 |
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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| Photo by Rostislav Kuznetsov |
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