London DJ and compiler Miche has built his path around a wide-ranging approach to dancefloor music, moving through soul, jazz, funk, house, and beyond as both a selector and label curator.
Photo credit: Miche – Official
Over the years, Miche has released three volumes of his ‘With Love’ compilation series through Mr Bongo Records, while running labels including Celestial Echo, PANORAMA, and DAYBREAKERS. His work as a DJ has taken him across Europe and beyond, alongside a continued focus on reissues, overlooked catalogues, and music with a strong sense of history and context.
That curatorial approach now meets the legacy of Root Down with ‘ROOT DOWN 30’, a new compilation released through DAYBREAKERS and shaped alongside Rainer Trüby. Marking three decades of the Freiburg party, the collection brings together music and remixes from artists including Jimpster, Osunlade, Da Lata, Jazzanova, Crackazat, and Felipe Gordon.
In this conversation, Miche discusses the making of ‘ROOT DOWN 30’, Root Down’s relationship with Freiburg, his collaboration with Rainer Trüby, and the direction of DAYBREAKERS.
EG: Hi Miche, welcome to Electronic Groove. It’s great to have you with us. How have you been, and how does it feel to be part of a project celebrating such an important chapter in European club culture?
Miche: I’m good, thank you! It’s a really exciting time for my label DAYBREAKERS, and this project feels like a very natural progression for the label I started just over a year ago. Root Down has always represented the kind of musical openness I’m drawn to, where house can sit next to jazz, Brazilian music, broken beat, Trip Hop, Drum and Bass, all without anybody having to overthink it.
I’ve been lucky enough to play Root Down a few times now in Freiburg, and Rainer and I have DJed together countless times over the last few years. We’ve spent an unbelievable amount of time travelling, drinking, digging and talking about music, so working together as compilers eventually felt inevitable.
What I particularly like about ‘ROOT DOWN 30’ is that it isn’t just looking backwards for nostalgia’s sake. DAYBREAKERS is releasing a lot of house music that already feels completely at home within the Root Down world, and the compilation reflects that same idea. You’ve got artists and remixers like Jimpster, Osunlade, Crackazat, Jazzanova, Da Lata and Felipe Gordon, with all these different legacies in music meeting in one place. It feels like a proper representation of what Root Down has always done, but also something that makes complete sense as a DAYBREAKERS record in 2026.
Of course, I feel very fortunate to be working on something that means so much to Rainer after thirty years, but first and foremost we wanted to make a great record. Rainer is known as one of the finest DJs around, and his selection is second to none, with the tracklist echoing that.
EG: Root Down has been part of Freiburg’s musical fabric for three decades, yet its influence has reached far beyond the city. What do you think allowed the party to develop such a strong identity and maintain it for so long?
Miche: I think firstly, Rainer is just an incredibly good DJ, and then there’s the consistency of doing it for thirty years without ever allowing it to stand still. In the early Root Down days, the parties were self-described as “from jazz to jungle, from bebop to triphop, from latin to soul.” That tells you the intention to create an identity from the start.
There’s also something about Root Down that feels very connected to where it comes from. The Black Forest has this incredible musical history that people outside Germany perhaps don’t immediately associate with the region. You had SABA and then MPS in Villingen, making some of the most incredible and adventurous jazz records in Europe throughout the 20th century.
Peter Kruder once said in an interview, “Rootdown is one of those rare clubs that has cultivated a truly unique audience over the years. The freedom with which you can present music to this audience is fantastic. All that matters is meaningful music, and genres are completely irrelevant. A perfect world… ”. After playing countless Root Downs, I can only echo his statements. Thirty years of Rainer bringing brilliant DJs and records into Freiburg has created something you simply can’t manufacture. It has grown and been cultivated naturally, and I think that’s why it still feels relevant and forward-thinking rather than like an institution surviving on nostalgia.
Rainer is also very charismatic, and I’ve never left Freiburg thirsty; that also could explain a lot…
EG: From jazz and Brazilian music to broken beat, Afro-Latin rhythms and soulful house, Root Down has always operated outside rigid genre definitions. How important was that openness to DAYBREAKERS when you began shaping ‘ROOT DOWN 30’?
Miche: The compilation itself is more focused than a stereotypical Root Down night. When I first pitched the idea to Rainer, I wanted to channel the vibe of the ‘Rootdown 99’ compilation on Nuphonic. That record feels like what Root Down sounded like in 1999, and I wanted this one to continue that spirit for 2026.
So ‘ROOT DOWN 30’ is mainly a house compilation, but there are still little clues to the wider Root Down world throughout. Flashbaxx is the slower groove of how the nights often begin. You have Da Lata as the jazzy curveball. We played ‘Jungle Kitten’ during the peak of our Root Down With Love takeover at We Out Here in 2024, with around 4,000 people getting down to it.
A lot of the rest reflects the records Rainer and I have actually been playing together over the last few years, at We Out Here, in Paris, Freiburg and elsewhere. So rather than trying to represent thirty years of Root Down in every possible direction, it’s more a snapshot of where that sound sits currently.
Rainer and I also released ‘The Catalyst Files’ earlier this year through my other label, PANORAMA Records. That was a very focused look at California’s Catalyst Records, this incredible jazz label from the 1970s. I actually really enjoy working like that. The compilations can zoom in on one particular world or feeling, and then when Rainer and I get together for those extended sessions a few times a year, we can bring all of those worlds back together.
“Rather than trying to represent thirty years of Root Down in every possible direction, it’s more a snapshot of where that sound sits currently”
EG: Rainer Trüby has been at the heart of Root Down since its beginnings, and his role as curator gives the compilation a very personal perspective on the party’s history. How did you approach translating his musical vision and the atmosphere of Root Down into a compilation?
Miche: The idea I brought to Rainer was to build this compilation largely around friends, collaborators, and artists who had actually played Root Down over the last 30 years. We agreed that it made sense and the tracklist started to come together very quickly. Most of the artists included have played at the party, so it came together naturally.
That also made the licensing side straightforward. When you’re approaching people who know Rainer and know what Root Down represents, there’s already a connection there.
We are lucky to have tracks included from labels like Compost, Sonar Kollektiv and Yoruba Records, all important institutions in their own right and all immediately agreed to be a part of the record.
From there it was really about Rainer selecting music that felt right for where Root Down is now. We were both sending things backwards and forwards, focusing on tracks that we had played together over the last few years and finding those artists that felt part of Root Down in spirit. Those friends around us are probably one of the reasons the compilation came together as naturally as it did.
EG: The history behind Root Down includes an extraordinary range of artists, from Jazzanova and Gilles Peterson to Theo Parrish, Laurent Garnier and Dixon. When you look across three decades of guests, what does that lineage tell you about the kind of musical space Root Down has created?
Miche: Root Down creates a space for DJs to be free. When you look through the guests over thirty years, there is obviously a strong lineage through jazz, disco, house and electronic music, but then somebody like DJ Die could come down from Bristol and play Drum and Bass one month, and the next MCDE could do his movement through Techno and House. Both can be just as much a part of the story.
Peter Kruder described it perfectly when he spoke about the freedom of playing to the Root Down audience in the quote above, and I also loved finding an old interview with Freiburg duo Trickski where they described Root Down as “our temple”. They were high school kids in Freiburg going to these parties amongst university students, then eventually became part of that wider musical world themselves. That says a lot about what a night can give back to a city when it exists for long enough.
Looking through thirty years of the lineup posters (something included on the insert of the vinyl), you can see Root Down catching a lot of those movements while they were actually happening with artists that were creating those scenes. Broken beat, nu jazz, the German electronic and jazz scenes, deeper house – all of that passed through Freiburg in real time rather than following. Rainer was bringing those artists to the city while the music was still developing around them. It’s why, in my mind, it’s one of the reasons the night has remained relevant. It has always had its history, but it’s never relied on it. It doesn’t feel like this nostalgic “reunion of the good old days” in 2026; Rainer has always carried the torch and moved forward with it.
EG: ‘ROOT DOWN 30’ doesn’t feel like an exercise in nostalgia so much as a continuation of a particular musical philosophy. How did you make sure the compilation looked forward while still acknowledging everything that came before it?
Miche: I don’t think it would have ever been the intention to make an anniversary compilation that sounded like 1996. Root Down has never stopped moving forward, so it wouldn’t have made much sense to suddenly look backwards for thirty years just because Rainer had reached an anniversary.
That’s why so much of the record is focused on current music. You’ve got Crackazat reworking Jazzanova, Jimpster remixing BaianaSystem, Laroye taking on Kenyatta, and then Felipe Gordon, who represents a completely different generation, but his records have been played for years at Root Down. These aren’t records chosen because they remind us of the past. They’re records being played at Root Down in 2026.
At the same time, there are connections running through everything. Jazzanova, Da Lata, Compost Records, Sonar Kollektiv, Marlow, Fred Everything – these are names that have their connections with Root Down in different ways over the years. So the history is there, which gives the record context.
For me, the best way to celebrate thirty years is to show that the night is always moving forward and evolving in the Black Forest.
EG: The selection moves between soulful house, jazz-inflected club music, Brazilian influences, broken beat, and deeper electronic territory. Was there a particular emotional quality you wanted the different tracks to share despite their stylistic differences?
Miche: Rainer has an incredible ear for chords, harmonies, and feeling, and that has always been such a big part of why his selection is held in such high regard. Even when he is playing house music, there is usually something within the record that goes beyond simply working in a club.
That was important with the compilation too. We did not want to make ten tracks that only function as DJ tools. It needed to be a record you could put on from beginning to end and enjoy as a compilation record. There are obviously a heap of tracks on there that will work brilliantly in a club, and were built for that intention, but there are also arrangements and ideas that reward you for taking the time to listen.
I think that is where the different styles meet. Whether it is Jazzanova, BaianaSystem, Da Lata or Felipe Gordon, there is a level of feeling in those records that ties everything together without us having to force them into the same box.
EG: Freiburg might not be the first city people associate with the history of underground dance music, which makes Root Down’s longevity all the more remarkable. What has the local community contributed to the party’s identity, and what has Root Down in turn given back to Freiburg?
Miche: Freiburg is a smaller city, but with lots of students, so over thirty years you end up with generations of people who have grown up with the night. Some were there in the early days, some discovered it as students, and now you have younger people coming through who know Root Down as part of the city’s musical heritage. It’s a perfect city for a night like Root Down to be given its space to breathe.
There is also a much deeper musical history around the Black Forest and Baden-Württemberg than people sometimes realise. The ‘Talking Jazz’ compilations by Rainer and Gilles Peterson dug into jazz from the Black Forest, Swabia and the surrounding region, showing that there was already this incredible culture of musicians, clubs and independent recordings there long before Root Down. It’s romantic to think that Root Down sits somewhere further along that same timeline, carrying that musical history onto the dancefloor still.
I do think Root Down gave Freiburg a genuine connection to an international scene. Artists who would play in Berlin, London or Paris were also making a stop in Freiburg to play. For a city of that size, that is quite remarkable, and after thirty years it has become part of Freiburg’s own musical identity.
EG: DAYBREAKERS is presenting this project at a moment when many of the boundaries that Root Down challenged decades ago have become almost commonplace. Do you think the current generation of club culture fully understands how radical that kind of programming once was?
Miche: It’s an interesting thought that it probably doesn’t feel particularly radical anymore, and those thoughts were built by the DJs playing through the years. A lot of what Root Down was doing in the late 90s and early 2000s has become part of the way music is presented throughout club culture now.
Rainer had Jazzanova, Peter Kruder, Gilles Peterson, Theo Parrish, Patrick Forge, and so many more coming through Freiburg, all DJs who presented eclecticism through music. It was simply a place DJs would play what they loved.
That is what I find inspiring about it. The boundaries were being pushed in this era without anyone standing there announcing that they were pushing boundaries. It came from Rainer’s taste and the records he wanted to hear in a club.
Now we are at a point where that kind of openness feels much more normal, but Root Down was doing it thirty years ago and has never really stopped. It’s also a reason why maybe we didn’t feel this compilation needed to be crammed full of eclectic tracks to prove something. Root Down has already proved itself.
“Turn up. Keep doing it. Care about the music and care about the people who come through the door”
EG: Thirty years is an extraordinary lifespan for a club institution, particularly one built around discovery rather than trends. What do you think Root Down still has to teach us about how to build a meaningful musical community?
Miche: Turn up. Keep doing it. Care about the music and care about the people who come through the door.
It sounds simple, but consistency has become underrated. We live in a culture where everything can feel like it needs to become bigger immediately. More followers, bigger guests, bigger rooms. Root Down is a reminder that you can build something meaningful with hard work and care.
Thirty years of friendships, records, guest DJs, residents, and people dancing can’t be recreated with clicks. That community exists because people have bought into it in their lives. For me, Root Down is much more interesting than having the hottest club night for six months.
EG: Looking beyond ‘ROOT DOWN 30’, what does the future look like for DAYBREAKERS, and are there other stories, artists, or musical communities you’re particularly excited to bring into focus?
Miche: DAYBREAKERS is really here to share the music I love, and I feel it is in a similar spirit to what Rainer has always done with Root Down. I want it to be a label that builds naturally over time and develops its own identity through the records.
I have already been able to go quite deep with certain artists and catalogues; the Music Station series from New Jersey has given us the chance to properly explore that part of the house world, with another two samplers coming from the archive in 2027. Then there’s Vick Lavender, who has now done three reissue samplers with me. It gives people a much clearer picture of his sound and the depth of his work rather than just picking two tracks and moving on.
‘The Lost Tapes’ was started with Rainer’s ‘Schoko Bolla’ and now has become a series in its own right. This month Fred Everything has shared two EPs of unreleased music from DATs he found from different periods of his career. I love that because there is a purpose to it. I don’t want to release music for the sake of it; I want to share another part of somebody’s story.
I do not want it to feel like just another house label. I want every release to be something I genuinely love, but also something that interests me, whether that is an artist, a forgotten archive, or a label with a story worth digging into properly. If we keep doing that, I think the identity of the label will build naturally.
EG: Thank you so much for your time. We wish you all the best with ‘ROOT DOWN 30’, DAYBREAKERS, and everything ahead. Take care!
Miche: Thank you for giving us the space to talk about it properly! This one means a lot to me and Rainer, so I’m really happy we can finally share it!
‘ROOT DOWN 30’ is out now via DAYBREAKERS Records. Stream and download here.
