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Downwards
DNSD 150S2
14 May 24
Techno
14 May 24
Techno
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DNSD 150S1
03 Apr 24
Techno
03 Apr 24
Techno
Played by: Juno Recommends Experimental
Review: At the time of its release in 2020, Hidden... was Regis' first album release in nearly 20 years. That's not to suggest he hadn't been busy. In addition to his own Downwards label and releasing on Blackest Ever Black, he also established and ran the storied Sandwell District collective with Function and Silent Servant. Traces of all those diverse projects are audible on what was effectively his comeback solo album. It means that Hidden... features dense, lithe steppers like "Calling Down A Curse" and "I See Fire" sitting side by side with atmospheric drones like "Eros In Tangiers" and "Alone Of All Her Sex". And while the album is peppered with those distinctive styles, Regis
still leaves room for an element of surprise - most notably on the grayscale ambience of "Eros II" and "Everything is Ahead of Us", which breaks down with moody, neoclassical piano keys.
still leaves room for an element of surprise - most notably on the grayscale ambience of "Eros II" and "Everything is Ahead of Us", which breaks down with moody, neoclassical piano keys.
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DNLP 028R
05 May 23
Experimental/Electronic
05 May 23
Experimental/Electronic
Played by: Juno Recommends Experimental
Review: Eros is a new collaboration between Downwards label chief Regis, Liam Andrews of MY DISCO, and Boris Wilsdorf of Einsturzende Neubauten. Rejoined by more key collaborators; Anni Hogan and Wilsdorf's bandmate in EN Jochen Arbeit, A Southern Code was recorded during long days and nights in the studio across 2020 and 2021 at Wilsdorf's pivotal Anderesbaustelle studio. The result is five pitch black and experimental cuts that take on a wider view of industrial music. The dense rumble of "Uncommon Fears" has a resemblance to O'Connor's more techno oriented work, while the seething post-punk attitude of "The Crawling Man" is reminiscent of material on his D/N label offshoot.
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DNLP 100
09 Sep 22
Experimental/Electronic
09 Sep 22
Experimental/Electronic
Played by: Juno Recommends Experimental
Review: Let The Night Return is a unique one-off performance by Karl 'Regis' O'Connor which took place at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus in Peloponnese, Greece. A remarkable UNESCO world heritage site devoted to Asclepius (Greek god of medicine), Regis took to the stage with pianist Ann Margaret Hogan, the soundscapes of Vasileios Trigkas and Justin K Broadrick on guitar for a special one-off performance, miced up and recorded for future prosperity. With the heavyset and poetical language of Regis' music still firmly intact, beat driven numbers come through "The Blind Departing" and "Calling Down A Curse" - which will appeal to fans of his Kalon project to tracks like "Blood Witness" - with O'Connor's all time post punk sound ringing true in "Clean Air". With shadowy, industrial murk and distorted edginess to be explored in "Epidaurus (live extract 1)" & Epidaurus (live extract 2)" - it's as if Regis went as far to channel Lou Reed in "Temporary Thing". Best thing since BMB Live In Tokyo.
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LINO 89
11 Jun 21
Experimental/Electronic
11 Jun 21
Experimental/Electronic
Review: Regis follows his recent Killing European Sons release on Downwards with another master class in cutting edge techno. Representing the seminal UK producer's more club friendly side is the title track: it's a hypnotic affair, with Regis layering hypnotic tones over a throbbing, dense groove. On "The Empty Centre" the Downwards boss opts for a more abstract approach, with waves of industrial noise combined with a stepping rhythm. Remaining true to his tendency to never stay in one place for too long, Regis proceeds to deliver the grainy, murky loops of "A Hollow Moment (dub)" - which will delight fans of his work as Kalon and Reality or Nothing.
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DNHM 01
23 Apr 21
Techno
23 Apr 21
Techno
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DNCIB 01
09 Apr 21
Techno
09 Apr 21
Techno
Review: Regis aka Karl O'Connor revisits his releases on the now shuttered Blackest Ever Black label for this fine compilation. The rolling, insistent drums on "Blood Witness" from the 2011 In A Syrian Tongue EP still sound fresh, while the droning,'Blinding Horses' from the same release also features. Tongue Box also features a new take on this track, and the frosty sound scapes of the 'Stable Boy Mix' are nothing short of mesmerising. In contrast, O'Connor delivers a tighter, rhythm-heavy version of "Manbait" - the title track of his 2015 compilation on the label - as well as the robust "Masterside" stepper available in two dance floor-primed versions.
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DNRE 04
27 Nov 20
Techno
27 Nov 20
Techno
Review: Originally released between the tail end of the 90s and the start of the new millennium, the material on Necklace Of Bites shows why Regis is one of the pre-eminent forces in modern techno. Starting with the Jim Jones samples on "Solution (Voice)', with the chilling orchestral "Music" version of the same track, the compilation then veers into the streamlined, pounding "Wound Us" and the dense, tribal kinetics of "Executive Handshake". What's most remarkable about Regis' output from this period is how well it has aged: "Adolescence", with its momentous filters and breeze block kicks, makes the current wave of techno sound staid, while the shrieking samples and razor sharp rhythm of "Execution Ground" is as lethal as the day it was conceived.
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DWN 03
01 Nov 19
Techno
01 Nov 19
Techno
Played by: Juno Recommends Techno
Review: Cub is an irregular collaboration between Downwards owner Karl 'Regis' O'Connor and Simon Shreeve, who has released under his own name n the storied UK label. Seeing From Above is just the third Cub release in eight years, and the first new material in six years, but it was worth the wait. The title track is a stepping, clanging affair that is reminiscent of Regis' own In A Syrian Tongue. "Informal Beauty" is more abstract and sees the pair drop an understated, heavily textured arrangement. However that sense of menace is never too far away and "Primitive Sleep" is a moody stepper that resounds to grainy filters and grimy beats.
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LINO 79
11 Oct 18
Techno
11 Oct 18
Techno
Review: Kerridge's long association with Downwards continues on his first release of 2018. The I marks a shift in sound, with his trademark viscous white noise replaced with something starker and stripped back. On "Silent Notes", this manifests itself in the form of chilling strings, swinging, robotic drums and haunting atmospheric textures. "Fascination Sustain" also ploughs a chilling furrow, with the UK producer laying down a jittery rhythm that acts as a backdrop for tingling electronic tones and menacing bass. "Propagates of Desire" marks a return to the frazzled darkness of Kerridge's usual layered sound, albeit playing out against a high-paced grime back drop, while "Actuality Repeats" is an abstract affair, as he retreats back into the shadows.
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LINO 78
14 Sep 18
Techno
14 Sep 18
Techno
Review: A longtime collaborator with the legendary Marc Almond (Soft Cell) as well as a vocalist and keyboard player, Anni Hogan has also worked with Nick Cave, Paul Weller, Barry Adamson and Gavin Friday. She teams up with Simple Minds/Propaganda bassist Derek Forbes here in a new project named Zanti. Broken Hearted City has been engineered by Ando Wright at Parr Street studios in Liverpool and consolidates the rich musical heritage of these two veteran artists, who have honed their craft over the last 40 years. From the brooding and bluesy swagger of "Lonesome" that features powerful vocal performances by both artists, the sultry dance-pop of "Planet Sweet" or the evocative and bittersweet title track - this is a fantastic return to form from the pair.
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ZANTI 01
24 Aug 18
Techno
24 Aug 18
Techno
Review: You can always trust Downwards to release unconventional music, and Image Certifies is no exception. Ora Iso is a collaboration between Kathleen Malay and Jason Kudo, and this album reflects on the time that they both spent living in New York. Tellingly, it is also a "love letter to a society dying of its own self-induced cancers". On tracks like "Deep Fix" and "Dead Riot", with their strangled guitars and Malay's troubled tones, it's not hard to hear why they dedicated it to the collapse of every day life. On other occasions, like "No Fish" or "Digital Crutch", the pair veer into the type of abstractions that Sandra Electronics specialise in, but this is still a work suited for troubled times, as the mutant noise and shrieks of "Have I Gone to Far" so ably demonstrate.
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DNLP 12
16 Apr 18
Techno
16 Apr 18
Techno
Review: Well, we knew that this day had to come some time soon, but we didn't realise it was going to hit us this hard. Regis, real name Karl O'Connor, requires no introductions so we're not going to write one, but what we will say is that plenty of people round the Junodownload HQ have been awaiting for his debut LP from 1996 with a noticeable level of hysteria. Gymnastics, along with a few other key releases, single-handedly launched Regis onto the UK techno scene and helped him to redefine it after the days of hardcore and house. Aside from the fact that this gear sounds as fresh as it did over 20 years ago, every tune on this thing is a keeper; the likes of "Allies", "Translation", "Sand" have been imitated relentlessly by all the techno heads over the years and, if it weren't for this album or this man, the likes of Barghain would not exist in the same way. Nuff said. Essential.
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DNLP 2R
21 Jul 17
Techno
21 Jul 17
Techno
Review: This is the second release from Jan Grebenstein on Downwards and this time, he's brought a friend to keep him company. Vocalist SEEFRIED - those caps are intentional by the way - mutters her way over the rickety drums and static noise that needles away on the title track. "Strong Proud Stupid & Superior II" is less dramatic and more understated as the German producer manouvres his way through a down-tempo, scratchy sound scape that wouldn't sound out of place on a Sandra Electronics release. Closing out this release is the third "Strong, Proud" installment, which sees Grebenstein up the ante - but only very slightly - to include metal drums and tortured wails.
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LINO 74
24 Oct 16
Techno
24 Oct 16
Techno
Review: Simon Shreeve appears again this year for Karl O'Connor's esteemed imprint, following up the impressive Healing Bowl EP. It's no wonder really; the man also known as Monic pushes the kind of highly-engineered modern industrial music on his own Osiris Musik label, so easily finds a welcome home here. On side A, harsh textural abrasions are contrasted by body bashing bass frequencies on the demonic "System Living" while the seething and slow burning breaks contrasted by eerie chimes and nefarious sound design on "Silver Sun" sounds like running through a nightmare in slow motion. The paranoid and immersive sound design of the title track (on the flip) is reminiscent of some of Trent Reznor's soundtrack work, yet fantastic in its own right. Like Shifted is doing likewise of late, Shreeve deconstructs the classic aesthetic of UK techstep, deconstructing it in a modern format.
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LINO 72
15 Aug 16
Techno
15 Aug 16
Techno
Review: Downwards boss Regis surely does keep us on our toes still after all these years. After laying low for a while, he has got the label back in full swing after unleashing a monster EP by Simon Shreeve. This time he now presents new material by maverick producer and UK legend Justin Broderick under the JK Flesh moniker. The brooding grindcore dub of "Nothing Is Free" will be right up any Downwards loyalists alley, as will the snarling audio assault of "Kontorted" which slithers around walls of hiss, feedback and guttural low end brutalism. Surgeon's remix of "Nothing Is Free" blows the doors off in pretty spectacular fashion as always, exploiting the raw voltage of his famed modular setup brilliantly.
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LINO 71
10 Jun 16
Techno
10 Jun 16
Techno
Review: Taylor Burch and Joe Chocherell's DVA Damas project has always inhabited a sound space all of its own. While heavily influenced by post-punk rock, new wave and minimal wave synth-pop, quite a few of their records also draw on contemporary minimal techno and Visionquest style tech-house. It's the latter that comes to the fore on "Clear Cut", with Burch's stylized, groaning, Mascara-clad vocal riding a dubby, hypnotic tech-house groove and spiraling, EBM electronics. It stretches out for a mesmerizing 10 minutes, too, and subsequently overshadows the fine - but not quite as potent - bonus tracks.
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DNSDVA 03
10 Jun 16
Techno
10 Jun 16
Techno
Review: Simon Shreeve is mainly known for his work under the Monic guise and as part of the dubstep act Kryptic Minds, and Bowl is the first release under his own name. It sounds like Regis' label is the ideal platform for this music; "S/KA" throws up a dense rhythm and rumbling break beats and the title track explores this theme further, with what sounds like a herd of elephants shrieking over the kind of primal beats last heard on Regis' In A Syrian Tongue. Shreeve also displays a more reflective side here; "A Thousand & One" is built on eerie textures and microscopic beats, while "Sharda" goes back to broken beats but wraps them around melancholic, introspective melodies.
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LINO 70
08 Apr 16
Techno
08 Apr 16
Techno
Review: This third album from UK techno producer Samuel Kerridge is based on his performance at the Atonal Festival in Berlin. It's hard to say that anything that he does is dancefloor-based, but there is greater recognition of club strictures here than on his previous releases. "FLA 4" and "FLA 5" are typical of his sound - all tangled, dense textures and screeching noise - but elsewhere, the work follows a different direction. "FLA 1" sees dense, in your face beats combined with a paranoid vocal sample, both "FLA 2" and "FLA 3" integrate glitchy percussive threads with distorted broken beats and the insane pulses of "FLA 7" sounds like Blacknecks on steroids, but without the tough kicks.
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DNSKER 02
12 Feb 16
Techno
12 Feb 16
Techno
Review: And so, Regis' Downwards stable finally comes out of the caves and onto our turntables - or should we say into our minds? This latest release by Justin Briadrick under his Final alias is so damn sparse and wondrous that you'd probably have a hard time making people dance to it at 3AM. However, that is not the point of this release, and in fact, we love the fact that Karl O'Connor releases ambient of this calibre alongside the vicious, beat-driven works that are usually associated to Downwards. Black Dollars is a pensive LP, one made up of lamenting drones, lonesome shards of noise, and plenty of rich post processing. Dig in, there is no reason why you wouldn't like this if you're into the whole Downwards sound.
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DNFIN 01
23 Nov 15
Ambient/Drone
23 Nov 15
Ambient/Drone
Review: Originally released on Karl O'Connor's label back in 1999, this reissue shows that Female's second album has lost none of its white-knuckle ferocity. From the rolling beats and acid undercurrent of "No Sense / No Reason" to the dizzyingly complex rhythms of "My Untied Hands", and the rolling groove and hammering beats of "Day In, Day Out", this collection clearly provided inspiration for the loop techno deluge that followed. Tellingly though, dance floor prime techno bangers like the ear-drilling riffs-led "Because The Night" (nothing to do with the Patti Smith song of the same name) still sound vital when played beside modern day gloomy fare.
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DNFELP 01
05 Oct 15
Techno
05 Oct 15
Techno
Played by: Paul Mac
Review: The other founder of Downwards, Peter Sutton, makes his voice heard again on this reissue. Featuring two of the tracks from his 1997 debut album, Into the Exotic, this re-release reminds the listener of his unstoppable, forceful sound. "Cold Steel", from that album is a slice of classic Birmingham techno, its grubby, grimy beats and rhythm pounding away to an almost nauseating climax. "Contact", which also featured on the album, is somewhat cleaner sounding, but the same heads-down, loopy approach applies. Three also features a previously unheard Sutton composition, "Hung". It is unclear when it was produced, but the groove is more stepping and is shot through with acid undercurrents. Maybe it's the sound of this most brilliant techno artist in relaxation mode.
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DN LP4 T 12
13 Jul 15
Techno
13 Jul 15
Techno
Review: Following on from their excellent 2013 album Nightshade, new wave/punk act DVA Damas return to Karl O'Connor's label with Wet Vision. The title track sees the duo fuse the rockabilly guitar chimes of late 80s/early 90s The Fall with atmospheric textures as Taylor Burch's breathy meanderings makes its way up through a stepping rhythm. "Wet Vision II" is more abstract, held together only by reverberated claps, while "Silence" is like a spikier, more forthright version of Tropic of Cancer, its mysterious textures supported by broken beats. DVA Damas also make concessions to the dance floor on this release and "On Your Heels" is a brilliant, dubbed out stepping techno track.
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DNNA 12 01
09 Mar 15
Techno
09 Mar 15
Techno
Played by: Juno Recommends Experimental
Review: Brandishing a dark sound that draws from electronics and string-based instruments and adds a touch of the crepuscular to finish, the Lupine-fancying OAKE have become a most suitable act for the current iteration of Karl O'Connor's Downwards label. First emerging on DNS early last year with the Offenbarung EP, the Berlin duo have subsequently committed another EP of claustrophobic electronics to the label as well as contributing to the rather fine Halha compilation. Auferstehung is an 11-track debut album from OAKE, which offers the pair more of a canvas to work with. With a title that translates as "resurrection" and a rather opaque theme that apparently "marks an end and a beginning at the same time," there is plenty that is open to interpretation about Auferstehung, and the album is largely free of any techno aspirations. Instead OAKE elect to coax you deeper into their web of sonic paranoia, which at times is a joyously crushing experience.
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DN 64
13 Jan 15
Experimental/Electronic
13 Jan 15
Experimental/Electronic
Review: Originally released a few years ago in a limited edition cassette of just 100 copies, Marshstepper's debut release is now made available for a digital audience. For the uninitiated, the producer makes a dense, at times impenetrable sound. The first untitled cut evolves from dense, ambient textures and then prods the listener with growling, howling vocals, before proceeding into stepping beats and climaxing with swirls of jangling, psychedelic guitars. The second untitled cut is just as epic, with greyscale tones leading into violent guitar bursts and dirge-like chants. If you can stay the distance with these uncompromising tracks - which are both over 10 minutes - you are sure to be rewarded.
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DNNA LP 1
24 Nov 14
Techno
24 Nov 14
Techno
Review: The mysterious Grebenstein is the latest artist to grace Downwards. S/T boasts a similarly bleak, eerie approach to producers like Samuel Kerridge and Oake, undercut by the kind of tribal broken beats that made Regis' own In A Syrian Tongue such a landmark release. It starts with the searing drones and rumbling drums of "Acting Within Your Terms" before progressing into the utterly menacing tones of "No You Don't" and "Principles of Trust". The latter's dark soundscapes are underpinned by crashing drums and it is this element that makes the final track, "That's Where The Answer Was, In Your Body" so memorable, as bombastic kicks and percussive volleys underpin the air of gloom.
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DN 063
03 Nov 14
Techno
03 Nov 14
Techno
