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By Supa Crucial Crew, on November 7th, 2010  The Angel is a record producer, film composer and recording artist hailing from Brooklyn and now based in LA via a nice long stint in London. Her sound encompasses flavors from the many places she has lived in. Taking an independent approach to recording her own albums after signing to Delicious Vinyl back in ’93, she has been committed to building her own catalogue of recordings since then and forming Supa Crucial Recordings… The Angel has worked with an eclectic group of vocalists and musicians often taking people out of their associated genres and giving them a platform to branch out into unknown territory. Many of these relationships started from her early days of remixing fellow artists like label mates, The Pharcyde and The Brand New Heavies as well as other acts like Spearhead, DJ Food, Frente, Monday Michiru and more…
Some of these early introductions led to her producing tracks for Tre Hardson, Mystic, Jacky Terrasson and Monday Michiru. Always a big advocate of the artist, she took Mystic under her wing and was instrumental in getting her signed to GoodVibe Recordings.
The Angel produces an undefinable mixture of downtempo atmospherics, with hints of hip hop, reggae, jazz, dub and soul all infused with her own vibe. Because she programs and engineers all of her recordings the ideas are coming out undiluted… though collaborating with other artists has always produced something unique as well as spiritually satisfying.
The cinematic quality of her work led her to film scoring. She’s one of a small handful of female composers… “Boiler Room” and “Gridlock’d” are among the films she has worked on and the UK feature, “Kidulthood.” This cutting edge and important British film gives us a gritty look at what life is really like for a group of 15 year olds in West London and the challenges they face growing into adulthood. “The Heart Of The Game” is an inspiring look at girls high school basketball, exploring the racism, sexism and competition that the Seattle Roughriders and their unorthodox coach have lived through over six seasons.
In 2006/07 Angel scored the prime time FOX drama,”Standoff” starring Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt. Always looking for a new challenge… and keeping the projects varied, she scored the inspirational Lifetime original movie, “Racing For Time”, for director/actor, Charles “Roc” Dutton as well as the UK’s cutting edge BBC3 / Kudos produced drama, “WEST 10 LDN” for director, Menhaj Huda.
Angel most recently scored the films “Gaia” and “Bedrooms”, followed in 2010 by the TNT medical drama, “HawthoRNe”, starring Jada Pinkett Smith.
For more info see her website at www.theangelsoundclash.com
By Supa Crucial Crew, on June 4th, 2004  60 Channels folded shot In 1998 The Angel created a second artist identity, 60 Channels, as an electronic and experimental project. This gave her room to step outside of the leftfield urban world she has recorded in since ’93 when she first arrived in LA, having signed to Delicious Vinyl.
Originally from Brooklyn then living in London, The Angel blends a host of flavors, influenced by the various places she has lived in. 60 Channels gave her the freedom to expand her sound to incorporate drum ‘n bass, dub, hip hop and alternative flavors into the production. To match the musical diversity, Angel worked with an ecletic group of vocalists, like Angie Hart (Frente), Monday Michiru, Navigator (The Freestylers, Asian Dub Foundation), DJ Collage, Rain Phoenix (Papercranes), Karen Grant, Cokni O’Dire and Tre Hardson (The Pharcyde). These vocalists all have a strong identity in their individual genres and this project gave them another platform to expand upon.
60 Channels has recorded two albums, starting with the 1998 album, “Tuned In Turned On,” along with a 1999 EP,”Give Me Your Love” followed by the 2004 album, “Covert Movements,” and numerous 12′s with remixes by E-Sassin, Vinyl Syndicate, Deep Rooted (Roots), More Rockers and a collaborative remix by Origin, Sklyer Mic and UFO! For more info check the webs site www.60channels.com
By Supa Crucial Crew, on June 7th, 2003  Jaz Klash, b&w, Bristol Jaz Klash is the collaboration between Los Angeles based producer, The Angel, and Bristol jungle duo, More Rockers (Rob Smith and Peter D.) aka Smith & Mighty. The Angel brought her downtempo NY informed hip hop sensibilities and her team of LA based musicians while Rob Smith, known for his influence on the Bristol dub sound, brought his flavour along with Peter D., who also brought in the double time drum programming and jungle sensibilities. The collaboration began in 1995 with the release of the 12″ “Intrigue (Down for Whatever)” on More Rockers Records. The team went on to finish their album “Thru The Haze”, which was released on Cup Of Tea Records (UK) in 1997. The following year it was released in Japan on Akashic Records along with World Domination Recordings (USA) and Iron Music (Canada). This album featuring performances by Brian Auger and Jacky Terrasson preceded many of the jazzy jungle explorations that were to follow. Jaz Klash did a number of dj sets together, which included shows at the 1998 Montreal Jazz Festival. www.jazklash.com
By Supa Crucial Crew, on June 6th, 2002  Mystic in car Originally from Oakland, California, Mystic both rhymes and sings on her songs, charging them with energy, beauty and consciousness in a delicate balance that is both intriguing and refreshing. She was nominated for a Grammy in 2001 on the release of her debut album “Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom.”
First making her mark as an MC in the Bay Area, Mystic’s work brought her to the attention of many influential Djs, one of whom introduced her to Los Angeles producer The Angel. This connection led to Angel bringing in Mystic to write and vocal the rhyme for her remix of Donald Byrd’s “Kofi” for the Blue Note Remix album, “The New Groove” (1996), featured to great effect in the Tupac Shakur, Tim Roth film, “Gridlock’d.” Another Tupac associate, Shock G, had featured Mystic’s vocal on the soundtrack to the film “The Funeral,” on a beautiful cover of the Billie Holliday classic, “Gloomy Sunday.” In 1998, The Angel suggested Mystic for the Bay Area hip-hop compilation, “Rules Of The Game.” Together they wrote the track “OK…Alright”, which Angel produced, the first track released by Mystic in her own right. This classic is now available on iTunes.
Mystic continued to guest on many recording projects including Souls Of Mischief and Digital Underground. She also took to the road with Digital Underground, joining the group as their only female MC.
The Angel’s introduction of Mystic to GoodVibe Recordings led to the recording of Mystic’s debut album, “Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom” in 2001. Mystic enlisted production from The Angel along with respected producers Shock G, A-Plus (Hieroglyphics), The Elements, Chops, Manifest, The Dotrix, Spontaneous, 427 (Cali Agents, Planet Asia), and Amp Live (Zion I). The album was released to great commercial success with the A-Plus produced track, “The Life,” the video of which became a VH1 and MTV staple. Mystic joined India Arie on a major US tour to promote the album. She was also a guest presenter on VH1 for a week. Mystic was later signed to Dreamworks who re-released “Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom” with some bonus tracks in markets outside the US. That year Mystic also guested on the album “No Gravity” by The Angel.
Mystic’s songs have been featured on numerous compilation albums along with the tv shows “Dark Angel” and “Six Feet Under.” Her work guesting with The Angel has also been featured in the films “Boiler Room” and on the soundtrack album to “All About The Benjamins” as well as in the TV shows “The Twilight Zone,” “24” and “Platinum.”
The Angel featured Mystic on the end title song for the Miramax documentary film, “The Heart Of The Game,” with narration by Ludacris. The resulting track, “Believe It” is available on the accompanying score album for the film, released by Supa Crucial Recordings. For more info check out www.myspace.com/thatgirlmystic
By Supa Crucial Crew, on June 4th, 2001  MC Navigator, shadows Navigator started out and trained his vocal skills on the UK Reggae Dance Hall circuit. Throughout the 1980s he hosted and performed on local N.E. London sound systems namely, Phaze One, First Choice, Fatman HiFi and ultimately Unity Hi-Power, before deciding to move into Dance Music in the 90s. Joining the now legendary pirate radio station Kool FM in 1993 led to a break in the burgeoning Jungle scene, this also enhanced the development of his live, studio and hosting performances. He then went on to become and still is one of the most forefront MCs in Jungle/Drum & Bass. The following years 94-99 saw Navi releasing several hit singles on the DnB and Breakbeat scenes with people like, D*Note (Criminal Justice and Inequity Worker), Asian Dub Foundation (Culture Move, Power to the Small Massive) and also Freestylers (Ruffneck, Warning and Get down Massive) to mention few. These timeless releases led to credible critical acclaim and success worldwide. In 2000 he jointly formed Rawhill Cru in Germany; resulting in the mega DnB dance floor smash hit Mo Fire?/I> released on Bad Company Recordings in March 2003. Remixed by renowned Drum and Bass producers Fresh (Breakbeat Kaos) and Andy C (RAM) the track reportedly sold over 40,000.
Fast forwarding to late 2003 he was invited by Roni Size to record a track called Gimme da Reason for the Return to V album. His vocal performance on that particular track along with Ronisize help, made him realize that it was now time for him to record his long overdue debut solo album. Since then he has recorded a number of other tracks with Roni, Krust, Jumpin Jack Frost, Die and Clipz. His latest release is a collaboration with Florida based MC Bass Nacho. The track called Karma Sutra is featured on Nacho album entitled In Tune Ragga Sessions, distributed by Koch it is out now on Pandisc. Navi and Nacho have also reworked Kingston 11 from the same album, produced by Lion Dub and Jacky Murda (NYC) and remixed for the dancefloor by Ray Keith (Dread Recs UK). There are plans to shoot a video and it looks set to be released as the first single from Navigator album He also has vocal features from Imperial LP and Fatman D with more vocalists to be announced as more collaborations are being recorded.
This album promises to be the most outstanding material Navigator has recorded to date, heralding as a landmark MC contribution to the Jungle/DnB scene. HipHop and Downtempo tracks demonstrate production that you wouldn’t neccesarily expect from some of the names mentioned and also shows Navigator vocal versatility. There are also a host of big name remixes in the pipeleine that will be making their presence felt on the dancefloor. For more info check out www.myspace.com/mcnavigator
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