A part of the very fabric of the UK techno scene, Dave Angel’s status as an erudite for electronic culture is anything but hyperbole or smothered in exhausting superlatives, but cemented in facts and encased in the endless memories of those who have lived, loved and danced, to the astonishing output of music he has created during his 20+ years as a producer.
Born the son of a Jazz musician and elder brother to British hip-hop artist Monie Love, Dave’s path in music came to the fore during the explosion of acid house in London, back in the late 80’s. Hosting one of the zeitgeist shows of its time, his weekly broadcast on pirate radio station Phaze One (alongside Fabio and Groverider), saw him champion a new sound that was gradually captivating the youth of the country and catapulted him into the media spotlight, with notable publications including Mixmag, DJ Magazine and The Guardian; all proclaiming Dave as a one of the major forces in the UK techno/acid house scene.
Officially launching his name into the limelight, and on a national level, Angel’s reworking of ‘Sweet Dreams’ by Eurythmics in 1991 was such a success it went on to debut at #23 in the UK Singles Chart after RCA were forced to release the track due to the incredible reaction it had received at club level. As a remixer, he has been invited by some of electronic music’s most revered artists and acts to apply his artistic trade to their music including Orbital, Sun Electric, Carl Cox, Spooky, James, Roni Size, Model 500 and Underworld. Whilst the formation of his renowned Rotation Records also gave the earliest platform to some of the biggest names in the scene today, such as Adam Beyer, Christian Smith, Deetron, Vince Watson, Laidback Luke, The Advent, Jamie Anderson, Bryan Zentz, Steve Rachmad and Misstress Barbara among many.
Throughout the last couple of years Dave Angel has continued to push the boundaries in the studio and in 2014 he was back on Bedrock Records with the highly regarded triple header ‘Voodoo EP’, which went on to score a Beatport Top 20 and strong support from a host of big hitters including Pete Tong, who spun it on his BBC Radio 1 show exclaiming “The return of Dave Angel” along with Eats Everything quoting “Dave Angel is one of my heroes and this is massive!!” and of course Bedrock head honcho John Digweed amongst many others.
Early 2015 and Dave made a debut on the globally renowned Crosstown Rebels imprint with ‘Revelation’ & ‘Guru’ proving the ability to effortlessly turn his hand to a deeper, hypnotic and more twisted sound for Damian Lazarus’ revered label. The release went on to receive three Mixmag reviews over February & March with BBC Radio 1 airplay from B.Traits, premieres on THUMP and Clash, whilst a Beatport chart placement of #21 made an all round success of this debut. The list of support went on and on. Following that in Spring, Dave’s next Bedrock outing entitled ‘Progress’ literally progressed up the Beatport chart to a Top 10 placement, garnering support right across the board that included Adam Beyer on his ‘Drumcode’ radio show all the way to a surprising Above & Beyond spin on their internationally reaching ‘Group Therapy’ radio show.
Having just returned from an intense U.S. Tour this autumn and showing no signs of slowing down, his latest studio project ‘Scorpion’ is due to land on Bedrock Records in November 2015, followed by his long awaited EP for Los Angeles based Halocyan Records in 2016 and a busy European tour schedule to watch out for!
As has long been attested by the scenes biggest names and continually backed up by his constant slew of robust dancefloor gems, Dave Angel remains one of the electronic community’s true characters, whose industrious approach to his craft gives off an aura of positivity like no other, a kind of warmth that you cannot fail to feel through his exceptionally, uplifting music.