A. G. Cook
A. G. Cook
A. G. Cook | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Alexander Guy Cook[1] |
Born | (1990-08-23)23 August 1990[2] |
Origin | London, England, United Kingdom |
Genres | Pop, electronic, dance |
Occupation(s) | Producer |
Years active | 2011–present |
Labels | PC Music |
Associated acts | Hannah Diamond, Sophie, QT, GFOTY, Danny L Harle, Kane West, Charli XCX, Oneohtrix Point Never, Felicita |
Website | agcook.com [45] |
Alexander Guy Cook is a British music producer, singer and head of record label PC Music. Since its founding in August 2013, PC Music has represented 17 artists producing music within a similar genre and style.[3] Cook's dense, chaotic arrangements are distorted versions of mainstream pop music. He was named #12 in the Dazed 100 for "redefining style and youth culture in 2015 and beyond".[4] Cook is currently Charli XCX's Creative Director[5] and has executively produced her third studio album, Charli.
A. G. Cook | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Alexander Guy Cook[1] |
Born | (1990-08-23)23 August 1990[2] |
Origin | London, England, United Kingdom |
Genres | Pop, electronic, dance |
Occupation(s) | Producer |
Years active | 2011–present |
Labels | PC Music |
Associated acts | Hannah Diamond, Sophie, QT, GFOTY, Danny L Harle, Kane West, Charli XCX, Oneohtrix Point Never, Felicita |
Website | agcook.com [45] |
Biography
Cook has worked on graphics for PC Music acts including easyFun and Maxo.[1]
Sophie (left) and Cook (right) produced QT's single "Hey QT"
Cook, Born Alexander Guy Cook, is the son of architect Sir Peter Cook and Israeli architect Yael Reisner. Cook attended Goldsmiths, University of London, where he studied music.[6] There, he reconnected with Danny L Harle, with whom he had gone to school as a teen.[2] The two bonded over their shared musical tastes and interest in comedy duo Tim & Eric. This grew into a musical project called Dux Content.[7] Since they did not have a vocalist, Dux Content focused on musical experiments like compound metres and changes in tempo.[7] One of their earlier works was a collection of compositions for the Disklavier, released with Spencer Noble and Tim Phillips under the name "Dux Consort".[1]
Cook created Gamsonite, a "pseudo-label" collecting his early collaborations.[6] Dux Content released its songs with strange renderings of digital avatars for promotional artwork.[1] They contributed to the score for Alicia Norman's animated film Heart of Death and began considering a children's television show titled Dux Content's Jungle Jam. Cook and Harle explored how to build rhythms out of a vocalist's natural singing tempo and released the results as "Dux Kidz". The project was noticed by producer Sophie, who later worked with PC Music's acts.[7] Cook began working on building flashy websites with Hannah Diamond and decided to focus on using websites to promote music.[6] In August 2013, Cook founded PC Music as a way of embracing an A&R role, with the aim of "recording people who don't normally make music and treating them as if they're a major label artist."[2]
In January 2014, Cook released "Keri Baby" as his first solo single, with vocals by Diamond.[8] The track uses pop clichés and glitchy vocals to depict Diamond as a digital entity on a screen.[8][9] His follow-up single "Beautiful" was released in June. "Beautiful" is a pastiche of Eurodance, featuring high, pitch-shifted vocals and donk sounds.[10][11] Fact magazine called it PC Music's "de-facto anthem", and the song received a remix from Scottish producer Rustie.[12]
Cook worked with Sophie to produce a song for QT, a pop singer portrayed by American performance artist Hayden Dunham.[13] She found Cook through his work online and wanted to use a song to market a QT energy drink.[14] Their resulting collaboration "Hey QT" was released in August 2014 on XL Recordings.[15]
On 22 December 2014, A. G. Cook released "What I Mean" from his "Personal Computer Music" mix as a single. The single was made available as a free download via radio presenter Annie Mac's "Free Music Monday" SoundCloud channel.[16] Opening with muffled dialogue, the song incorporates robotic vocals and a sample of R&B artist Chuckii Booker.[17] Its organ-based arrangement was a more soulful take on Cook's usual style of dance-pop.[17][18] After discussing a collaboration on a Charli XCX album,[19] Cook contributed an official remix of her single "Doing It" featuring Rita Ora.[20]
Cook's work received recognition on year-end lists for 2014. "Keri Baby" was listed at number 5 of Dummy magazine's "20 Best Tracks of 2014",[21] and Buzzfeed's "13 Obscure Tracks of 2014",[22] number 1 on Gorilla vs. Bear's, "Favourite Tracks of 2014",[23] number 2 on Dazed & Confused's "Top 20 Tracks of 2014".[9] Pitchfork Media ranked "Beautiful" number 30 on its list of "The 100 Best Tracks of 2014".[10]
March 2015 saw Cook's PC Music head to the USA to showcase all 11 of his label's talent at the Empire Garage in Austin, Texas as part of SXSW. The showcase received positive reviews, with The Guardian saying "AG Cook's entire thundering set [shows] this is a label refusing to be confined by definitions of genre or good taste."[24] On 8 May 2015, Cook performed as part of a PC Music show at BRIC House in Brooklyn, New York as part of the Red Bull Music Academy Festival. The show was billed as the premiere of Pop Cube, "a multimedia reality network".[25]
In March 2017, Charli XCX's mixtape Number 1 Angel was released, prominently featuring production by Cook and others, including PC Music artists and affiliates SOPHIE, Danny L Harle, Life Sim, and EASYFUN, who created the project EasyFX with Cook.[31][32] This was followed by the mixtape Pop 2, also featuring production by Cook and others. Pitchfork Media gave Pop 2 a rating of 8.4 out of 10, calling it "a vision of what pop music could be" and "the best full-length work of both Charli and PC Music’s respective careers".[33]
In November 2018, A. G. Cook contributed to Tommy Cash's second studio album ¥€$. Cook is credited as the producer on 5 tracks on the record, including lead single "X-RAY" which he co-produced with Danny L Harle.
Cook is the co-executive producer for Charli XCX's third studio album Charli, which was released on the 13th of September 2019. Cook has produced six of the album's seven singles, including Gone, the third single from the album, which features Christine and the Queens. The song was awarded "Best New Track" by Pitchfork [34] and best song of the week by Stereogum. [35]
Artistry
Cook's style of music amplifies the clichés of mainstream pop music from the 1990s and 2000s.[4] He follows the work of "mega-producers" such as Max Martin and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.[2] Cook references Scritti Politti's album Cupid & Psyche 85 for its "conscious decision to take pop music and make it as shiny and detailed as possible".[37] He cites Korean and Japanese pop music as influences, as well as gyaru subculture.[2]
Cook begins constructing tracks by constructing chords and melodies note by note.[2] He prefers the sounds of virtual instruments and avoids sound design early in the process, giving his music a deadpan simplicity. He experiments with combining dissonant sounds, and the resulting dense, multi-layered arrangements are influenced by the black MIDI techniques.[1][2] Cook's arrangements are inspired by the mechanized music of composer Conlon Nancarrow.[38] When collaborating with other artists, he prepares an extensive demo so that they can complete lyrics and record vocals straight away. Cook thoroughly processes the vocals, chopping them to use as a rhythmic element atop the melody.[2]
Discography
Extended plays
Year | Title | Release date | Label |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | Nu Jack Swung | Jul 31, 2013 | PC Music |
Singles
Year | Title | Release date | Label |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | "Keri Baby" (featuring Hannah Diamond) | Jan 14, 2014 | PC Music |
"Beautiful" | Jun 4, 2014 | ||
"What I Mean" | Dec 23, 2014 | Annie Mac Presents | |
2015 | "Drop FM" (featuring Hannah Diamond) | Feb 19, 2015 | PC Music |
2016 | "Superstar" | Jul 13, 2016 | |
2017 | "Money On A Gold Plate / Cos I Love U" | May 16, 2017 | |
2019 | "Lifeline" | Aug 28, 2019 |
Other tracks
Year | Title | Release date | Label |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | "My Miss 2.0 [Christmas 2.0]" | Dec 19, 2014 | Priz Tats |
2014 | "HAD 1" (Club Mix) | Feb 4, 2014 | Folie Douce |
"Bubs" (with Oneohtrix Point Never) | Dec 18, 2014 | ||
2017 | "Windowlicker" (Aphex Twin cover) | Jul 28, 2017 |
Songwriting and production credits
Title | Year | Artist(s) | Album | Credits | Written with | Produced with |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"Less Love More Sex" | 2013 | Princess Bambi | Non-album single | Producer | ||
"Pink and Blue" | Hannah Diamond | |||||
"Hey QT" | 2014 | QT | Co-writer/Producer | Hayden Dunham, Sophie Xeon | SOPHIE | |
"Attachment" | Hannah Diamond | Producer | ||||
"Every Night" | ||||||
"Hi" | 2015 | Co-writer/Producer | Hannah Diamond | |||
"爱有引力 (Real Love)" | Li Yuchun | Real Love / Only You EP | Li Yuchun | |||
"混蛋,我想你 (Only You)" | Li Yuchun | |||||
"I Like It" | 2016 | Tempura Kidz | Non-album single | Sarah Bonito, Finn Keane | EasyFun | |
"Fade Away" | Hannah Diamond | Hannah Diamond, Finn Keane | EasyFun | |||
"Make Believe" | Producer | EasyFun | ||||
"Paradise" (featuring Hannah Diamond) | Charli XCX | Vroom Vroom EP | Co-writer | Charlotte Aitchison, Martin Stilling, Jonnali Parmenius, Sophie Xeon | ||
"After the Afterparty" (featuring Lil Yachty) | Non-album single | Vocal Producer | StarGate, FRED, SOPHIE | |||
"Dreamer" (featuring Starrah & RAYE) | 2017 | Number 1 Angel | Co-writer/Producer | Charlotte Aitchison, Rachel Keen, Brittany Hazzard | ||
"3AM (Pull Up)" (featuring MØ) | Co-writer | Charlotte Aitchison, Karen Marie Ørsted | ||||
"Blame It On U" | Co-writer/Producer | Charlotte Aitchison, Jonnali Parmenius | ||||
"White Roses" | Producer | |||||
"Drugs" (featuring ABRA) | Co-writer/Producer | Charlotte Aitchison, Abra | ||||
"Lipgloss" (featuring Cupcakke) | Charlotte Aitchison, Elizabeth Harris | Life Sim, SOPHIE | ||||
"Dirty Sexy Money" (with Afrojack featuring Charli XCX & French Montana) | David Guetta | 7 | Co-writer | Pierre Guetta, Nick van de Wall, Charlotte Aitchison, Karim Kharbouch, Jonnali Parmenius | ||
"Out of My Head" (featuring Tove Lo & Alma) | Charli XCX | Pop 2 | Co-writer/Producer | Charlotte Aitchison, Ebba Tove Nilsson, Alma-Sofia Miettinen, Sophie Xeon | SOPHIE | |
"Unlock It" (featuring Kim Petras & Jay Park) | Charlotte Aitchison, Park Jae-beom, Kim Petras | Life Sim | ||||
"Backseat" (featuring Carly Rae Jepsen) | Charlotte Aitchison, Carly Rae Jepsen, Finn Keane | EasyFun | ||||
"Lucky" | Charlotte Aitchison | Ö | ||||
"Tears" (featuring Caroline Polachek) | Charlotte Aitchison, Caroline Polachek | |||||
"I Got It" (featuring Brooke Candy, Cupcakke & Pabllo Vittar) | Charlotte Aitchison, Jesse Shatkin, Rodrigo Gorky, Pablo Bispo, Brooke Candy, Jesse St. John, Elizabeth Harris, Arthur Marques | Umru | ||||
"Femmebot" (featuring Dorian Electra & Mykki Blanco) | Charlotte Aitchison, David Gamson, Fransisca Hall, Michael Quattlebaum Jr., Finn Keane | EasyFun, David Gamson | ||||
"Delicious" (featuring Tommy Cash) | Charlotte Aitchison, Tommy Cash | |||||
"Porsche" (featuring MØ) | Charlotte Aitchison, Henry Allen, Karen Marie Ørsted, Cassia O'Reilly | King Henry, EasyFun | ||||
"Track 10" | Charlotte Aitchison, Mikkel Eriksen, Tor Hermansen, Noonie Bao, Sasha Yatchenko | Life Sim, Lil Data | ||||
"Mood" | 2018 | Charlie Hanson | Non-album single | Charlie Hanson, Brett McLaughlin | ||
"Focus" | Charli XCX | Charlotte Aitchison, Jakob Hazell, Svante Halldin | ||||
"True" | Hannah Diamond | Reflections | Producer | |||
"Mona Lisa" (featuring Rick Owens) | Tommy Cash | ¥€$ | ||||
"Horse B4 Porsche" | ||||||
"Dostoyevsky" | ||||||
"Cool 3D World" | ||||||
"Quake" | 2019 | Alaska Reid | Non-album single | Co-writer/Producer | Alaska Reid | |
"Blame It on Your Love" | Charli XCX | Charli | Additional producer | Stargate, EasyFun | ||
"Gone" (with Christine and the Queens) | Producer | Lotus IV, O, Baseck | ||||
"Ocean of Tears" | Caroline Polachek | Pang | Additional Producer | Caroline Polachek, Danny L Harle, Valley Girl | ||
"Cross You Out" (featuring Sky Ferreira) | Charli XCX | Charli | Co-writer/Producer | Charlotte Aitchison, Jonnali Parmenius, Linus Wiklund | Lotus IV | |
"Warm" (featuring Haim) | Charlotte Aitchison, Danielle Haim, Alana Haim, Este Haim | |||||
"February 2017" (featuring Yaeji & Clairo) | Producer | Charli XCX, Yaeji, Clairo | Planet 1999 | |||
"2099" (featuring Troye Sivan) | Charli XCX, Troye Sivan | Nömak |
Remixes
2013 | Dreamtrak | "Odyssey, Pt. 2" (A. G. Cook Remix) |
2013 | Karmelloz | "B. M. W." (A. G. Cook Refix) |
2013 | DJ DJ Booth | "Heaven" (A. G. Cook Remix) |
2013 | Yola Fatoush | "Skeleton" (A. G. Cook Remix) |
2014 | Zinc | "Show Me" (A. G. Cook Remix) |
2014 | How to Dress Well | "Repeat Pleasure" (A. G. Cook Remix) |
2015 | Charli XCX feat. Rita Ora | "Doing It" (A. G. Cook Remix) |
2015 | Yelle | "Moteur Action" (Sophie & A. G. Cook Remix) |
2016 | Oneohtrix Point Never | "Sticky Drama" (A. G. Cook Remix) |
2017 | Danny L Harle | "Me4U" (A. G. Cook Remix) |
2018 | Phoenix | "Fior Di Latte" (A. G. Cook Remix) |
Mixes
2012 | "ILLAMASQUA 彩る MIX BY A. G. COOK" | Logo Magazine |
2013 | "CON/HAL x LOGO MIX BY A. G. COOK" | Logo Magazine |
2013 | "Radio Tank Mix: A. G. Cook" | Tank Magazine |
2013 | "Personal Computer Music" | DIS Magazine |
2013 | "A. G. COOK / CC MIX" | Creamcake |
2014 | "LUCKYME x RINSE 32 (ft A. G. COOK)" | LuckyMe Records |
2014 | "PC Music x DISown Radio (ft. A. G. Cook, GFOTY, Danny L Harle, Lil Data, Nu New Edition and Kane West)" | PC Music |
2015 | "A. G. Cook Boiler Room SXSW Mix" | Dailymotion x RayBan |
2018 | "A. G. Cook - Hollywood Ambient" | NTS Radio Liminal Takeover |