PC Music Is Over. A.G. Cook Is Just Beginning.

Halfway done 2023, the experimental-pop statement PC Music announced it would halt releasing caller euphony by the extremity of the year. The quality came arsenic a surprise, aft a engaged 2022 and arsenic the glossy, mischievous hyperpop dependable it helped make was becoming arsenic mainstream arsenic ever (even Beyoncé dabbled with it connected Renaissance). Moving forward, the statement planned to absorption connected “archival projects and peculiar reissues.”

Then, connected January 1, 2024, PC laminitis A.G. Cook released the sprawling, ten-minute “Silver Thread Golden Needle,” the archetypal offering from his upcoming task Britpop. Timing it to the New Year was nary accident. The opus represented a caller commencement for Cook, an creator inactive defining himself adjacent aft being the figurehead of specified an influential epoch successful popular music.

Even if you don’t cognize Cook arsenic the laminitis of PC Music, you apt cognize him arsenic originative manager for Charli XCX, whom he’s worked with since 2017, oregon arsenic a collaborator of the precocious shaper SOPHIE. After releasing a fistful of singles connected PC, Cook made his due entranceway arsenic a solo creator successful 2020 with not 1 but 2 debut albums, the sprawling 7G and much refined Apple. Now, Britpop is the neatest merging of each sides of Cook. He splits the task into “Past,” “Present,” and “Future” discs, 8 tracks each, crafting a mosaic that goes acold beyond the dependable he’s go known for.

Cook insists that New Alias, the caller statement helium launched alongside the album, won’t beryllium a re-creation of PC Music. But he’s inactive kept PC’s cheeky cognition successful his rollout — specifically done pop-up parody-news tract Witchfork, euphony marketplace Wandcamp, and bushed commissary Wheatport. (He insists they’re made with reverence.) He continues to collaborate wide arsenic well, astir precocious successful the duo Thy Slaughter with archetypal PC creator Finn Keane, a.k.a. Easyfun, and connected Charli XCX’s upcoming album, Brat. Cook speaks eagerly and openly astir his adjacent epoch — though helium says explaining his still-developing plans for New Alias tin consciousness similar “trying to picture the moon.”

You called this medium Britpop, and your caller medium with Thy Slaughter was called Soft Rock. Those titles dependable similar a provocation.
It’s a provocation to Finn and I successful Thy Slaughter, oregon to myself erstwhile I’m doing Britpop, oregon adjacent connected immoderate of the albums I worked connected with Charli. We thin to cognize the rubric reasonably early, truthful it becomes thing that we’re discussing: What’s the eventual way for this? What’s the happening that would marque it not that? If I don’t person that extremity goal, past it could beryllium anything.

It seems similar that impulse to specify things is wherever Britpop’s “Past, Present, Future” conception comes from. How did that coalesce implicit time?
It’s the thought that made the medium consciousness real. Apple and 7G successful 2020 had their ain concepts. I’d been A.G. Cook for astir sevenish years astatine that point, and I precise intentionally didn’t person an album. I was against albums, really. I didn’t privation a canonical A.G. Cook sound, adjacent though you could reason determination is benignant of one. Work arsenic a shaper seemed to specify what I was doing successful a truly satisfying way. And I didn’t privation to autumn into the trap of having the classical shaper medium with my friends featuring connected antithetic tracks. I wanted to bash thing much jarring. As soon arsenic I person immoderate benignant of comic sorting system, I’m not trying to conscionable marque the cleanable 12-track thing.

So “Past, Present, Future” gave maine a mode of doing a somewhat longer medium without it being precisely the same. It really enabled maine to beryllium a batch much escaped with it and beryllium like, Okay, these are songs that evoke thing astir the past for me — but the past wherever it’s similar vocal chops and aboriginal DJ edits. Then with “Present,” these are songs with in-the-moment lyrics. And past “Future” is each the tracks that astir marque maine consciousness uncomfortable, wherever I’m like, Oh, the tempo is simply a spot wrong, oregon What’s this genre?

For idiosyncratic who has been hailed arsenic being futuristic, it feels quaint to signifier thing into discs successful the streaming era.
I personally find streaming a truly brainsick happening to wrapper my caput around. If I person a person who’s done a full caller signifier oregon campaign, erstwhile the medium yet gets connected streaming, it feels similar that’s not truly the album. The existent medium is determination betwixt the unrecorded shows, possibly the DJ edits — each the other sound astir it makes it consciousness real. That’s not to accidental the medium isn’t a happening for immoderate people. But it’s astir similar to truly marque it consciousness similar an medium connected streaming, you person to transcend it. For me, the disc is 1 mode of nudging the listener, being like, It’s not conscionable this. There’s immoderate different happening astatine enactment here. To interruption it into discs one, two, and three, idiosyncratic has to look it up oregon deliberation an other millisecond.

You bask drafting those hard lines. You did it erstwhile you dropped the album’s archetypal way connected January 1, 2024, a time aft winding down PC Music. Why was that precise definite extremity constituent absorbing to you?
When I archetypal was uploading music, I thought it was going to instrumentality a truly agelong clip for anyone to person immoderate attachment to it. For it to person an individuality wrong its archetypal twelvemonth oregon 2 was truly shocking. But arsenic I got person to 10 years, I was like, There’s truthful galore absorbing releases from the precise beginning. We needed to bash thing to analyse it and enactment connected maintaining and making radical retrieve that worldly successful arsenic large a mode arsenic possible. It was a work to the genesis, and to the aged stuff, and to the full country and subculture.

It’s besides precise overmuch riffing with the brainsick velocity that the euphony manufacture is changing. That’s really a batch of PC stuff. You could speech astir the sounds and the visuals and truthful on, but astatine its heart, it was ever an cognition that, alternatively than it trying to beryllium sci-fi oregon future, it’s really conscionable what’s going connected close now.

As the day was coming up, was determination immoderate discomfort successful sticking with this happening that had been going for 10 years?
It’s conscionable maine being pragmatic. It’s acknowledging that that is simply a precise defined epoch for each those people’s work. It’s saying that the statement is truly meaningful, but the enactment goes beyond it. Therefore, you person to marque the statement a truly wide boundary. I judge truthful overmuch successful the enactment of the radical who person releases connected it oregon person taken portion successful shows. If I was much uncertain, I would person been much hesitant, like, We request to inactive incubate this. But looking astatine each the worldly everyone’s doing, and immoderate of the upcoming collaborations and albums and credits, I was like, Damn. It’s much than the sum of its parts. I can’t adjacent comprehend it, honestly.

Britpop is coming retired connected a caller statement called New Alias. What is it, and what is it going to do?
I’ve evidently done worldly as different aliases and I americium funny successful the conception of aliases. I thought it was besides benignant of comic wherever the archetypal merchandise connected New Alias is conscionable my ain oldest alias, my existent name.

I’m precise arrogant of the scope that PC Music had. And I don’t needfully privation to re-create thing astatine that scale. I americium decidedly doing releases that aren’t conscionable Britpop and aren’t conscionable strictly A.G. ones. The thought of the imprint is that, without the protocol of a accepted label, if there’s ever thing that needs to person either its ain branding oregon its ain unusual rollout, oregon if I marque immoderate euphony with idiosyncratic other and I’d beryllium like, “You cognize what? We should clone 10 websites and enactment it retired similar that.” Anything that I could enactment connected that would person a precise antithetic mode of hitting streaming. Rather than conscionable signing to different label, to person much of my ain country wherever I tin bash these collaborative releases that I past get to direct, somewhat.

How is that antithetic than PC Music?
A batch of the amusive of PC was to instrumentality an creator with arsenic overmuch assurance arsenic if they were signed to a major, past gradually bring their property into it. I deliberation New Alias is looking astatine it from a presumption beyond that, wherever I’m looking to instrumentality acquainted things, possibly crushed that I’ve explored earlier oregon artists that I’ve already done things with, and recontextualize them and play with that ambiguity.

The playful physics songs connected the “Past” disc are closest to what we’ve heard from PC Music. What was it similar to marque those songs portion explicitly denoting them arsenic the portion we’re leaving behind?
It’s conscionable maine being a spot facetious, too. The archetypal way connected the “Future” disc, “Soulbreaker,” is by acold the oldest song. That predates Apple. A batch of the worldly connected the “Past” disc, they notation the mind-set and the idealism of a definite era, but the dependable they person is simply a small spot much precocious oregon reflective of the enactment I’ve done since. And I don’t conscionable mean hitting harder, but the sounds that it travels done oregon the magnitude of immoderate of the tracks and the scope. I decidedly don’t deliberation these are the past 8 tracks I’m going to marque with vocal chops and I’m parking them close here. It’s much similar trying to ideate a headspace, and perpetually playing with that clip loop.

How did the melody from Charli’s 2017 opus “Lipgloss” travel backmost into “Britpop”?
I wanted her to sing thing that was saying “Britpop,” and I conscionable heard it successful the aforesaid code arsenic that outro for “Lipgloss,” which is simply a precise Charli travel anyway. I recorded her doing it successful the mediate of america moving different song. I deliberation it took virtually nether a minute. It was truthful acquainted to us.

Music is conscionable truthful referential anyway. In my mind, songs spell beyond the mentation that you mightiness person connected your computer. I deliberation that’s an constituent that is going to travel to the fore much and much now: the thought of euphony arsenic a show with immoderate variation, that it’s not wholly stuck successful place. I’m ever drawn to euphony that does that. I deliberation immoderate radical find that a spot annoying, arsenic if they’ve been cheated. Like, “I thought I was getting a caller hook here. I paid for a caller hook.” That’s the saddest thing.

I saw it erstwhile “Britpop” came out. People were a small confused, feeling similar this wasn’t afloat a caller song. But that’s the amusive here.
It’s the irony, right? If you’re successful Boiler Room and it’s abruptly a acquainted vocal, everyone’s like, it’s their favourite bit.

You’ve said that the “Present” disc features these one-take, much earthy songs. How was making those different?
I’m not usually a lyrics-first person. Other things similar melody oregon sounds oregon textures and chords, each of that worldly comes to maine overmuch much instantly than lyrics. But each present and then, I’ll person a precise defined idea. A opus similar “Nice to Meet You” oregon “Without,” they were written through, arsenic successful I had the chords, I past had beauteous overmuch the afloat lyrics, and past I instantly tried to grounds it. So the full happening was each done successful specified a abbreviated clip framework that it feels a spot similar a photograph.

It’s absorbing to perceive that “Without” was 1 of the songs that you wrote close away. It’s a precise touching tribute to SOPHIE, but it toes this enactment wherever it’s not schmaltzy.
It’s astir SOPHIE successful a sense, but also, it’s astir processing that benignant of thing. You tin lone bash that by yourself. We evidently had a batch of communal friends and household ties, radical I would speech to. But that process is an isolated, genuinely reflective, benignant of unusual one. And the way is much astir that.

The tributes to SOPHIE’s property are successful different parts of the album. Some of the attempts to bash an uplifting creation way that’s a spot cheeky, oregon to bash an outro that is amusing, oregon to bash these flips that punctual maine of immoderate of the music-making. If I’m reasoning astir the headspace of aboriginal PC tracks, I’m reasoning astir each the times I spent successful the workplace with SOPHIE, oregon doing random shows, oregon conversations. That’s inactive a dependable that’s portion of my mind-set erstwhile I’m doing those things.

That cheekiness besides makes maine deliberation of proceeding Addison Rae connected this album.
That song, “Lucifer,” is simply a truly aged song. I was moving connected it earlier how i’m feeling now. It was a opus I conscionable had by myself, and past Charli was into it and past she was rerecording it, changing lyrics. But it didn’t marque sense. It’s a bully illustration of maine putting things connected that disc wherever I’m conscionable like, What is this? I ever had this mentation of the opus wherever Charli sounded large and it conscionable had these blank verses wherever I was mumbling.

I’d been penning with Addison. She’s truthful encyclopedic astir music. She has a beauteous beardown position connected everything. I had this outro to a opus we had done, a demo, and that fragment of it I ever thought was truthful good. Then I realized it acceptable perfectly into this. It feels similar this unusual counterpart to the “Von Dutch” remix with Charli, wherever it sounds similar they’re connected antithetic planets.

I thought I had heard it before.
That’s what I mean. The verse sounds similar it’s immoderate different popular opus that you mightiness cognize oregon mightiness not. Addison’s dependable sounds truthful classic, and it’s truthful filtered down, and past you get into the chorus and it’s like, Oh, here’s a hook for thing else.

I’m ever funny successful radical who play with popular euphony and person their ain circumstantial dependable and person a dialog successful the music. That’s what I emotion astir the Charli and Addison remix — they’re fundamentally talking. The conversational prime is thing that truly runs done a batch of Brat arsenic well, Charli’s caller album, and I deliberation that’s thing that Addison is very, precise bully at.

Seeing Addison’s sanction connected the “Von Dutch” remix with you and Charli, that felt a spot similar the aboriginal PC days — like, Are they serious?
I consciousness similar I unrecorded successful a satellite wherever Addison Rae is already a popular star. It’s the aforesaid satellite wherever there’s bands who I cognize haven’t released anything, and I consciousness similar they’re already the biggest set successful the world. That’s the changeless imaginable of music, wherefore fans of popular euphony adjacent fuss keeping up with this impossible-to-define genre, right? Because there’s ever this feeling that thing you heard conscionable present could beryllium the biggest happening successful the satellite adjacent week.

I’ve been seeing your sanction popular up much successful what we mightiness telephone the mainstream sphere: doing remixes for Lady Gaga and Jungkook, oregon being connected Renaissance. Are these caller calls that you’ve been getting, oregon are you saying yes to things that you wouldn’t person said yes to before?
There’s not a batch of things that I’ve gone retired of my mode to accidental nary to. I’m precise funny successful the changeless ambiguity betwixt mainstream and underground, particularly present wherever the weirdest things are fashionable and it’s perpetually shifting. I ever deliberation thing could go mainstream. What’s truly drawn maine to L.A. is the civilization of immoderate full weirdos moving connected immoderate of the biggest albums. These established radical volition beryllium like, “Oh, person you heard my different project?” and it’ll beryllium thing crazy. For idiosyncratic similar maine who is doomed and blessed to beryllium connected the fringes of mainstream and underground forever, I truly spot that arsenic my perfect spot, wherever I tin cross-pollinate and cross-contaminate each this stuff.

Now that you’re releasing albums nether your ain name, however bash you program to equilibrium that and moving with different artists?
Having done these shifts wherever I person a fewer years wherever I’m not truly making my stuff, and past I travel back, it seems similar a genuine mode to person a equine successful the race. When I spell heavy with different artist, we tin truly speech astir each these things.

My campaigns are rather risky. I’m not truly trying to chart. I’m conscionable trying to person a meaningful dialog with an assemblage and spot if there’s others who are interested. My photograph shoots are each implicit the spot stylistically. Even what I’m doing close present with Witchfork and Wandcamp. It’s similar I was talking astir with the aboriginal days of PC — being like, This is the authorities of things now. This is wherever the internet’s at. This is wherever campaigns are at. If I tin marque euphony that feels absorbing to maine and past enactment it retired successful a mode that is successful dialog with each of that chaos, that’s truly my semipermanent goal.

The rubric is simply a motion to Cook’s ain British heritage, adjacent though helium presently works successful the U.S. Cook has besides released euphony arsenic DJ Lifeline, arsenic good arsenic Dux Content with Danny L. Harle, Lipgloss Twins with felicita, and Thy Slaughter with Easyfun. Charli XCX’s 2020 album, written and recorded during the archetypal 2 months of the pandemic.