A.G. Cook has announced his forthcoming LP ‘Britpop’ and has shared its lead single, which features vocals by Charli XCX.
- READ MORE: PC Music: the story of the boundary-pushing label in 10 essential tracks
The album’s title track features XCX singing “Brit, Brit, Brit / Like Britpop” over a whimsical, pulsing beat. The song received its live debut at XCX’s Boiler Room event in New York City last Thursday (February 22).
Cook – producer and founder of P.C. Music – confirmed that his third solo album ‘Britpop’ is set for release on May 10 via Cook’s New Alias label. According to a press release, the album is “a three-part, 24-song odyssey through Cook’s weird, wonderful, and wildly eclectic sonic universe, the record spans the full breadth of his agenda setting, genre bending vision of pop.”
The album will be split into three chapters: ‘Past’, ‘Present’, and ‘Future’. ‘Past’ will consist of Cook’s classic electronic style while ‘Present’ sees him channel the 90s Britpop genre in its traditional sense. The final chapter, ‘Future’ will consist of “his own distinctive understanding of what the future of music really means.”
‘Britpop’ was created during the COVID lockdown when Cook found himself as the only British person living in a small town in Montana. The album was written as he finished working on his prior solo LP’s ‘Apple‘ and ‘7G‘ which were both released in 2020.
Cook recently released ‘Silver Thread Golden Needle’ a nearly 10-minute long track that features sputtering and buzzing sounds against a pop beat.
Last year, he teamed up with producer Easylife and Thyslaughter to release their joint album ‘Softrock’.
The LP featured contributions from the likes of Caroline Polachek, Wolf Alice frontwoman Ellie Rowsell, Charli XCX, Alaska Reid, and the late SOPHIE.
Cook announced that his label, PC Music, would no longer be releasing new music after 2023.
The label was founded 2013 and upon its 10th anniversary, it shared that it will cease working on new projects. In a statement, Cook wrote: “After a decade of activity, 2023 will be PC Music’s final year of new releases.
He continued: “Following that, the label will be dedicated to archival projects and special reissues. We have an undisclosed number of new albums and singles coming very soon.”
Across its decade in business, PC Music released songs by Hannah Diamond, Danny L Harle and more, with the likes of Charli XCX, SOPHIE and Caroline Polachek all collaborating with artists on the label.
In 2022, the label released a new ‘Vol. 3’ compilation featuring Charli, Polachek, Clairo and more.The same year, PC Music hosted a special label showcase at the newly reopened KOKO venue in London.
Back in 2020, PC Music released a Christmas-themed album, featuring tracks from the label’s roster.
The Pop Caroler’s Songbook features contributions from Cook, Hannah Diamond, Banoffee, umru, Aaron Cartier and more. Proceeds from the album were directed towards the Trussell Trust, a charity aiming to end hunger in the UK.
Speaking about the legacy of PC Music, NME said: “Building a community that encouraged experimentation and future-facing production, the hyper-glossy ever-expanding PC world shattered traditional genre standards by melting bubblegum pop and bass with electronic club sounds.”