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I have always been familiar
with Coppe’s music, but I only started really following her music
career last year, in 2017, after her breathtaking performance at rpm : An All-Day Electronic Music Festival, which she is a co-founder of.
And here we are now, exactly
a year after both of us found ourselves in New York City. Me, seeking
residence, and her, because the same rpm was organizing a 3-day long tour. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to personally witness the first two
of them, but I have managed to be present at the final event.
But let us not get ahead of
the story. A few hours prior to the event, Coppe’ and I had an interview
planned, in the course of which I was hoping to get to know more about her
plans and her as a person.
I arrived at the Ideal Glass Studio (the place of the final gig) a few hours before the start, right in the
middle of the sound-testing routine. Upon meeting, Сoppe’ and I exchanged greetings and literally a minute later
we were joined by her American agent Daniel Grunebaum and the British double
bass player Christopher Nattrass.We decided to leave the
Ideal Glass Studio for the time being and headed for a cozy Japanese
restaurant in order to finally be able to chat. Сoppe’ was the one to joyfully start the dialogue:
— You know, one could say I
am a global artist. I barely have any fans back in my homeland. The vast
majority of them are actually outside Japan.
Also, making use of the
opportune moment, Coppe’ spoke of the creation of rpm, and how it was done in
collaboration with the promoter Leigh Bit-Phalanx:
— Well, first thing I would
like to clarify is that I don’t have any brains. I don’t plan anything at all.
But all that came up because of the 20th birthday of my label Mango + Sweetrice. And as most of my musician friends reside in London, it was
decided to organize the festival there.
She also revealed a secret
about the current year festival line-up:
— I don’t know if I am
supposed to say that, but my background is going to be my big brothers Plaid!
(laughs)
Overall, Сoppe turned out to be exactly the way I imagined her,
insanely energetic and outgoing, two qualities that have become known quirks of
her public image.
In between talking to Сoppe, we also had time to speak to the singer’s agent Daniel
Granebaum and inquire about his PR organization AvanTokyo aimed at
organizing concerts for Japanese artists in the US, and at American electronic
music scene development in general.
Time to return to the Ideal
Glass Studio. Minutes before the start, the venue began filling up more and
more and in the end there were about 35-40 people, a pretty good amount for an
underground-ish type of event, even thought it’s in a giant city.
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| Photo by Rostislav Kuznetsov |
The gig began with a spoken
word performance by Ideal Orkestra, founded by Willard Morgan. Their set was
filled with mysteriousness, theatricality and supplemented with original
backing vocals. It seemed that the said
performance was more of a warm-up, as it ended way too soon in my opinion.
After the first set was
over, there was a 10-minute break, in the course of which some dance music was
played, and as soon as the 10 minutes elapsed, it was Сoppe’s turn. She was accompanied by the already mentioned
double bass player Chris Nattrass and the famous Marc Urselli, 5-time nominated
and 3-time Grammy award winning sound designer and engineer.
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| Photo by Rostislav Kuznetsov |
From the very first seconds
of the performance, the team enchanted the audience, and after the first two
tracks even found a way to conquer their hearts, which was of course
facilitated by Nattrass’ double bass parts and Сoppe’s magical voice. The stylistic part of the live set was especially
astounding, as there was room for truly experimental sound and of course a good combination of live music with electronic music.
When the set was over the
audience exploded into applause, and as for the Japanese artist herself, she
stayed to socialize with her friends and acquaintances.
What happened next? you’d
ask me. Well, what happened next was the final part of the Ideal Glass party
that was in the hands of a Brooklyn-based DJ Katie Rex. Perhaps I was blind and
extremely inattentive, but I couldn’t for the life of me spot Katie for the
first seven minutes of the performance, because her DJ set wasn’t placed on the
stage itself, but instead right beside it to the left of it, which seemed like
a strange decision to me. Another sad fact was the immediate desertion of the
room. Only about 6-7 people remained, whom I was actually very happy for. Why
was I happy for them? At the very least because they witnessed quiet an amazing
tech-house/techno set; even though mainstream-sounding, possessing an
interesting submerging mood.
In conclusion, I would like
to say one simple thing: the organizers definitely picked the perfect place and
the perfect line-up for such an atmosphere-filled spot. So I would love to
congratulate them and wish them future success!
Ideal Orkestra
Coppe’
DJ Katie Rex
Ideal Glass
AvanTokyo
Author: Ilya Kudrin
Photos by Rostislav Kuznetsov
