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One of the most influential musical collectives over the past 15 years is seeing its legacy bloom through a booming online fandom…

PC Music is, or rather was, a music record label and collective that’s led by producer Alexander Guy Cook. His name is often initialised tp A.G. Cook and he’s at the forefront of one of the most guiding movements in alternative music history. With his little music label and a vision ahead, he worked for many pop artists who wanted to redefine the very essence of electropop. Among the hallmarks in the 2010s were that of compilations, remixes, and studio records made by several names that were produced by either him or his associated friends. Think Charli XCX for how i’m feeling right now in 2020, Li Yuchun’s two singles in ‘Real Love’ and ‘Only You’ in 2016, Hannah Diamond’s debut single ‘Every Night’ back in the record label’s inception in 2013, the PC Music Volume series, or most cumulatively in Sophie Xeon/SOPHIE’s OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES in 2018 even if it’s under a different record label.  The collective is lauded for setting the groundworks of hyperpop that soon was led by 100 gecs or underscores.

In 2023, A.G. Cook had announced that PC Music will no longer release new music and will instead release special reissues and archivals on the website. Despite the promise, little update went around since then even as Cook himself went on to assimilate more with mainstream music by producing for Charli XCX’s brat. This of course peeves off many fans who want the kind of pop music that pushes its cutesy production to its logical conclusion. A handful of them take matters into their own hands and spread the songs through social media to let others know of PC Music and its greatest legacies. What that is I’m thinking of is PC Music Archive which is active on Instagram and Twitter at the time of writing. 

What’s worth noting about PC Music Archive is that it doesn’t cover albums that are completely shelved before full release as per say. At least it doesn’t categorise songs by the same artist into an album should there be a stylistic similarity, connected themes, or shared personnels. All that being said, it does cover a lot of unreleased snippets or full tracks done by a wide range of musicians regardless how close they are to PC Music itself. After all, the record label was firm in its original purpose of being to platform upcoming pop artists or more independent names as though they’re mainstream staples. 

On one hand, you have many of SOPHIE’s music being made available after her eponymous posthumous album in 2024. There exists an extended version of one of her signature songs ‘It’s Okay to Cry’, entirely instrumental beats such as ‘CASSIESS’, and several leaked tracks like ‘Take Me to Dubai’ are presumed to have originally been for the original second album that fans dubbed TRANSNATION prior to its eventual rework into SOPHIE. Many names with close ties to the collective like Finn “easyFun” Keane saw their remixes of songs like Ariana Grande’s ‘Break Free’ be up and available for those who want to enquire about how their tunes might stand out with different productions.

On the other hand, there are a good amount of names that might surprise many fans with their collaboration that never bear fruit. One artist of note is Allie X who made two demos with A.G. Cook and easyFun as her producers in 2016. ‘I Don’t Wanna Fall in Love’ contains the typical aspects of PC Music’s characteristics like bouncy basslines or more maximalist electronic incorporation. Another song titled ‘Sleepover’ won a lot of acclaim from fans over its more heavenly kind of synths that appear to contain a smidge of phasing along with vocal layerings that add to the tweeness of the whole music. The latter struck over 300 thousand views on Twitter at the time of writing with much of the praise going towards how fitting Allie X’s vocals are to the collective.

Other artists like Nicola Roberts saw renewed attention over their collaborations with PC Music with unreleased tracks like ‘Everything to Me’ that has its punchy flanging and subtly abrasive metalism of its percussion. The weight that can be felt from the songs help to highlight the innovative direction that the record label is facing back in its heyday where its original snippets of fans would keep an eye out of A.G. Cook along with affiliates like SOPHIE. The music itself sticks out for how exaggerated it is even compared to the very source materials that it appeared to parody like electropop or teen pop. Yet, it’s this creativity that enables many to push their electronic backings to its very frontier which fuels genres like deconstructed club, bubblegum bass, and most notably hyperpop to prominence entering the 2020s.

Around the web, users like ARTIFICIAL BLOOM and XeonForever V2 have helped to proliferate the archived songs of PC Music and its members/associates into platforms like YouTube to spread awareness. Many of them are fans whose love for their favourites have reached the point of doing whatever they can to ensure that they acquire new fans long after either their disbandment, retirement, or even passing. Given how PC Music has a slant of anti-establishmentarianism in its vision towards platforming underground artists, there couldn’t have been a better way to develop a reputation than word-of-mouth hype and appraisal. It is a niche bit of phenomenon that’s not much different from fans of Weezer or other bands like the Killers whose demos or shelved tunes are seen as rawer and more authentic than the studio-polished final version. For the likes of PC Music however? It feels like a cult following which is deserving for a ragtag group that’s a visionary in what they do.

Many of the music otherwise are originally available through sites like Pillowcase. Users can simply plop whatever file they have to the site before sharing the link around for others to download should they want to. Of course, the likes of SoulseekQT are available for a plunder when it comes to leaks, but Pillowcase is the medium that PC Music Archive used to share the materials. Years after it closed its doors on releasing new music, PC Music saw much of the songs be democratised in how it can be accessed which point towards its influence towards online music culture. Some fans even wonder whether the archivals might lead to a renewal in attention towards the record label and its legacy. After all, few do enjoy its reach going far within the internet quite like PC Music itself and its headlining names like A.G. Cook, Hannah Diamond, easyFun, or close associates like SOPHIE.