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Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked A. G. Cook to share a taste of his taste on Perfectly Imperfect.
A. G. Cookis a London-based musician and producer who founded the highly influential record label PC Music (2013 - 2023), pioneering the hyper-pop genre alongside artists like Hannah Diamond (PI #362), QT, Danny L. Harle, and GFOTY. Over the years, A. G. has also collaborated with icons including Charli XCX (PI #233), Beyoncé, Oneohtrix Point Never (PI: #389), Lady Gaga, and Caroline Polachek. Cook kicked off his solo discography with the colossal 7G, an incredible and idiosyncratic 49-song album, and quickly followed it with Apple and a remix album titled Apple vs. 7G. I’m especially keen on his beautiful cover of Crimson and Clover…which might even be my favorite rendition. Last Friday, after a rollout including the parody site Witchfork and a lead single featuring Charli, Cook’s latest record Britpop is finally here. Lucky for us, A. G. is here to tell us what he’s been into.
I started playing Dungeons & Dragons a few years ago, but I’ve imperceptibly drifted towards more and more esoteric games. This downward spiral led me to Swyvers. “A game about bastards [where] you and your gang of criminals scarper through heists and sewers, stalk through the filth of The Smoke and, if you're lucky… make it out with a few extra shillings.” You can play as a Ruined Nob, a Ratman Exile, a Hedge-Swyver or just a bog-standard Swyver with a 25% chance of being literate. I’m truly inspired by games like this that flesh out a detailed, open-ended world using random tables, glib descriptions and a handful of rules. Written by Luke Gearing, illustrated by David Hoskins, and published by the Melsonian Arts Council, the full book is still on its way - but there are plenty of resources for it if you know where to look.
🎸🇺🇸 Nashville
The 1975 Robert Altman movie - never been to the city itself, but been meaning to go asap! I remember watching this right after I finished 7G in 2020. The sheer number of characters and threads (I think it’s 24 lead characters set over 5 days) really resonated with me. It’s an extension of the multi-tracked sound recording that Altman innovated with California Split, but this time it goes beyond overlapping dialogue and includes live performances, mostly of songs written by the actors themselves. It’s a masterful web built from organised set pieces and improvised moments, a testament to the myriad of personalities and eccentrics that make up every music scene.
👺🌺 Hellebore Magazine
A small press magazine edited by Maria J. Pérez Cuervo with art direction by Nathaniel Hébert. Part of a reemergence of British folk horror that delves into history, archaeology, psychogeography, and the occult. They’ve also published a Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain and a Magical Card Battle game that pits Crowley against the Wicker Man. I’ve spent much of the last few years moving back & forth between the US and the UK, so it’s been fun and somewhat therapeutic to explore the supernatural mythos that surrounds my country of origin.
I first met Sinna when the New York Times sent him up to Montana to photograph me for a piece during the pandemic. He spends most of time doing documentary photography and photojournalism, and was in the middle of covering the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally when he got the assignment. I feel like he brings a fly-on-the-wall, investigative quality to his portraits, and a portrait-like staging to his images of plane spotters, Met Gala afterparties and Las Vegas architecture. I’ve always aspired to collide mainstream and underground approaches, but he makes it look effortless. His instagram is also a constant stream of fascinating candid clips and observations.
🎶💎 Songminer
A modern music folklore podcast hosted by Alaska Reid and featuring a wide range of interviewees. I’ve been with Alaska for the last 6 years, so I’ve really witnessed and learned a lot from her dedication to songwriting. She’s also a human can-opener, extracting golden nuggets while discussing her guests’ rawest demos. There’s a new, extremely thorough episode with Gus from Kero Kero Bonito, someone else who I’ve known for a long time, and it’s special to hear such a sincere conversation in an otherwise opaque online world. Her episode with Lauren Mayberry is also particularly direct and touches on a lot of things that musicians don’t often talk about.
🔋🌱 Synplant 2
This synth-plugin has been doing the rounds amongst my producer friends since it was released at the end of last year. It has a pretty radical approach, using Sonic Charge’s “genopatch technology” to grow and unravel synth patches based on a small audio sample. It isn’t really like sampling - it’s a much more beautiful and chaotic hall of mirrors. Pure synthesis has never been easier or more uncanny than this.
🥂🎡 Toast of London
Stephen Toast is joined by an all-star cast, featuring Jane Plough, Clem Fandango, Jemima Gina, Portia De Coogan, Susan Random, Sookie Houseboat, Bob Fennison, Cliff Promise, Brooke Hooberman, and Ray “Bloody” Purchase. Matt Berry’s chronicle of thespian London is an impeccable and very respectable tele-vision comedy.
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