There are people who have character and there are people who are characters. Coppe, the coolest musician you've never heard of, is both.

With her short blond pigtails standing on end from her head like antennas, Coppe is tuned into her own private and totally groovy soundtrack. It would be tempting to label it chill-out music -- except Coppe's intensity and generosity could hardly be called chilled. It is more like trip hop, with the emphasis on "trip." Like Portishead or Moloko, Coppe owes much to the dance floor -- but is not of it. Categorizing her as an electronica artist doesn't do justice to the spicy passion and playfulness of "Peppermint," her latest release. "Vadim," for example, a paean to the producer/DJ who collaborated on the cut, opens with the scratchy warmth of a vinyl record, a sonorous heat that permeates the whole album.

Sitting in the lobby of a hotel where she stays while in town, Coppe is the picture of sublime eccentricity, from the gem-encrusted Mickey Mouse earring piercing her nose to the schoolboy backpack stuffed with CDs that she gives out by the handful.