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PC Music
Koko, London
PIONEERING producer AG Cook, the son of English architect Sir Peter Cook – one of the founders of the legendary, neo-futuristic Archigram – has been spearheading an entirely unique brand of electronic pop since founding his label PC Music almost 10 years ago.
Since then, the label has boasted a burgeoning roster of talent –dubbed hyperpop by Spotify – where glitchy electronica is married with bubblegum pop, and dissonance and harmony become unlikely bedfellows.
Wednesday’s takeover of Camden’s Koko was an attempt to showcase some of the label’s best artists, who perform a selection of tunes from its anticipated new compilation Volume 3.
But the question is how does one squeeze more than a dozen acts into one live show?
The answer is perhaps not to everyone’s taste — for each act to be given a 10-minute performance slot with a five minute changeover in-between, with the end result feeling about as breakneck as the music.
But this is more a backhanded compliment to just how good some of the music is. EASYFUN, aka Finn Keane, launches straight into fan favourite Laplander — the epitome of the style and among the label’s best tunes — from behind his decks.
Hannah Diamond’s lush Fade Away And Invisible, along with new release Staring At The Ceiling, are so brilliantly performed she could have easily held the stage for a lot longer.
Rising star Namasenda and Tommy Cash were also both notable for their commanding stage presence, with catchy tunes to boot, but they too were gone before anyone got to enjoy them too much.
Elsewhere, Kero Kero Benito appear to dedicate their 10 minutes to some sort of performance art, Estonian-American produce Umru is joined onstage with a ribbon dancer and rapper 645AR has the packed venue jumping.
Even AG Cook himself, the headline act everyone is waiting for, humbly performed no more than the rest, despite having plenty of ingenious numbers in his repertoire.
However, he made those minutes count by being joined onstage by acclaimed singer Caroline Polachek for Lifeline and returning for a two-song encore.
But while the sets may have been stunted, each act offered something unique — a tantalising taste of things to come.
