Background
Brooklyn native, Los Angeles transplant by way of London, along the way The Angel has created a sound all of her own. The sound she has established through her recordings, remixing, producing and, most recently, scoring for film and television is an amalgamation of the many environments she has inhabitated. She is one of a minority of female composers in an overwhelming male dominated industry.
Her work began in London, producing demos that led to a recording deal with Los Angeles hip hop label, Delicious Vinyl. DV was blown away by the cutting edge tracks she was creating. A melange of hip hop mixed together with the emerging acid jazz and dubbier vibes coming out of her adopted English home.
Although the deal with Delicous Vinyl saw two releases; one promo (the pre trip-hop "Freedom Is A State Of Mind") and one full single, "Spirit Of Love" b/w "How Deep Is Deep (To The Source)," on their Brass Recordings imprint, it led Angel to produce other artists in Los Angeles, eager for her services as a remixer. She remixed label mates, The Pharcyde's "Otha Fish." This gem of a remix, was a ground breaking blend of the bands' rhymes, with laid back jazzy beats and dubby basslines. This led to many other remixes over the coming years; Spearhead, The Brand New Heavies, Towa Tei, Urban Knights, DJ Food and Donald Byrd among others.
After her experience with Delicous Vinyl, Angel was determined to build her own catalog of recordings. To this end Angel and her partner, Kevin Herlihy, formed the production company Devilishly Good Productions. Angel released two 12" singles on her own UK imprint, Devilishly Good Toons. 1995's "What You About" featured a version with one time Freestyle Fellowship vocalist, Cokni O'Dire. The track was licensed to the Parker Posey film "Party Girl." The second release was "Step Into The Light," featuring a version "Steppin' To Tha Lite" with vocalists CB and Blake from The Bay Area's Alphabet Soup as well as Cokni O'Dire. Included on the vinyl was a remix by Bristol Junglists More Rockers. The duo of Peter D. and Rob Smith (also of Smith & Mighty) produced a drum 'n bass mix of the track and introduced Angel to their talents as producers.
Encouraged by her manager at that time, Simon Goffe (Rebel MC, Roni Size, Freestylers), in 1996 Angel began an album collaboration with More Rockers (aka Smith & Mighty), that led to the formation of the group Jaz Klash. The album "Thru The Haze" was released on the Bristol label Cup Of Tea, in 1997, and the following year in the US (World Domination), Japan (Towa Tei's Akashic label) and Canada (Iron Music). The album's first single was the track "Intrigue (Down For Whatever)" which was accompanied by a Flynn & Flora remix. Later singles included remixes by DJ Die, SUV, Spearhead, More Rockers and The Angel.
By the close of 1996, Angel was the only female producer brought on to the Blue Note Records' ambitous remix project, "The New Groove Vol 1." The producers approached were given free run of the Blue Note catalog to choose from. Those producers included G.U.R.U., Large Professor, The Roots and Micheal Franti. Angel chose the Donald Byrd track "Kofi" from the album of the same title, which came from the recording session in 1969. Until it's release in 1997, it had languished in the Blue Note Vaults. On hearing the track, Angel immediately thought of Bay Area MC, Mystic, who's poetic lyrics and strong rhyming skills had caught Angel's attention. SF College Radio DJ, Rhyme Skeme, had turned Angel onto Mystic in the hope that Angel would one day produce records for her. This remix seemed like the perfect vehicle to start that ball rolling. The resulting track was so strong that is was chosen to open the album and was later featured in the film "Gridlock'd" when Angel brought the track to the attention of director Vondie Curtis-Hall. While working on the Jaz Klash album in Bristol, Angel received another request from Blue Note to have her produce the one new original track for the album for jazz pianist Jacky Terrason. Jacky flew to London to record the track "Mixed Feelings (The New Groove)" with Angel. Angel then reached out to Gift Of Gab, from Blackalicous, to vocal the track. The finished piece closed out the album.
In 1997 Angel co-wrote and produced the track "Anything" featuring Angie Hart (of Frente) for the David Duchovny and Angelina Jolie picture, "Playing God." This whet Angel's appetite for an entirely new discipline, film composing, and later that year she scored music for her first two films; the Tupac and Tim Roth feature "Gridlock'd" and the Sarah Jessica Parker and Dylan McDermott romantic comedy, "'Til There Was You."
1998 saw the release of The Angel's first full-length album. "Tuned In Turned On," recorded under her new electronic pseudonym, 60 Channels. This name change was to distinguish her new direction from her established downtempo and urban sound and to rid herself of any preconceived notions of how this next record should sound. Angel was therefore able to push her production and programming skills a further notch to the left, mixing jazz with d 'n b, hip hop, dub and alternative. She was finally able to realize her vision, as producer rather than front-person, for her own artist project. The release on Dave Allen's (Gang Of Four) World Domination Recordings brought Angel a new legion of fans with her unusual mix of styles. As a way to promote this work Angel began djing. Her first dj performance was at the Montreal jazz Festival that year with her partners More Rockers, billed as Jaz Klash. Most djs came to production through their work spinning in clubs, whereas Angel came from the opposite end of the creative process, writing and recording beat driven music and learning to dj through her programming work.
While promoting her 60 Channels album throughout 1999, Angel was approached by New Line Cinema to score the film "Boiler Room." The film starred Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nicky Katt, Jamie Kennedy, Nia Long and Ben Affleck in a story revolving around a renegade brokerage firm. Ben Younger, the director, wanted a composer who understood hip hop and could credibly link the featured songs of Pharoahe Monch, Slick Rick, Tribe Called Quest by creating a palette of sounds that would not only give the film emotional support, but seamlessly weave in and around these tracks. The film premiered in January 2000 at the Sundance film festival and was both a critical and commercial success. To coincide with the release of the DVD, the score album was also released in July, 2000. The original score album for "Boiler Room" included two original songs by The Angel; "Destiny Complete" featuring Mystic and "Act As If" featuring Divine Styler.
Angel had been championing the talents of Mystic since the "Kofi" remix, and in 1999 brought Mystic to the attention of Los Angeles hip hop label GoodVibe Recordings. Although very excited about Mystic, they didn't have the backing to adequately invest in her at that time. However, in 2000, Angel again brought Mystic to GoodVibe's attention and with distribution in hand, they were now in a position to sign Mystic. 2001 saw the release of Mystic's first full-length album, "Cuts For Luck and Scars For Freedom," including three track produced by The Angel.
Following the success of "Boiler Room," New Line's new record label offered a pressing and distribution deal for Angel's newly formed Supa Crucial Recordings. The resulting partnership led to the 2001 release of "No Gravity." This album was a culmination of some long running partnerships with vocalists including; Tre Hardson (The Pharcyde), Navigator (Freestylers), Cokni O'Dire, Mystic and Divine Styler. The album was the first album release under the name The Angel. A video was produced for the track "Destiny Complete."
Angel's focus turned back to her 60 Channels project, and she began writing what was to become the album, "Covert Movements." For the first time Angel wrote both the music and lyrics for her featured guest vocalists. Angie Hart, Mondy Michiru, Navigator, DJ Collage, Karen Grant and Rain Phoenix all took turns on the mic. Conceptual in nature, "Covert Movements" tracks one woman's journey through the chaos of the early twenty first century.
Adding to her list of features in 2006, The Angel scored "KiDULTHOOD", directed by Menhaj Huda, quickly followed by the US women's high school basketball documentary, "The Heart Of The Game," distributed by Miramax.
The Angel is currently scoring the new Fox TV drama, "Standoff," which is airing in the US, UK and Australia.