Luxury Elite
Luxury Elite, also simply known as Lux, is an anonymous American musician known for her significant influence in the vaporwave genre. During the 2010s, her lo-fi 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, television archives, and creative zen.
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 with vaporwave artist Ryan DeRobertis under the alias Saint Pepsi. She also worked on a single with future funk musician Macross 82-99, and participated on many collaborative projects by small record labels. 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 visual and sound presentation. She participated on plunderphonics trio Death's Dynamic Shroud's remix version of I'll Try Living Like This, and continued her career with albums such as Noir and High Society. 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.
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, which was changed by her interest in Thomas Fec's electronic alias Tobacco. She listened to chillwave and vaporwave 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 I&II. Lux's first split album was Atlas of Fictional Islands / Customer Service with Mensa Group International; her track "One Moment Please" was featured in a playlist by Radio K. III 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, as an "actual album." She said the record gave her direction, particularly its tracks "Skyscraper" and "Sparkling". In early 2013, her second split album was released: Late Night Delight with Saint Pepsi, the future funk pseudonym of Ryan DeRobertis. 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, 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. Lux felt her side was inferior to DeRobertis', although concluding that "it worked out for the best." Mac Tonight, the McDonald's 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. On April 9, 2013, Lux released music videos for six different tracks: "Late Night TV" and "Poolside" from Iⅈ "Skyscraper" from Rose Quartz; and "Mild Seven", "Schaumburg", and "Nightlife" from Late Night Delight. She promoted her album Blind Date with a video for "Private" on April 11. For Fantasy, Lux created music videos for "Celine" and "Pearl", released on May 27 and July 3 respectively. The record later featured its own video album with an altered tracklist, Fantasy VHS, which was broadcast on the Internet TV channel Network Awesome. Also in 2013, Lux created her own record label, registering it on Bandcamp 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. One of the label's releases was Fortune 420, a compilation album published through the venue SPF420. It featured what Ryan Simpson of Tiny Mix Tapes called a "suitably impressive lineup," including aliases such as DeRobertis' Saint Pepsi and George Clanton'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 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 "ウォーク·オン·バイ". Lux's first EP, Controversial, 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 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, was released in July. It was named one of the best Bandcamp releases of the month by music magazine DIY. It was also listed as one of the best albums of 2015 by Justin Shay of WPKN. The physical version, released by Crash Symbols, included two bonus tracks and remixes 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, and participated on the collaborative release The Eternal Dream System by label Dream Catalogue. In November, Lux collaborated with vaporwave trio Death's Dynamic Shroud for a remix version of a track from their album I'll Try Living Like This, and produced new material for a radio show by 2814 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, and considered by him the best Bandcamp release of the month. Bandcamp Dailys 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 and film score sound, while music publication Tiny Mix Tapes 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 music, such as Devo's 1981 record New Traditionalists. In 2017, the mobile video game 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, 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 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 Doom Mix, Vol. V with the track "Psychology of Desire", which Pitchfork described as "confident in riding out a single idea across its entire runtime." Her second EP, Dance Party, featured a visual version in 2022. Also in 2022, Lux released a video album for 1-800-TONIGHT 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 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 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, a vaporwave-styled bar features "Luxury Elite" as a drink.