Luxury Elite, also simply known as Lux (born August 17, 1988), is an anonymous American musician known for her significant influence in the
vaporwave
Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...
genre. During the 2010s, her
lo-fi
Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...
sound and visual style, along with her relaxed melodies, made her an impactful figure in the "late night lo-fi" subgenre. She also produced music under the aliases 1-800-TONIGHT, night video, and television archives.
Lux released her debut album in 2012, and made her first collaboration with a vaporwave artist the same year. She became an established figure following the release of ''Late Night Delight'', her 2013
split album
A split album (or split) is a music album that includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There are also singles and EPs of the same variety, which are often called "split singles" and "split EPs" respectively. Split albums differ from "v ...
with vaporwave artist
Ryan DeRobertis
Ryan DeRobertis (known by his stage names Skylar Spence and SAINT PEPSI) is an American electronic musician and singer who grew up in Farmingville, New York and attended Boston College for two years studying music. His electronic music project SA ...
under the alias
Saint Pepsi
Ryan DeRobertis (known by his stage names Skylar Spence and SAINT PEPSI) is an American electronic musician and singer who grew up in Farmingville, New York and attended Boston College for two years studying music. His electronic music
Ele ...
. She also worked on a
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
with
future funk
Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...
musician
Macross 82-99, and participated on many collaborative projects by small
record label
"Big Three" music labels
A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...
s. Her music, including tracks such as "S.W.A.K." and "Upscale" from her 2015 album ''World Class'', has been recognized as a tribute to the
United States in the 1980s, emphasizing the
elite
In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...
visual and sound presentation. She participated on
plunderphonics
Plunderphonics is a music genre in which tracks are constructed by sampling (music), sampling recognizable musical works. The term was Neologism, coined by composer John Oswald (composer), John Oswald in 1985 in his essay "Plunderphonics, or Aud ...
trio
Death's Dynamic Shroud's
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
version of ''I'll Try Living Like This'', and continued her career with albums such as ''Noir'' (2016) and ''High Society'' (2020). ''Noir'' was named one of the greatest albums of 2016 by several publications, while ''High Society'' was chosen as one of the best releases of 2020 by ''
Bandcamp Daily
Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epi ...
''.
Life and career
Early life and debut trilogy (1988–2012)
Luxury Elite was born on August 17, 1988.
She said that during her youth she disliked 1980s
pop culture
Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...
, which was changed by her interest in Thomas Fec's
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic c ...
alias
Tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
.
She listened to
chillwave
Chillwave (originally considered synonymous with glo-fi and hypnagogic pop) is a music microgenre that emerged in the late 2000s. It is characterized by evoking the popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s while engaging with notions of ...
and
vaporwave
Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...
since 2011 on the collaborative streaming site
Turntable.fm, where she would sarcastically say the Luxury Elite project would be coming soon.
In 2012, she started producing music under the alias, releasing the albums ''I'' and ''II''. Lux said these served more as "collections" instead of albums,
as they contained the first tracks she had ever produced.
By the end of the year she released both as the
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
''I&II''.
Lux's first
split album
A split album (or split) is a music album that includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There are also singles and EPs of the same variety, which are often called "split singles" and "split EPs" respectively. Split albums differ from "v ...
was ''Atlas of Fictional Islands / Customer Service'' with Mensa Group International; her track "One Moment Please" was featured in a playlist by
Radio K
KUOM (770 AM) – branded ''Radio K - Real College Radio'' – is a daytime-only, non-commercial, college radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Owned by the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, the station is operated by studen ...
.
''III'' (2012) brought her music to a more specific sound and, to her, represented the first time a Lux release "felt more like an album".
''Late Night Delight'', Fortune 500, and collaborations (2013–2014)
Lux described her following release, ''Rose Quartz'' (2013), as an "actual album."
She said the record gave her direction, particularly its tracks "Skyscraper" and "Sparkling".
In early 2013, her second
split album
A split album (or split) is a music album that includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There are also singles and EPs of the same variety, which are often called "split singles" and "split EPs" respectively. Split albums differ from "v ...
was released: ''Late Night Delight'' with Saint Pepsi, the
future funk
Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...
pseudonym of
Ryan DeRobertis
Ryan DeRobertis (known by his stage names Skylar Spence and SAINT PEPSI) is an American electronic musician and singer who grew up in Farmingville, New York and attended Boston College for two years studying music. His electronic music project SA ...
.
It established her as a prominent vaporwave artist, and was regarded as a classic of the genre.
Adam Harper, writing for music publication
Electronic Beats Telekom Electronic Beats (TEB) is an international music marketing program of Deutsche Telekom focusing on electronic music and international club culture. The program was founded in 2000. It comprises a media portfolio and has been organizing event ...
, chose ''Late Night Delight'' as the best vaporwave release in 2013, alongside ''Computer Death'' by Infinity Frequencies.
A remaster including three bonus tracks was released in
cassette tape
The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...
.
Lux felt her side was inferior to DeRobertis', although concluding that "it worked out for the best."
Mac Tonight
Mac Tonight is a character that was used in marketing for McDonald's restaurants during the late 1980s. Known for his crescent moon head, sunglasses and piano-playing, the character played the song "Mack the Knife", which was made famous in t ...
, the
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
mascot featured in the artwork, became a vaporwave icon; the character's actor,
Doug Jones, was surprised upon discovering its impact in the genre.
Two Lux albums released in 2013, ''TV Party'' and ''With Love'', presented tracks that were later included in an official vaporwave-themed playlist by
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
.
On April 9, 2013, Lux released
music videos
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for six different tracks: "Late Night TV" and "Poolside" from ''I&II'';
"Skyscraper" from ''Rose Quartz'';
and "Mild Seven", "Schaumburg", and "Nightlife" from ''Late Night Delight''.
She promoted her album ''Blind Date'' (2013) with a video for "Private" on April 11.
For ''Fantasy'' (2013), Lux created music videos for "Celine" and "Pearl", released on May 27 and July 3 respectively.
The record later featured its own
video album
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
with an altered tracklist, ''Fantasy VHS'', which was broadcast on the Internet TV channel
Network Awesome
Network Awesome was an online TV broadcasting outlet launched by electronic musician Jason Forrest and co-founder Greg Sadetsky on January 1, 2011.
Network Awesome also includes a magazine with the goal of providing commentary and analysis of t ...
.
Also in 2013, Lux created her own
record label
"Big Three" music labels
A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...
, registering it on
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
with the name Fortune 500.
She designed the label to release only vaporwave, as she felt other labels within the scene were turning to
seapunk
Seapunk is a subculture that originated on Tumblr in 2011. It is associated with an aquatic-themed style of fashion, 3D net art, iconography, and allusions to popular culture of the 1990s. The advent of seapunk also spawned its own electronic ...
.
One of the label's releases was ''Fortune 420'', a
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
published through the venue SPF420. It featured what Ryan Simpson of ''
Tiny Mix Tapes
''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...
'' called a "suitably impressive lineup," including aliases such as DeRobertis' Saint Pepsi and
George Clanton
George Wayland Clanton Jr. (born January 12, 1988), also known by the monikers Mirror Kisses, ESPRIT 空想, and Kid's Garden, is an American electronic musician and singer-songwriter that emerged out of the vaporwave music scene in the early 2 ...
's Esprit Fantasy.
Fortune 500 was closed in early 2014, with its last release being 18 Carat Affair's ''Adventures in Schizophrenia''.
Also during early 2014, Lux participated on three collaborative
record label
"Big Three" music labels
A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...
releases: ''Living Room Visions Winter 2014'' by Sunup Recordings, ''∜♡MDISCS 2K13'' by Amdiscs, and ''Touched by an Angle'' by Crash Symbols.
She also worked with future funk musician
Macross 82-99 on the
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
"ウォーク·オン·バイ".
Lux's first EP, ''Controversial'' (2014), received praise from Japanese publication ''Mikiki'' for continuing the sample-based tradition of vaporwave, and its track "Vengeance" was included in a video by
artist collective
An artist collective or art group or artist group is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything t ...
Everything Is Terrible!.
In September, Lux collaborated with vaporwave artist Skeleton Lipstick on the album ''Stay Passionate, Be Discrete'', featuring artwork by electronic musician
Keith Rankin.
Also in September, she released ''Viewers Like You'' under the secret alias Television Archives, which she publicly revealed six years later in 2020.
''World Class'', ''Noir'', and hiatus (2015–2018)
Lux released ''Moods'' in 2015, which continued her 1980s style.
Her thirteenth studio album, ''World Class'' (2015), was released in July. It was the best-selling album of August 2019 on
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
,
and was named one of the best Bandcamp releases of the month by
music magazine
A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and culture in music cognition, music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with ...
''
DIY''.
It was also listed as one of the best albums of 2015 by Justin Shay of
WPKN
WPKN (89.5 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to Bridgeport, Connecticut. WPKN is a free-form radio station, staffed by volunteer programmers presenting a wide variety of music and pub ...
.
The physical version, released by Crash Symbols, included two bonus tracks and
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
es from other vaporwave musicians, including Golden Living Room and
Cat System Corp. The latter's work, a remix of "Strut", was included on Spotify's vaporwave playlist.
During this time, Lux worked with Cat System Corp. on a track for his album ''Class of '84'' (2015),
and participated on the collaborative release ''The Eternal Dream System'' (2015) by label Dream Catalogue.
In November, Lux collaborated with vaporwave trio
Death's Dynamic Shroud for a
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
version of a track from their album ''I'll Try Living Like This'', and produced new material for a radio show by
2814
2814 (stylized in fullwidth characters as ) is a British-American collaborative ambient music, ambient and vaporwave project of the electronic musicians Luke Laurila, also known as Telepath (musician), Telepath (stylized as ""), and David Russo ...
member Hong Kong Express.
In January 2016, Lux released her fourteenth album ''Noir''.
It was chosen as one of the best releases from the first quarter of 2016 by writer Miles Bowe of ''
Fact
A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...
'', and considered by him the best Bandcamp release of the month.
''
Bandcamp Daily
Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epi ...
''s Bryan McKay also listed it as one of the best albums from the first half of 2016.
Oliver Bothe of German magazine ''Éclat'' noted the record's
kitsch
''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste.
The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...
and
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
sound, while music publication ''
Tiny Mix Tapes
''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...
'' wrote that it "jettisons vaporwave's weighty, psuedo-academic treatment of critical narrative — chic critique — for a more familiar dialogue, one defined by finitude and linearity."
Following ''Noir'', Lux did not release any new albums for two years, citing controversies in 2016 and problems with her PC as causes.
During this period, she began listening to
new wave and
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...
music,
such as
Devo
Devo is an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs ( Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 ...
's 1981 record ''
New Traditionalists
''New Traditionalists'' is the fourth studio album by American new wave band Devo, released on September 16, 1981 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded over a period of four months between December 1980 and April 1981 at the Power Stat ...
''.
In 2017, the mobile
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
''Data Wing'' was released, which featured her music as part of its soundtrack.
''Prism'' and ''High Society'' (2018–present)
Her first album in two years, ''Prism'' (2018), was released in July and saw her return to her usual style of sound.
Its single "Salut" preceded it by a month.
In June 2020, Lux did a radio series on radio station
WRFL
WRFL, Lexington (Radio Free Lexington) is a 7900-watt college radio station that broadcasts live, 24 hours a day, from the University of Kentucky campus in Lexington, Kentucky. The station has broadcast at 88.1 MHz on the FM radio band since ...
entitled Lux Visions, which was initially promoted as a "one and done" series called "Noise From the Attic".
Those episodes have since been preserved on the Lux Visions Mixcloud page. Also in 2020, Lux was invited by Tobacco for his release party of ''Hot, Wet & Sassy''; after knowing of Fec's liking of the Luxury Elite project, she described the event as "a full-circle moment."
Lux released her fifteenth album ''High Society'' in October 2020, and its video counterpart in November.
It was named one of the best releases of October 2020 and of the entire year by Miles Bowe.
In 2021, she collaborated on the
mixtape
In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...
''Doom Mix, Vol. V'' with the track "Psychology of Desire", which ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials.
The term is also applie ...
'' described as "confident in riding out a single idea across its entire runtime."
Her second EP, ''Dance Party'' (2021), featured a visual version in 2022.
Also in 2022, Lux released a video album for ''1-800-TONIGHT'' (2022) under the alias of the same name, which initially caused confusion among some who thought it would replace the Luxury Elite project.
Impact and legacy
Lux has been referred to as a "vaporwave OG" for having pioneered the
lo-fi
Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...
vaporwave sound and innovating within the scene.
She has been regarded as one of the genre's originators and, since the release of ''Late Night Delight'', a classic vaporwave name.
2814
2814 (stylized in fullwidth characters as ) is a British-American collaborative ambient music, ambient and vaporwave project of the electronic musicians Luke Laurila, also known as Telepath (musician), Telepath (stylized as ""), and David Russo ...
member and anonymous musician Hong Kong Express described Lux as "perfect" in her late night lo-fi sound and depiction of romantic themes,
and commented: "If Vektroid is the 'Queen of Vaporwave', then perhaps ''luxury elite'' can be considered its princess."
In albums such as ''Moods'', ''World Class'', and ''Noir'', Lux's tracks "are distinct and focused," according to Miles Bowe. He emphasized the conceptual clarity of her music as the aspect that most elevated it above other vaporwave works.
Bowe also considered Lux as one of the most unique musicians within the genre,
and said her discography represented "the highest quality run of albums in all of vaporwave."
In
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, a vaporwave-styled bar features "Luxury Elite" as a drink.
Artistry
Influences
Lux's music was inspired by artists including 18 Carat Affair,
Tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
, and
Vektroid
Ramona Andra Langley is an American electronic musician from Portland, Oregon. She has released music under her primary Vektroid alias, as well as others, such as dstnt, Laserdisc Visions, New Dreams Ltd., Virtual Information Desk, and PrismCorp ...
. 18 Carat Affair's ''60/40'' (2009), specifically its cover, was a main point of inspiraction for Lux to start her own vaporwave project, with the name "18 Carat Affair" inspiring the high-class feel of "Luxury Elite".
Vektroid evoked her interest in the genre;
she later said that when first listening to ''
Floral Shoppe
is the ninth studio album by the American electronic musician Ramona Andra Langley under the alias Macintosh Plus, released on December 9, 2011, by the independent record label Beer on the Rug. It was one of the first releases of the 2010s m ...
'' (2011), her experience with the album was "wild", describing it as mind-blowing.
Her passion for the 1980s was influenced by Tobacco; Lux's use of various 1980s video tapes for the visual version of ''Fantasy'' was mainly inspired by his style of
sampling on ''
Fucked Up Friends
''Fucked Up Friends'' is the first studio album by American electronic musician Tobacco. It was released through Anticon on October 14, 2008. Aesop Rock provided vocals on "Dirt".
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted aver ...
'' (2008).
During the project's beginning, she was also heavily influenced by the 1982
K-tel
K-tel International Ltd is a Canadian company which formerly specialized in selling consumer products through infomercials and live demonstration. Its products include compilation music albums, including ''The Super Hits'' series, ''The Dynamic ...
compilation ''Neon Nights'', which later became the name of Luxury Elite's online radio show.
Lux watched
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
from at least four years old, describing herself as obsessed with it.
She also watched
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel ...
during her childhood and teenage years,
with its
Local on the 8s
''Local on the 8s'' (or the ''Local Forecast'') ( o ''Pronóstico Local'') is a program segment that airs on the American network The Weather Channel. It provides viewers with information on current and forecasted weather conditions for their re ...
segment specifically having inspired her appreciation for
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and vaporwave.
Through
Tumblr
Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...
, Lux accessed many screenshots of 1980s commercials, which she too considered an influence in her liking of the decade's aesthetic.
She has
synesthesia
Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with sy ...
, and stated that the condition influences how her tracklisting is sequenced.
The TV series ''
Twin Peaks
''Twin Peaks'' is an American Surrealist cinema, surrealist Mystery film, mystery-Horror film, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It Pilot (Twin Peaks), premiered on American Broad ...
'' is described by Lux as immersive, a feeling that has also played a role in her musical releases.
The series is also mentioned in her
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
profile and referenced in the 2023 album ''Fashion Pop''.
Both ''Fashion Pop'' and her earlier release ''Ocean Pacific'' (2022) were inspired by Lux's travels to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in 2021.
Production
Lux works exclusively with samples and continuously
loops them in many of her tracks.
She originally added synths on "Crystal" from ''World Class'', but removed them as she "didn't feel like it was good enough." When searching for samples, she targets tracks with
intros and interludes of her liking, sometimes including lyrical portions.
Describing the process, she said: "I usually find my music through hours of searching for tracks on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. Music searching puts me in a trance, but there have been many times I have gone through and have found nothing. I am extremely picky with my samples." She recalled that after finalizing a sample search, many of her songs of choice features claps, which she attributed to the
earworm
An earworm or brainworm, also described as sticky music or stuck song syndrome, is a Catchiness, catchy or memorable piece of music or saying that continuously occupies a person's mind even after it is no longer being played or spoken about. In ...
effect the sound creates. Lux sees her music as a form of
escapism
Escapism is mental diversion from unpleasant aspects of daily life, typically through activities involving imagination or entertainment. Escapism also may be used to occupy one's self away from persistent feelings of depression or general s ...
, and credited negative emotions as a catalyst for "the best Lux music."
Her anonymity is a form of emphasizing this aspect, as well as maintaining a sense of mystery.
During her teenhood, Lux used to create custom
ringtones
A ringtone is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming telephone call. Originally referring to the sound of electromechanical striking of bells or gongs, the term refers to any sound by any device alerting of an incoming call.
On p ...
for her friends, which served as a basis for her knowledge of
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced or ) is an audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on personal computers. The format was developed and published for the first time in 1991 ...
editing.
She uses a WAV file editor and
Audacity as her main means of production, and previously used
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition is a digital audio workstation developed by Adobe Inc. featuring both a multitrack, non-destructive mix/edit environment and a destructive-approach waveform editing view.
Origins
Syntrillium Software was founded in the early 1 ...
.
Lux admitted not knowing how to play physical instruments, and said she did not have any.
Of her earlier work, Lux recalled it often took more of a
trial and error
Trial and error is a fundamental method of problem-solving characterized by repeated, varied attempts which are continued until success, or until the practicer stops trying.
According to W.H. Thorpe, the term was devised by C. Lloyd Morgan ( ...
approach which improved her production abilities, and acknowledged that her first albums, particularly ''I'' and ''II'', could be improved.
With the breakthrough of ''Late Night Delight'' in the early 2010s, she felt insecure regarding her abilities as a sample manipulator.
In ''Fantasy''s 13 tracks, Lux sampled mostly from a series of songs uploaded on a found YouTube channel, which was later taken down due to copyright violations.
When asked in a 2015 interview about violation concerns, Lux said such issues terrify her, saying her releases' presence on Spotify "isn't very comforting to me."
Musical style
Categorically, Luxury Elite's music has been referred to as vaporwave,
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
,
jazz, late night lo-fi,
lounge
Lounge may refer to:
Architecture
* Lounge, the living room of a dwelling
* Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby
* Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar
* Airport lounge or train lounge (e.g., Amtrak's Acela Lounge), a premium ...
,
Muzak
Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments owned by Mood Media.
The name ''Muzak'', a blend of music and the popular camera brand name Kodak, has been in use since 1934 and has been ...
,
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Pop music, a musical genre
Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop! (British group), a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Album ...
,
R&B,
smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...
,
and
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...
,
often repurposing genres such as
city pop
is a loosely defined form of Japanese pop music that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked in popularity during the 1980s. It was originally termed as an offshoot of Japan's Western-influenced " new music", but came to include a wide range of st ...
,
electro,
Italo disco
Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...
,
new jack swing
New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Te ...
, and
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
.
Artists sampled include
Al Corley
Alford Corley is an American actor, singer, and producer. Corley is best known as the first actor to play Steven Carrington in the 1980s soap opera ''Dynasty (1981 TV series), Dynasty'' and for his 1984 hit single "Square Rooms".
Career
In the l ...
,
the Crusaders,
D Train,
Eighth Wonder,
General Caine,
Jesse Johnson,
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
,
and
Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographe ...
.
Lux's lo-fi style has been integral in her artistry, being incorporated extensively in her records and visual albums.
Her music drew comparisons to Saint Pepsi's ''Hit Vibes''.
According to Brazilian writer Ícaro Estivalet Raymundo, Lux's laid-back melodies and soft musical textures "evoke the special late night hours, intended for melancholics."
The aesthetics of literal luxury are also a defining characteristic, intending to elicit themes of late 20th century wealth.
Despite certain publications' attempts at linking her work to political commentary, specifically "
late capitalist nightmares,"
Lux stated she never considered this perspective, instead focusing on aspects of 1980s nostalgia.
Her music is mostly instrumental and intends to evoke optimistic feelings, as according to her, sadder music can be more draining.
With "All Night" from ''Late Night Delight'', Lux's use of a late 1970s sample, Michael Jackson's "
Off the Wall
''Off the Wall'' is the fifth studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on August 10, 1979, by Epic Records. It was Jackson's first album released through Epic Records, and the first produced by Quincy Jones, whom he met ...
", vividly shows intergenerational nostalgia, Carlos Alberto and Velasco Martínez stated in their study on vaporwave's contemporary image. By removing the lyrics "I want to rock with you / All night" from their original context and looping the latter portion, Lux suggests, according to the writers, disguised sinister intentions manifested by an uncanny form of ''
déjà vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is the phenomenon of feeling like one has
lived through the present situation in the past.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford University Press. pp. 167–1 ...
''.
Dave Schilling of ''
Grantland
''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed ...
'' shared similar feelings, calling the track "terrifying".
Lux's side of the record was described by Miles Bowe as "chillout-meets-waiting-room Muzak."
"Shadows" from 2013's ''Sincerely'' exemplifies a simple track from Lux's discography, according to
Tecnocampus' Vladyslav Bohdanov. He observed that, despite not appearing to feature significant modifications, Lux changes the track's emotional tone in a "fascinating" way, with its
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
emphasizing this.
With ''World Class'', Tom Walters commented that Lux fully developed her passion with the
United States in the 1980s. He noted this on the tracks "S.W.A.K." and "Upscale". In the former, Lux shows the more funk and pop-focused structures of her music, while in the latter she demonstrates a
balearic beat
Balearic beat, also known as Balearic house, Balearic, Ibiza house or Ibizan chillout, is an eclectic blend of DJ-led dance music that emerged in the mid-1980s. It later became the name of a more specific style of electronic dance/house music th ...
influence. With this, Walters analyzed, the record's sound evokes a fictional
noir version of Tom Cruise's ''
Cocktail
A cocktail is a mixed drink, usually alcoholic beverage, alcoholic. Most commonly, a cocktail is a combination of one or more liquor, spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as juices, flavored syrups, tonic water, Shrub (drink), shrubs, and ...
'' (1988), "full of smoke-filled scenes of low-lit bars and
brutalist
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...
executive suites."
Similarly, Bohdanov observed that ''World Class'' represented Lux's interest in creating a
score SCORE may refer to:
*SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program
* SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network
*SCORE! Educational Centers
*SCORE International, an offroad racing organization
*Sarawak Corrido ...
-like album. He added that Lux's common
elite
In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...
themes, presented in the album through track titles, further emphasize the visual presentation and sounds of the record.
Of ''Noir'', Miles Bowe wrote that Lux's incorporation of more relaxed melodies is heard throughout, exemplifying
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
-like sounds on "Future" to a moodier tone on "Desire".
He highlighted the emphasized use of bass and praised each track's uniqueness within the record, "ranging from cozy locked grooves like 'Raindrops' to the chintzy strut of 'Future'."
Many tracks on the record feature the
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
as a main instrument, with the opening track "Arrival" initially conveying a sense of nervousness to it before affirmating a bolder tone.
"Lounge" and "Dreaming" emphasize the sax's sound,
with ''
Tiny Mix Tapes
''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...
'' stating that the latter presents the "
ontological
Ontology is the philosophical study of being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of reality and every ...
finitude that ''Noir'' embraces."
''Under the Radar''s Chris Cudby stated that ''High Society'' presents Lux's music as that of a "stylish ''
soirée''."
The record is dedicated primarily to developing simple melodies within
glitch
A glitch is a short-lived technical fault, such as a transient one that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among pl ...
-led progressions,
including songs like "Dancefloor Euphoria" and "Another Scorcher". In it, a more multi-layered instrumentation approach is taken; "Ocean View", for example, presents a metallic synth sound in the background, while the end track "William and Julianna" features a
guitar riff
A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...
.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''I'' (2012)
* ''II'' (2012)
* ''III'' (2012)
* ''101.7 WAVE'' (2012)
* ''Rose Quartz'' (2013)
* ''TV Party'' (2013)
* ''New Classics'' (2013)
* ''With Love'' (2013)
* ''Blind Date'' (2013)
* ''Fantasy'' (2013)
* ''101.7 WAVE II'' (2014)
* ''Moods'' (2015)
* ''World Class'' (2015)
* ''Noir'' (2016)
* ''Prism'' (2018)
* ''High Society'' (2020)
* ''Blue Eyeshadow'' (2021)
* ''Ocean Pacific'' (2022)
* ''Fashion Pop'' (2023)
* ''Talk Soup'' (2024)
Collaborations
* ''Atlas of Fictional Islands / Customer Service'' with Mensa Group International (2012)
* ''Late Night Delight'' with
Saint Pepsi
Ryan DeRobertis (known by his stage names Skylar Spence and SAINT PEPSI) is an American electronic musician and singer who grew up in Farmingville, New York and attended Boston College for two years studying music. His electronic music
Ele ...
(2013)
* ''Stay Passionate, Be Discrete'' with Skeleton Lipstick (2014)
* ''Intercontinental'' with SYLLABUS (2014)
* "ウォーク·オン·バイ" with
Macross 82-99 (2014)
* "내 마음은 떨고" on the
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
version of ''
I'll Try Living Like This'' (2015)
* "Psychology of Desire" on ''Doom Mix, Vol. V'' (2021)
Compilations
* ''I&II'' (2012)
* ''Sincerely'' (2013)
* ''Blind Date , Rose Quartz'' (2019)
EPs
* ''Controversial'' (2014)
* ''Dance Party'' (2021)
Video albums
* ''Fantasy VHS'' (2013)
* ''High Society VHS'' (2020)
* ''Dance Party VHS'' (2022)
* ''Talk Soup VHS'' (2024)
Other projects
* ''Viewers Like You'' (2014, as Television Archives)
* ''Night Video'' (2016, as Night Video)
* ''1-800-TONIGHT'' (2022, as 1-800-TONIGHT)
See also
*
1980s in fashion
Fashion of the 1980s was characterized by a rejection of psychedelic colored, ornate fashions of the 1970s. Punk fashion began as a reaction against both the hippie movement of the past decades and the materialist values of the current decade. T ...
*
1980s in television
__NOTOC__
Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 198 fo ...
Notes
References
External links
Official website*
Official YouTube channel
{{Authority control
1988 births
Living people
21st-century American women musicians
American women in electronic music
Lo-fi musicians
Musicians from Lexington, Kentucky
Vaporwave musicians
Nostalgia