Regis is 1 of the 5 artists playing for our 20 Years of Blueprint Records on April 16th. Here’s a spotlight on him, looking at the music typifying his career so far & the mixes we can’t do without.

Hailing from the Midlands, he’s the Co-Founder of Downwards – a label which provided a platform for himself, Surgeon, and Female, and was instrumental in shaping the industrial, abrasive ‘Birmingham Sound’ in the 90’s. He was also half of the British Murder Boys – the infamous duo with Surgeon, and a key figure in Sandwell District – a collective formed with, amongst others, Silent Servant and Function.

You may know Karl O’Connor by other pseudonyms – CUB, UST / Ugandan Speed Trials (with Mick Harris), Ugandan Methods (Regis and Ancient Methods), Kalon, and Sandra Electronics (with Juan Mendez). He’s also due to go b2b with Veronica Vasicka at Dekmantel this year. 

Delivered into the Hands of Indifference

Regis’ second album, released in 1998, one ‘rooted even more in harder aspects of techno, with barely any ornaments or excessive elements.’ Listen to it here. Concentrate is one such track with swirling percussion and a heavy low-end. Try this and Disease Through Affection to get a feel for the variety on this album.

Fabric 69. Sandwell District.

To get a feel for Regis, get a feel for Sandwell District – the nebulous collective of techno producers he was part of.

“Death (and, tangentially, violence as a reminder thereof) have always lingered around the District and this installment in the London club’s purist line of mixes is no different. Its 30-strong tracklist and mixing is a suffocating vice grip of perfection. Regis explains this was mostly Function’s doing: “The final mixdown was done by Dave [Sumner], as he had gone over the whole mix hundreds of times fine-tuning the detail, it made sense for him to execute the mix proper.

Fabric 69 Sandwell District

Penetration

Regis’ third album, released on his label Downwards in 2001, re-pressed in 2010. It’s unrelenting and ritualistically intense – listen to it here.

Get On Your Knees is the intense opening track and gives you a good flavour of things to come on it… 

The Boys Are Here

Simply this: 

Recorded live in the music hall, October 30, 2015. Ninety minutes excerpted from the main turn. Half an hour of requests, cover versions and encores expunged for reputation’s sake. Pro-dubbed C90 cassette with printed inlay, limited edition of 100. It’s a wide ranging mix from British Murder Boys, to Regis as Regis, to Regis as Sandra Electronics. 

Finally, some closing words from Regis’ interview with the Quietus:

“People getting negative about music – fuck off. Enjoy yourself. Have a good time, all the time. You see, that’s really my quote.”

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