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Rising High Records was a leading British record label, established in 1991, specializing in rave, techno and ambient chillout music. [1] Founded by Caspar Pound, who had chart success with A Homeboy, a Hippie and a Funki Dredd, [1] the label went on to be at the forefront of dance music in the 1990s. The label was formed at F2 studios in London with studio owner Rob Mcluhan. Pound had recorded "Total Confusion" at F2 and decided to form his own label in partnership with the studio, teaming up with the in-house producer Pete Smith to form The Hypnotist. [1] The label's first release "Rainbows in the Sky" became an instant hit, [1] and was quickly followed by "The House Is Mine" and "Hardcore You Know the Score", three tracks that defined the sound of techno through the decade. Vocals and samples for all three were provided by Andy Higgins, who also ran the export and production of the label in the early years, according to Colin Larkin in The Guinness Who's Who of Rap, Dance and Techno. [2]
Rising High licensed Frankfurt's Harthouse label to the UK, pioneering German trance music, a genre then little known in the UK; [1] and licensed Underground Resistance for their debut UK release. Rising High was also among the first to champion hardcore techno and ambient chill-out music in the UK. [1] In 1995 Rising High established an American branch for their label in Santa Monica, California under the Rising High USA banner, but would fold operations in 1996.
Pound's step-brother is Labour MP Stephen Pound and his grandfather was the biographer Reginald Pound. Originally from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England, he shot to fame at age 19 with the single "Total Confusion", and then founded the Rising High and Sapho labels. As The Hypnotist he became a star in Germany, and played at the Love Parade to thousands of ravers.
Caspar Pound died from cancer on 30 April 2004, aged 33. [3] [4]
Notable artists recording for the label included :
Mixmaster Morris is an English electronica DJ and underground musician who has also recorded as The Irresistible Force. His work in the 1990s blended ambient music and chill-out influences with UK dance styles.
Breakbeat hardcore is a music genre that spawned from the UK rave scene during the early 1990s. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from hip hop. In addition to the inclusion of breakbeats, the genre also features shuffled drum machine patterns, hoover, and other noises originating from new beat and Belgian techno, sounds from acid house and bleep techno, and often upbeat house piano riffs and vocals.
Intelligent dance music (IDM) is a style of electronic music originating in the early 1990s, defined by idiosyncratic experimentation rather than specific genre constraints. It emerged from the culture and sound palette of electronic styles such as ambient techno, acid house, Detroit techno and breakbeat; it has been regarded as better suited to home listening than dancing. Prominent artists associated with it include Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Higher Intelligence Agency, Telefon Tel Aviv, μ-Ziq, The Black Dog, The Future Sound of London, Mouse on Mars, Biosphere, Orbital and Luke Vibert.
Luke Vibert is a British electronic musician and producer, also known for his work under several aliases such as Plug and Wagon Christ. Raised in Cornwall, Vibert began releasing projects in the 1990s across varied genres, including techno, drum and bass, and trip hop. He has recorded on labels such as Rephlex, Ninja Tune, Planet Mu, and Warp.
Ambient techno is a subgenre of techno that incorporates the atmospheric textures of ambient music with the rhythmic elements and production of techno. It was pioneered by 1990s electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, The Orb, The Future Sound of London, the Black Dog, Pete Namlook and Biosphere.
Altern 8 is a British electronic music act, comprising Mark Archer and Chris Peat, until Peat left the group in 1994. Best known in the early 1990s, their trademark was electronic rave music with a heavy bass line. Notable Altern 8 tracks included "Activ 8", "E-Vapor-8", "Frequency", "Brutal-8-E", "Armageddon", "Move My Body", "Hypnotic St8" and "Infiltrate 202".
Kevin Maurice Saunderson is an American electronic dance music DJ and record producer. He is famous for being a member of a trio, along with Juan Atkins and Derrick May, who came to be known as the Belleville Three, who are often credited to being among the pioneers and originators of techno: in particular this act helped define Detroit techno, the earliest style of this music genre. Born in New York, at the age of nine he moved to Belleville, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, where at Belleville High School he befriended the other members of the trio.
Stereo MC's are an English hip hop and electronic dance group that formed in Clapham, London, England, in 1985. They had an international top 20 hit with their single "Connected" and a UK top 20 hit with "Step It Up". After releasing eight albums for Island Records, K7, Graffiti Recordings, and Pias, they formed the label Connected with the band Terranova to release their own material and that of other artists within the house/techno/electronic genre.
T99 were a Belgian music group best known for their song "Anasthasia", which reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart in May 1991.
Ultraviolence is a British industrial/techno band, formed in London in 1991 and headed by 'the Quentin Tarantino of techno' Johnny Violent. To date, they have released five studio albums, including a ten-year retrospective, and six EPs/singles. The group have produced a number of club classics which include the tracks "Hardcore Motherfucker" and "Psycho Drama" and have been recognised as being at the 'forefront of the UK Industrial-Cyber scene'. The Ultraviolence sound incorporates elements from various styles including hardcore techno/gabber, breakbeat hardcore, industrial techno, power noise, metal and rap.
Dave Angel is an English techno musician. Angel was born in Chelsea, London, England. He is the son of a London-based jazz musician, and the elder brother of rapper Monie Love. He had an unorthodox musical education; his father influenced him deeply, as did his friends and his environment, including the radio. He listened not only to Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, but also to soul music and funk. Even though he was playing instruments at 14 years old, including percussion, his musical development was not easy or straightforward.
Plus 8 is a Canadian techno record label, based in Windsor, Ontario. Along with Underground Resistance and Planet E, Plus 8 was one of the early producers of Detroit Techno's 'Second Wave' music at the start of the 1990s.
James Patrick Darcy Braddell is an English musician and filmmaker who uses the stage name of Funki Porcini. "Funki Porcini" is a twist on "Funghi Porcini", the Italian name of the mushroom Boletus edulis, commonly known as "penny bun".
Colin Larkin is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book All Time Top 1000 Albums, and edited the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz, the Guinness Who's Who of Blues, and the Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock. He has over 650,000 copies in print.
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the Grove Dictionary of Music, which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms. It was described by The Times as "the standard against which all others must be judged".
Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by Aphex Twin, the pseudonym of the British electronic music producer and DJ Richard David James. It was released on 9 November 1992 through Apollo Records, a subsidiary of the Belgian label R&S Records. The album consists of ambient techno tracks recorded onto cassette reputedly dating as far back as 1985, when James was fourteen years old. On release it received widespread acclaim and entered the UK Dance Albums Chart at No. 6 on 26 December 1992.
Beyond Records was an English record label founded in Birmingham in 1992, best known for its ambient dub compilations, which were to define the genre.
The Positiva Ambient Collection is a compilation album of various artists released by British dance music label Positiva Records in 1993, documenting ambient house and ambient techno music, both of which were popular underground electronic genres in the United Kingdom at the time. The compilation, the first album released on the label, features an exclusive live recording of The Orb and is said to prove ambient house's variety and worldwide emergence. Upon its release, The Positiva Ambient Collection received critical acclaim, and has continued to receive acclaim in the ensuing years. It has also been credited for bringing Beaumont Hannant to prominence via the inclusion of his track "Awakening the Soul".
BFORD 9 is the third studio album by English house producer Baby Ford, released in 1992 by Insumision Records in the United Kingdom and by Sire Records in the United States. Ford co-produced the album with Richard Salt. Dispirited by hardcore music and the contemporary house scene, Ford decided to create an album that explored moods and emotions, while combining elements of his acid house work. The resulting album is eclectic and explores styles of techno, funk and disco, as well as featuring Ford's soft vocals.
Belgian hardcore techno is an early style of hardcore techno that emerged from new beat as EBM and techno influences became more prevalent in this genre. This particular style has been described as an "apocalyptic, almost Wagnerian, bombastic techno", due to its use of dramatic orchestral stabs and menacing synth tones that set it apart from earlier forms of electronic dance music. It flourished in Belgium and influenced the sound of early hardcore from Netherlands, Germany, Italy, UK and North America during the early-1990s, as a part of the rave movement during that period.