Record Label Samplers: PC Music Volume 1

I was late to the PC Music party, but I’ve got a good excuse: I’m old. But the first time I heard this label sampler (which was in 2020, I think?), my jaw dropped to the floor. How was it possible to cram this much abrasive madness into a pop record?

Because indeed, PC Music was ground zero for hyperpop; pop that was so poppy that when people encountered it, they assumed it was a joke or something. Like this now infamous Pitchfork review:

Charli XCX had been a mainstream pop singer, so she was the PC Music-affiliated artist that “normal” people encountered, and just couldn’t believe what they were being asked to listen to. Understandable, but also hilarious.

Even Charli’s record company thought this was commercial suicide (that’s PC Music boss A. G. Cook on the floor in the background there), and it probably would have been (produced by Cook and SOPHIE). And then eight years later, Charli’s huge with an album that’s not so dissimilar from what they were doing back then.

Anyway, this PC Music label sampler is from 2018, and it works perfectly as an album, and also as a way to make any person over 30 to leave the room (and most of the people under 30, too). It’s fantastic! Every track a pearl, and it has great flow as an album, and it does what a record label sampler is supposed to do: It got me to buy albums from most of the featured acts.

More effective not-that-interested-in-music-person disperser than Merzbow or Government Alpha. Not recommended if you have a headache.

 03:32 Hannah Diamond - Every Night
 03:48 A. G. Cook - Beautiful
 02:24 GFOTY - USA
 03:27 Danny L Harle - In My Dreams
 04:18 Hannah Diamond - Attachment
 02:22 Lipgloss Twins - Wannabe
 02:14 Thy Slaughter - Bronze
 02:08 A. G. Cook - Keri Baby (feat. Hannah Diamond)
 01:51 GFOTY - Don't Wanna: Let's Do It
 03:33 Easyfun - Laplander

Or individual tracks:

This blog post is part of the Record Label Samplers series.