By Keith Walsh
I saw Gel Set when they were the second opener for Second Skin at The Echo on August 12. Promoting their new album “Tone Invasion,” they had the crowd excitedly dancing. Gel Set’s brand of electronica is beat-centric, with a sound akin at times to Kraftwerk, The Human League, Orchestral Manoeuvres and EBM in general. Like the other bands that night, they were really loud — so loud that the bass soundwaves shook my clothing.

Gel Set plays electronic pop songs, for sure, with vocal narratives and melodies, but they love to complicate things by throwing in deep sub frequencies, glitch elements and obscure resonant oscillations. There’s even hints of trance music lurking amongst the beats at time. Members Laura Callier and Margot Rhodes rock hard despite having only an array of samplers and modular synths (Callier) and a Korg MS-2000 (Rhodes). (Callier’s Roland SP404 was not cooperating but that didn’t noticeably detract from the sound. Everyone in the crowd had a good time.)

This is sweet electro pop at its most fun. I’m waiting for commercial radio to evolve to the point that this stuff is on KIIS FM. I’d love to hear Gel Set on the airwaves. I suspect if they met popular radio halfway — just an extra hook or two here, a more commercial melody there – the evolution wouldn’t take so long. They clearly have the pop music skills to pull it off, if they wanted to. And the lyrical content is already in line, with stories about weird love and complicated relationships.  In the meantime, there’s a wicked back catalogue to delve into, going back to 2012 if their offerings on Bandcamp are any indication.

Gel Set On Bandcamp
Gel Set On Spotify

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