HI-RYZE

"As the urban night moves on, a man walks alone, bathed in the yellow glare of the sodium light." HI-RYZE is the alter ego of Dave Campbell, one of the most innovative and underrated figures on the UK Techno scene. A native of Ipswich, fertile breeding ground for such other Techno luminaries as Kirk Degiorgio and The Black Dog, he moved to London in 1985, where he trained to be a sound engineer at the School of Audio Engineering and developed a taste for rare groove and the burgeoning house music scene. A trip to the legendary Schoom at the beginning of 1988 changed his life and, by the following year, he had cu short his engineering career, teamed up with a friend from home and formed a band called UBIK. Their first single, TECHNO PRISONERS, hit the charts and Dave was on his way. At the end of 1989, he released the first HI-RYZE single, CYBERIA, following it up in 1990 with the HYBRID EP/UBIK continued to produce cutting-edge TECHNO, culminating in the 1992 LP: JUST ADD PEOPLE, and a sell-out tour supporting THE SHAMEN. This, however, marked the end of UBIK and 1993 saw him signed to GPR GROUP as HI-RYZE. He also found the time to release two EPs on RISING HIGH under the name KIBU. The two GPR EPs to date, PROGRESS EP and LAST RITE OF THE PROX, were masterpieces of complexity, and now, five years and some seventy-odd trax after CYBERIA, Dave unveils the debut HI-RYZE LP. Reflecting his years of experience, it's and album that steps outside the perimeters of electronic dance music. A musical journey through a city after dark, it's as varied as the night itself. Atmospheric without being ambient and rhythmic without being robotic, there's simply no point of comparison available, wistfully evocative, disorientating, surreal, drawing influences from TECHNO, JAZZ, CLASSICAL AND TRANCE, abstract electronic, even film noir soundtracks, this is a stunning culmination of everything Dave's learnt up to now.