Highpoint Lowlife was founded in the summer of 2001 by Thorsten Sideb0ard and Joseph Hurt.
It was originally based in San Francisco, built upon the success of a local club night called :Node that the two had been running. Their first release was an ambitious 2 disc compilation with 27 bands, mostly based in San Francisco, ranging from shoegazer and noise-pop through avant-rock and experimental electronics. Many of those bands included have since been risen in stature and rank, such as the now defunct and infamous Boxleitner, the crazed noise of Xiu Xiu (5RC), four Tarentel (Temporary Residence, Static Caravan) members had solo electronic projects on there, Wobbly (Tigerbeat6, Plunderphonics) recorded a track under the name Brindle Spork, Broker/Dealer who are now rising on Asphodel and Traum.
Shortly after that first release the label was put on hold till March of 2003, due to both the founders moving away from San Francisco, Joey to Chicago and Thorsten Sideb0ard to London where he helped start up the tsk! tsk! record label putting out the first Erase Errata album and assisting in setting up their first European tour. Now based in London, UK, the label has 6 full length CD albums and one mini CD album to date.
One of the original intents of the :Node club was to promote and play a hybrid of indie-rock and electronica, breaking down the barriers of previous strictly genre and retro based clubs, pushing new and local acts as well as more obscure less well known releases. It featured guest DJs every week spinning their fav music, such as Joshua Kit Clayton, Jefre Cantu Ledesma, Chris Douglas/O.S.T. and many other local heroes.
This was the intent we wanted to carry into the label, we wanted to be seeking out and championing the bedroom geniuses and quiet producers, the ones who were going unnoticed because they weren't always plugged into local scenes, socializing or playing shows. Although the :Node evening is no longer functional, Highpoint Lowlife is still very involved in putting on live shows as well as releasing records, being involved in many London events, from the irregular Not Clickable evenings (artists like Jason Forest/Donna Summer, Leafcutter John, Timeblind, Rashamon, LJ Kruzer), various one-offs for Margo and The Chap, assisting in the [no.signal] events, and being one of the promoters/organizers of the London Placard Headphone festival (http://placard.slab.org). The music on the label and the live events reflects the taste of the two label heads, from soft guitars to noisy electronics or vice-versa, disparate enough to hopefully not be pigeonholed, yet forming a coherent face of quality and experimentation.
(Biography Last updated 15 June 2004)
![Check The Water by various artists [The Leaf Label]](/2005/10/26/11823/bay50cd_76.jpg)
