Ainjel Emme
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Ainjel Emme (born September 28, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer.
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[edit] Background
Born in Oakland, California, Ainjel Emme (pronounced "angel em") spent her early childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and Venice, California before settling in Austin, Texas in 1991. She has maintained residency between Austin and Venice for the past two decades. She currently lives in Santa Monica, California. Known primarily as a recording artist and songwriter, Emme is also an accomplished guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, drummer and producer.
[edit] Professional career
Ainjel is a self-taught, DIY artist. She writes her own songs and covers the majority of instrumental / production duties on her solo recordings. Her debut album, Heartache Is Boring, was independently produced and released in October 2003 and received critical acclaim ["Shimmers with art and soul" - BUST Magazine (Spring 2004), "Hits the mark right out of the chute" - The Austin Chronicle, (October 2003)]. It made Top 10 CDs of the Year in 2003 at KUT 90.5 FM in Austin, TX and received regular airplay on KUT and KOOP 91.7 FM. Only 1000 copies of the album were ever manufactured. The CD went out of print in 2006, but is still available digitally through iTunes and other online retailers. Used copies of the disc have been known to fetch up to $100 on sites like eBay and Amazon.com.
In late 2004, Ainjel relocated to Los Angeles to focus more seriously on a career in the music business, develop new material and produce her next album. She worked as a part-time waitress and guitar teacher, interned in multiple entertainment company offices, independently studied audio production and graphic design, performed as a drummer / percussionist with art-rock outfit MASS Ensemble at Lollapalooza and Coachella in 2006, contributed guitar and vocals to the debut album for Maynard James Keenan's side-project, Puscifer in 2007, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard independent charts; guest appeared as the singing voice of Hello Kitty on the first-ever music CD for the Sanrio icon (Hello World, 2007), gigged as an accompanist and session vocalist, and toured internationally with all-girl AC/DC tribute Whole Lotta Rosies on rhythm guitar.
Her sophomore record, Everyone Is Beautiful, was released on January 11, 2011.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Everyone Is Beautiful (2011)
- Heartache is Boring (2003)
[edit] EPs
- They Promised You America: Quiet Hour Demos Vol. 1 (2005) - out of print
[edit] Collaborations
- Ryantology - MC Werdplay
- "V" is for Viagra: The Remixes - Puscifer (acoustic guitar, backing vocals)
- "V" Is for Vagina - Puscifer (acoustic guitar, backing vocals)
