LUVIIA COPPERTONE

It definitely feels like after unearthing this particular sound for myself a while ago - not this song in particular, but the general 1980s vibe - every new artist I find who makes music that sounds as if it is from the past is a new discovery. And that's despite having that retro sound. How can that be? Because I thought that anything that sounded even vaguely derivative of anything else wasn't new or exciting at all - oh, whoops, no, sorry I've confused myself for an ignorant person! It actually turns out that derivative sounds can still sound fresh.

This time, the sound comes from an artist from Taiwan called Luviia. After I found out about that Taiwanese rapper Li Mou (whom I wrote about yesterday) often played at the live hip-hop/beat/DJ-friendly music night MICRO'Session, I checked one of the line-up posters and had a listen to some of the other guys that play there. Luviia was one of them. And after a listen to their (gonna be ambiguous there cause I am not sure whether they're M or F) most recent song, 'Coppertone', I was happily surprised at the global spread of the retro-throwback sound at the same time as I found myself digging the vibe of the song.

And today I found a video of the song made by a guy called Quincy Lu, also from Taiwan. I'm pleased to have uncovered this seemingly unknown-outside-of-that-city/country music scene - just a few clicks can get you anywhere, if you are curious enough to bother. Here it is anywayz guyz.

The long fade-in on this song just adds to the artificial dreaminess of it, the image of an alleyway leading to the door of a nightclub - all in soft focus - with a crescent moon dipping in the sky, people queuing to get in, slow-pans of scenes inside the club, stills of people laughing and drinking cocktails bejewelled with olives and glacé cherries. It's that kinda vibe. Short but sweet, you have but a couple of minutes to appreciate the glassy synths, the stuttering guitar, the attitudinal bass and those slow, tone-bending keyboard solos. All the time it sounds as if it is going to drop into a faster groove, being - for my ears - quite similar to the start of Luther Vandross's 'Never Too Much', but with a beat-maker's hip hop-sensitive ear. Then a fade-out, and the image conjured begins to disappear like smoke. Chiiilled.

Luviia is an artist on the label Darker Than Wax, a label based in Singapore dedicated to supporting hip hop producers, beat makers and MCs. He has actually released an album on bandcamp called HypnosisJoint, filled with the same delectable stylings as he showed off in 'Coppertone' - sample-decked hip hop with one foot in the 80s: it is definitely worth a listen or two.

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