“ELECTRONIC EXPLORATIONS – 285 – 20 Years Of Downwards Records – Mixed by DBIAPB & Marcel Heese”

Released 23rd September ‘Halh‘ demonstrates the label’s intent to draw attention to some of its earliest releases as well as including some unreleased material. The briefly active Downwards sub-label Zeitgeist is represented with tracks from Antonyn and Mark Farmer, the rarely used collaboration between label founders Regis and Peter ‘Female’ Sutton – with the latter amusingly described by one Discogs user as “some scary ass voodoo shit”. Surgeon’s 1998 contribution to the Slut Smalls label run by the beloved Jockey Slut magazine also features along with a rare Substance version of “Cold Water,” the closing track on Gymnastics, the debut LP from Regis. (Source: Juno Plus)

It’s the unreleased material that will get Downwards completists excited however, with contributions from former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris under his rarely used Fret alias, label newcomers OAKE and Samuel Kerridge as well as the previously unheralded Talker. Perhaps most intriguing is the presence of a Sleeparchive remix of “The Unabridged Truth” by Concrete Fence, the recent PAN pairing of Regis and Russell Haswell. (Source: Juno Plus)

Marcel Heese: The mix:

“The initial idea of creating a Downwards mix came two years ago, however DBIAPB and I have been pretty busy, we don’t live in the same city and never found the time to meet and discuss further.

2013 being Downwards’ 20th anniversary brought the idea of piecing a mix together again. We started exchanging ideas about the tracklisting and finally recorded the mix using vinyl, Ableton Live and Traktor. We didn’t want to do a mix of all the obvious choices / ‘big hits’ from the label like ‘Speak To Me’, ‘Magneze’, ‘Death Before Surrender’ etc, we instead focused on some less known tracks which, we think, capture the real Downwards spirit.

We used mainly pre-2000 tracks but also a recent track from Kerridge. Since Downwards has much more to offer than Techno we also included quite a few of the more experimental tracks.

The untitled Karl O’Connor / Peter Sutton / Ian J. Richardson track near the end deserves a special mention. It is from the super rare mispress of LINO 27 and probably one of our all-time favourite Downwards tracks.”

Regis approved the mix, got in touch with Rob Booth a follower of Downwards since its inception, a local to the Birmingham scene, a fellow House of God regular and techno enthusiast, and here we are, published on the 08th October 2013 – EE285

Marcel Heese

When I hear a Downwards release it just sounds right to me. I love the design of Downwards EPs from the mid-90s to early 2000s – the grey sleeves and the minimalistic black centre labels. I also really like the punk attitude that surrounds the label. It simply offers so much more than a normal Techno label. And most importantly I got to know the DBIAPB guys based on the mutual love for Downwards.”

DBIAPB

“Basically the reason why DN is one of the decisive record labels for DBIAPB is its straight puristic way in constructing sounds and atmosphere that finally makes it unique and unmistakable. The feeling aroused by forced confrontation and sort of nihilism facilitates a different and avantgarde perspective on techno music. If we thought we would be save and everything seemed to be predictable, DN still understood to be ahead. It’s some frightening precision DN is working with. In fact, to get an idea of what DN is trying to say is miles away from understanding such a record.”.”