Rise Up is a 15 track album documenting the short but acclaimed history of Aaron Ross' Hi:Rise and Lo:Rise imprints. 100% exclusive and featuring some of the biggest names in house, its testament to Aaron's skill as both an A&R man and producer, and is a fitting tribute to one of the major success stories of 2011 so far.
We caught up with Aaron ahead of its release to discuss the progress of both labels, as well as the challenge of editing every track on the compilation to give it his own personal touch.
How would you say the labels have performed over the last 6 months or so…are you happy with the reception?
I’m really happy, some records have obviously performed better than others of course, and some have surprised me but I’m really proud of every record that’s come out on each label and really feel they stand up well in the world of house music. I can tell the labels have been received well as I’m getting a lot of people hitting me up, some quite established who’ve got tracks they want me to consider for the labels.
You got off to a good start on Lo:Rise with Maya Jane Coles’ involvement – do you have any other artists that are set to really explode over the coming months?
We just released Malicia from Joyce Muniz on Lo:Rise, she’s a talent to watch out for, her music is great as is her Djing and her energy and vibe is crazy too she has a hunger for music which is really refreshing, I can only see things getting better for Joyce..
The Hi:Rise comp is 100% exclusive…was it tricky doing your own edits on all the records? How did you approach the task?
Initially I had just figured there would be a few exclusive mixes of tracks which we’d held back from the original releases, then I thought it would be cool to do it 100% exclusive and do my own edits of all the other tracks I had on the album list. There’s also a wild card on there which is an old classic from Movin’ records catalogue by Cassio Ware – Getting Hot – I’ve given it a proper edit to make it work for 2011 and I produced a track called Good Old Days with Sterling Ensemble also as an exclusive for the album, and me and Mark De Clive Lowe did a remix together of Upz – All Out which came out really nice!
The sounds of the two labels are markedly different…was it tricky combining those two sounds in a single mix?
Actually no it was pretty easy, and I think the mix really shows how the two labels sound are so strongly linked and the flow really just works naturally – I hope anyway!
Why should we go out and buy this release?
It’s just a damn good mix of quality house music! And it’s 100% exclusive, so you can only get these versions of tracks on this album!
Can you tell us what else is coming up on Lo/Hi:Rise this year?
Yeah I’m pretty excited about the schedule, especially on Lo Rise, we’ve got an EP’s from Tony Lionni, The Soulshapes & Ian Pooley with Lo Rise. Then on hi rise baggi begovic has a single coming with Haze on vocals and I’ve just picked up something deep from Dutch producer Rancido.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about…?
Just wanna say thanks to everyone who’s supported the labels so far, the rise up compilation will be an annual release and we hope to maybe start some rise up parties soon so watch this space!
Rise Up Vol.1 is out now on Traxsource and D Store
