Rising High Records was a leading British

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, established in 1991, specializing in

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

and ambient chillout music. Founded by Caspar Pound, who had chart success with A Homeboy, a Hippie and a Funki Dredd, 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. The label's first release "Rainbows in the Sky" became an instant hit, 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 Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

in ''The Guinness Who's Who of Rap, Dance and Techno''. Rising High licensed Frankfurt's

Harthouse Harthouse is a German record label specializing in techno music. The company was founded by Sven Väth in the early 1990s as a sublabel of Eye Q Records with the divisions Harthouse Frankfurt, Harthouse UK and Harthouse America. In the begin ...

label to the UK, pioneering German trance music, a genre then little known in the UK; and licensed

Underground Resistance Underground Resistance (commonly abbreviated to UR) are an American musical collective from Detroit, Michigan. Producing primarily Detroit techno since 1990 with a grungy four-track musical aesthetic, they are also renowned for their militant p ...

for their debut UK release. Rising High was also among the first to champion hardcore techno and ambient

chill-out music Chill-out (shortened as chill; also typeset as chillout or chill out) is a loosely defined form of popular music characterized by slow tempos and relaxed moods. The definition of "chill-out music" has evolved throughout the decades, and generally ...

in the UK. In 1995 Rising High established an American branch for their label in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

under the Rising High USA banner, but would fold operations in 1996.

Caspar Pound

Pound's step-brother is Labour MP

Stephen Pound Stephen Pelham Pound (born 3 July 1948) is a British former Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing North from 1997 to 2019. Background His father, Pelham Pendennis Pound (1922–1999) was a BBC sub-editor an ...

and his grandfather was the biographer Reginald Pound. Originally from

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, 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.

Artists

Notable artists recording for the label included : * Peter Smith & Caspar Pound (The Hypnotist) * A Homeboy, a Hippie and a Funki Dread *

Frank Heiss Frank Heiss (July 24, 1971 – April 15, 2018) was an American electronic record producer best known by his alias HEISS. He previously toured and/or recorded under the aliases as tube, HearNow, Bionic Harmonic, and The Hick Step Massive. Heiss ...

* Project One * Union Jack * Friends Lovers and Family * Bedouin Ascent * Interface * Audio Assault *

Mixmaster Morris Mixmaster Morris (born Morris Gould, 30 December 1965) 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 ...

Pete Namlook Pete Namlook (born 25 November 1960 as Peter Kuhlmann in Frankfurt, West Germany, died on 8 November 2012) was an ambient and electronic music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464, which he oversa ...

* Earth Leakage Trip * RHC (Rising High Collective, which was Caspar Pound, Pete Smith, Marc William and

Plavka Plavka Coleridge ( née Lonich; born March 25, 1974) is an American singer. She is best known for being the singer of the German trance act Jam & Spoon, whose classically infused trance sound dominated the international charts in the mid-1990s ...

) * Signs of Chaos * Church of Extacy *

Luke Vibert Luke Vibert (born 26 January 1973) 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 genre ...

(recording as

Wagon Christ Luke Vibert (born 26 January 1973) 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 genre ...

and Plug), * Knight Phantom * Syzygy * Pearl (aka Phil Earle)

References

External links

Rising High Records - Discogs.com
{{Authority control Record labels established in 1991 British record labels Electronic dance music record labels Trance record labels Techno record labels