The 10 best tracks released by PC Music
In 2013, A.G. Cook was looking to expand his musical ventures from production into A&R. The result was PC Music, a record label and creative collective which has become synonymous with the hyperpop genre.
Cook’s goal was to make huge-sounding music using just a personal computer. After he founded the label, Cook told Tank Magazine that the computer could be used “not just for making electronic music but for making amateur music that is also potentially very slick”. He also noted his aim to record people who don’t normally make music, “treating them as if they’re a major label artist”.
This ambition birthed the distinctive, experimental electronic sound of PC Music – polished electronica with auto-tuned, pitch-modulated vocals, synthetic textures, and non-stop glitchiness. The collective also cultivated a specific cyber aesthetic, garnering a cult following particularly in online circles. The label popularised hyper-pop, a new genre coined by Spotify.
In the decade since its founding, PC Music has overseen releases from the likes of Hannah Diamond, Kane West, GFOTY, and Cook himself. Releases have also featured experimental pop favourites Charli XCX, Rebecca Black, and Caroline Polachek. Collaborations between artists were rife, and the label also put out compilation albums.
With the announcement that the iconic hyper-pop label will be retiring from new releases in 2023 in order to pivot to archival projects and special reissues, we took a look back at PC Music’s genre-bending discography to pick out their ten best tracks. From Carly Rae Jepsen to Namasenda, find our top ten favourite tracks released by PC Music below.
The 10 best tracks released by PC Music:
10. Danny L Harle – ‘Broken Flowers’
British producer Danny L Harle was a PC Music staple. A classically trained musician, Harle began experimenting with electronic music in 2010. Harle and Cook had gone to school together and reconnected in their university years spent at Goldsmiths, leading to them collaborating on a project called Dux Content and, eventually, PC Music.
Long before he produced alt-pop star Caroline Polachek’s Pang, Harle released a series of singles with PC Music. The first, and one of his best, was ‘Broken Flowers’. Released in 2013, PC Music was in its infancy, still figuring out its defining sound. ‘Broken Flowers’, consequently, is a fairly straightforward dance-pop track compared to much of PC Music’s more experimental, synthetic soundscapes. With polished synths, broken up vocals, and an endlessly danceable beat, ‘Broken Flowers’ is one of PC Music’s most accessible tracks. It’s the closest they have to a floor-filler, sure to feel right at home amidst a house set.
9. Danny L Harle ft. Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Super Natural’
‘Super Natural’ saw Harle move further into PC Music’s defining hyper-pop territory. Collaborating with radio bubble-gum pop artist Carly Rae Jepsen, the two joined forces to step out of their comfort zones on ‘Super Natural’ in 2016. Harle combines the high-pitched, synthetic textures of hyper-pop with his rave-centric production.
The result is a sublime track with synths that sound like sighs, just beneath Carly Rae Jepsen’s saccharine vocals and a pulsing beat. It’s an expansive track that’s full of joy and ease, inspired by the beginning of Harle’s relationship with his girlfriend. He told Fader: “We just immediately got on as if we had always been best friends… Usually, my songs come out of a more melancholy pace, but this one was doubtlessly upbeat. It was a slightly different approach to songwriting, and it was so fun.”
8. Namasenda – ‘24/7’
‘24/7’ was Namasenda’s first collaboration with PC Music, released as a single in 2019. Co-written with A.G. Cook, it’s an intimate track on which Namasenda repeatedly asks a lover, “Are you thinking about me too?” ‘24/7’ is far less hyper or experimental than much of PC Music’s output – it feels dimmer and calmer, but it’s still just as complex and layered.
The vulnerable lyrics are accompanied by equally intimate electronic production. The instrumentals seem to form around Namasenda’s vocals rather than the other way around, moulding to her pitched-up voice. Low synths and a pulsing drum machine underscore her words, punctuating the track’s most important moments perfectly.
7. Hannah Diamond – ‘Every Night’
A PC Music article wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Hannah Diamond. The Norwich-born popstar has been releasing with Cook’s label ever since 2013, embodying the PC Music sound and aesthetic. ‘Every Night’ marked her fourth single with the label, released in 2014.
Diamond layers her girlish vocals over fluttering synths and a basic beat. The lyrics are simplistic, addressing a person she has a mutual attraction with: “I like the way you know that I like how you look, and you like me too. I know you do.” They’re underscored by pulsing electronica. It’s a track that’s infused with confidence, as so much of the PC Music discography is.
6. Planet 1999 – ‘Party’
Planet 1999 are a French synthy bedroom pop outfit that became the first band to be signed to PC Music after emailing A.G. Cook in 2018. Each member also makes music on their own under the names caro♡, DJ Kit, and Ultralove. In 2020, they released a single called ‘Party’, which took PC Music’s output in an indie synth-pop direction.
‘Party’ tones PC Music’s characteristic hyper-pop synths down. Combining them with a subtle drum machine and Caro’s ethereal vocals, the track is PC Music at their most digestible. It’s a track for electronic fans, indie fans and everyone in between. It’s an accessible track that still contains masterful PC Music production, the perfect introduction to the scene.
5. EASYFUN – ‘Laplander’
EASYFUN, or Finn Keane, is a frequent PC Music collaborator, well-cemented within the hyper-pop scene with production credits for Charli XCX, Hannah Diamond and GFOTY. He released a number of EPs with the label, including easyFun in 2014 and Deep Trouble in 2015. The latter opened with a shimmering break-up track called ‘Laplander’.
‘Laplander’ is full of squeaky clean glitches, excessive auto-tuning and pitch-changing, and a pumping beat. The glittery track also contains an expertly hidden sample of Jessie J’s 2011 pop hit ‘Domino’. EASYFUN once remixed the track, then later included a tiny moment from the track in ‘Laplander’ – the repeated, pitched-up vocal that persists throughout the song is actually the beginning of Jessie J singing the line, “Dirty dancing in the moonlight”. It’s an innovative song that represents the best of PC Music.
4. A.G. Cook – ‘Being Harsh’
Cook’s ‘Being Harsh’ is a major change of pace from much of PC Music’s output and much of his own catalogue. The track featured on his debut album, 7G, in 2020. On his follow-up album a year later, Apple vs. 7G, Cook included an even slower version of the track featuring French electronic producer Oklou.
The production of ‘Being Harsh’ is starkly minimal. Over a fuzzy, lo-fi acoustic guitar almost in the style of indie rock favourite Alex G, we hear Cook at his most raw. He sings, “I tried so hard to learn to say, ‘Get out of my way’”. Eventually, his lyrics become indistinguishable, but the calmness and the rawness of the track remain.
3. A.G. Cook – ‘Beautiful’
Cook’s music is endlessly fresh and unpredictable, and ‘Beautiful’ is no exception. The track was first released as a single in 2014, but it also featured on the first PC Music compilation a year later. Cook collages a series of pitched-up vocal samples on the track, pairing them with an energetic beat with few moments of release.
The track repeats just one line over and over, “Baby, when you look at me, you know that I’ll be here forever, baby, when I look at you, I know that we’ll be here together”, but it’s more than enough. The only interval is a whispered “beautiful” just over a minute in. It’s a far cry from the music genres that would usually be dubbed beautiful, but, in its own way, it is. It’s an ethereal statement of unconditional love.
2. GFOTY – ‘Tongue’
Girlfriend of the Year, or GFOTY, represents the extremes of PC Music. She released with the label for five years, from 2013 to 2018, delivering a series of synthetic songs characterised by their relentlessly lewd lyrics, caustic soundscapes and experimental production.
‘Tongue’ was released as a single from GFOTY’s compilation of greatest hits, GFOTYBUCKS, released by PC Music in 2017. At first, a sweet, piano-like intro lulls you into a false sense of security as GFOTY asks to “Start with a kiss on the lips tonight”. But before you can comprehend it, the ridiculous track brings in pulsing electronica, and GFOTY’s auto-tuned vocals repeat, “Deep inside, like a wet, wet slide”. It’s a track for the more experienced hyper-pop fan, pushing into the more experimental, more ridiculous and more fun territory.
1. A.G. Cook ft. Hannah Diamond – ‘Drop FM’
In 2016, A.G. Cook collaborated with Hannah Diamond for the second time on a bass-heavy hyper-pop anthem called ‘Drop FM’. The track is bouncy and glossy, as Cook carves out a synthetic soundscape for Diamond’s youthful, pitched-up vocals to fit around. It’s the perfect marriage of essential PC Music artists and a perfect hyper-pop track.
After a fuzzy, bassy intro, Diamond begins the track repeating the duo’s initials, “HD AG HD AG”, staking their claim on the track. But it couldn’t possibly be claimed by anyone else – it’s a unique pairing of sugary sweet vocals and synths with heavier electronic breaks. Lyrically, it embodies the hedonistic superficiality of PC Music, as Diamond declares, “Oh, so fine! Tell me you want to be mine”.
