The Angel - No Gravity

The Angel No Gravity
2001 Supa Crucial/New Line Records

Producer: The Angel (aka 60 Channels)

Personnel:
The Angel - production, mixing, arrangements, keyboards,
programming, engineering Tre Hardson - vox
Mystic - vox
The Beet Provider - scratches/turntablizm
DJ Drez - scratches/turntablizm
Navigator - vox
Divine Styler - vox
Cokni O'Dire - vox, beatbox
Kevin Herlihy - guitar samples
Louis Russell - guitar samples
Katisse Buckingham - horns

This was a delicious surprise what I first listened to it. It has become sweeter with each helping. When I first caught sight of the album, I noticed the fairly gorgeous woman on the cover (yes, The Angel is a hottie) and the slick packaging. Then I flipped it over and noticed it had some fairly interesting guests: Tre Hardson and Divine Styler noteably. I picked it up on the spot.

The Angel has been around for a few years, but I do believe this is her first full-length solo outing, and it is a solid slab of chilled hip-bop funk that never rushes; it just carries you along at a dark, seductive stroll for 71 minutes. The hazy-lazy opener with Tre Hardson of the Pharcyde is about as mainstream as it gets, and it falls into a space between classic Pharcyde and newer Massive Attack, with dry gummy beats and faint brass punches. From there The Angel cycles through a stable of vocalists/MCs (only 4 of 12 tracks are instrumentals) creating an urban noir soundscape that has zero bling-bling bullshit and high on quality beats and grooves...this would be the answer to "What if Alfred Hitchcock and John Singleton were making a movie and needed a wicked soundtrack?"

Divine Styler (one of the most abstract rappers I have heard...not known for accessibility at all) pulls the most fluid rhymes of his career on Act As If [Act II remix], and Mystic provides the sultry vocals to No Gravity's most hypnotic tracks, Baltimore and Destiny Complete [Bittersweet version], evoking shades of Me'shell N'degeocello and Bahamadia with a touch of dub to taste. The dub influences are even more prevalent on the tracks featuring Jamaican singer Cokni O'Dire, with heaps of bubbling bass and echoed loops, and helps add some variety to the mix.

If you are looking for Miami Bass or Gangsta Rap, you are shit out of luck with this album, but if what you seek is dreamy trip-hop with some acid jazz and dub logic thrown in, this is a must have. No Gravity is heavy and the Angel takes us on an illbient course in tripped-out physics...