‘.

Morley is also an artist who has had his paintings and video installations exhibited around New Zealand, Australia the USA and Europe, and teaches painting at the Dunedin School of Art. This connection to the art world, and art galleries tendencies to indulge more experimental artists than typical venues like bars have meant that Morley primary performs in gallery spaces, such as this show at the Christchurch Art Gallery from 2017:

After a particularly dormant period during the 2000’s, Gate returned with the left-release ‘A republic of Sadness’, surprising with electronic beats and modern dancey production.

Since 2016 Morley has released more and more material directly to BandCamp, without record label intervention or a physical release – as such he’s been super-prolific, putting out at least a couple albums every year.

Members

Discography

  • Fear Of Music (1989, Precious Metal)
  • Hate (1990, Precious Metal)
  • Trig / Tonken Lathe Cut 7″ single (1991, Precious Metal)
  • Metric (1991, Precious Metal)
  • Cropped Silver Hi-Lo Cassette Mini-Album (1991, Precious Metal)
  • Cachian Cassette Mini-Album (1991, Precious Metal)
  • Sunshine / Ives 7″ (1992, Twisted Village)
  • Prophet / Rebel 7″ single” (1992, Siltbreeze)
  • I.O.M. (1967–1992) Lathe Cut 7″ (1992, Precious Metal)
  • Lounge (1993, Twisted Village)
  • Julian Dashper Gate Experience 2× Lathe Cut 7″ (1993, Precious Metal)
  • Amerika (1993, Majora)
  • 577 Crash Lathe Cut 7″ (1993, Precious Metal)
  • The Dew Line / Table Of The Elements (1994, Precious Metal)
  • Live In Boston / NYC 1994 (1994, Poon Village)
  • USA 1994 Vol. 1 Lathe Cut LP (1995, Precious Metal)
  • The Monolake’ / ‘Table Of The Elements’ (1996, Table Of The Elements)
  • Golden (1996, IMD)
  • The Lavender Head 1.1.1.2-2.1.2.2 (1997, Precious Metal)
  • My Dear Sweet Reluctant Sweetheart (2000, Hell’s Half Halo)
  • The Wisher Table (2001, Precious Metal)
  • The Lavender Head v3 (2001, Precious Metal)
  • 3M 7” (2001, Tonschacht)
  • Upside Down/Bang Bang Lathe Cut 8″ (2009, Drop Of Blood Records)
  • A Republic Of Sadness (2010, Ba Da Bing!)
  • Damned Revolutions (2012, Ultramarine)
  • Moths (2013, Dilettante Courtoisie)
  • Gate (3) / Tom Carter – Split 7″ (2013, Carbon Records)
  • Saturday Night Fever (2016, MIE Music)
  • PRN EP (2016, Self-Released)
  • Known Ghosts (2016, Self-Released)
  • Gate & Control Unit (2016, 8mm Records)
  • Highway Ghosts (2017, Precious Metal)
  • Freedom Ghosts (2017, Self-Released)
  • BTYLCS (2017, Self-Released)
  • Animals/Ascend Lathe Cut 7” (2017, Fissile)
  • Winter Songs (2018, 8mm Records)
  • Howl / Zone 7″ single (2018, anarchofreaksproduction)
  • Falling Ghosts (2020, Self-Released)
  • Foreign Lawns (2021, Self-Released)
  • The Numbers (2022, Birdman Records)
  • Beach Ghosts (2022, Self-Released)

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