“It’s always been difficult for a label to figure out what the hell to do with me,” says eclectic and musically expansive artist Imani Coppola. Thus, for Coppola, it’s a welcome situation to return to the label that launched her career, IPECAC RECORDINGS. Headed by Greg Werckman and Mike Patton (Faith No More, Tomahawk, Dead Cross), Ipecac’s roster (which includes releases from Daughters, Eagles of Death Metal, Martina Topley Bird, and Ennio Morricone) is equally as diverse as her music. “I don’t do just one thing, I do everything, that’s no exaggeration,” she continues. “If anyone could understand and appreciate that approach it would be Mike Patton who has been ‘in every band on the planet’ and maybe a few from Jupiter.”
“We are so happy to be working with Imani again,” says Mike Patton. “She has been part of the Ipecac family for a long time. As this batch of music proves, Imani remains a talented and innovative musician and it’s a true honor to offer our services as a platform for her art.”
“Ipecac doesn’t have a formulaic, cookie cutter approach to releasing their artists’ material,” she adds. “It’s not a ’one size fits all’ marketing strategy like most labels try to get away with. They really take their time to figure out clever ways to give each artist their stamp of individuality. They basically let you do whatever the fuck you want, granted they like what you are doing. And they ALWAYS ask what your ideas are before offering their own. And they are genuinely friendly fucking people. I don’t get that post ‘label phone call’ slimy feeling of disgust or regret after I talk with them. They are adults, experienced and they are from an era when human beings were still born with souls.”
Coppola’s new single, the dynamic and bombastic “Rattle” captures the fervor and electricity that is trademark of her career. A singer, violinist, songwriter, and producer who scored a Top 40 pop hit with her major label debut single (“Legend of a Cowgirl”), the single and its accompanying video (directed by Anthony Cortez Fernandez) illuminates her infectious avant-pop that adapts the frenetic energy of mod 50s girl groups and modifies it into a compact burst of modern empowerment.
Overtly political and pointed, “Rattle” addresses the current state of the country and figuratively shakes the collective cage. “Without a doubt, I had been in the shadows for too long doing my best to pretend it all wasn’t happening,” Coppola explains. “My soul was so rattled by everything I had done my best to ignore.”
With more music to unleash in the coming months, Coppola isn’t sitting down and waiting for things to happen. She’s taking control and is ready to wake everyone up – both conscientiously and musically. “I’m a f**king artist,” she says defiantly. “It is my job to react to what’s going on in society. This is not the time to shy away from difficult subject matters. Now is the time to grab them by the f**king balls. F**k your clinical political depression. Channel that rage into song form. As soon as I took the proverbial earplugs out of my ears, I cried for days. I felt so ashamed for having tried to hide from it. How selfish and foolish of me to not want to be a part of this. I needed to make music as entertaining and upsetting as America itself is right now.”