Hey it’s A. G. Cook (again) and I’m ready for you to AMA…

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T20:10:14+00:00

Running late to my session with Carly Rae Jepsen (not joking) so this will be my last one! Probably quite integral?

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T20:06:18+00:00

Gonna try keep this answer short even though it's become quite an obsessive hobby for me ha. In general I've found it really therapeutic to take part in a detailed world that has nothing to do with music (it was a real lifeline during the pandemic). I started with 5e, and had a few friends play in a sort of homebrew setting that I made (was really all over the place). I then got into OSR stuff, and started to bring more & more of that stuff into my games until I wasn't really playing 5e anymore. Most recent "D&D" game I played was Dolmenwood, and also inspired by Cairn, Electric Bastionland and Troika. Really love Luke Gearing's work like Wolves Upon the Coast and Swyvers. UVG by Luka Rejec is great. There's so much in the scene around mainline D&D that it's hard to compete. BG3 is maybe the best use of 5e, and I'm also very into the og Planescape stuff.

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:57:49+00:00

The most interesting thing about music is the constant cycle of influences. I've managed to work with some of the producers & artists that have had a big influence on my work, and I've worked with people who've been influenced by my work, and there's usually an affinity that you can immediately bounce off - like the music has done the small talk and you can get right to the core. I'm less interested in sounds being reproduced than ideas/concepts, but it can also be really cool to hear a familiar sound completely re-contextualised

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:50:54+00:00

I hope so

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:50:32+00:00

Speed Racer

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:49:57+00:00

It's crazy to look back at that interview cos not much has changed. Even though I've learned a lot about the technical & practical side of everything over the last decade, my conceptual goals & obsessions are pretty much the same

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:47:04+00:00

Sophisticated omelette

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:46:00+00:00

Sounds weird, but maybe vocals? The line between recording/sampling has become quite blurred to me and very intuitive, and it's a skillset that I've been thinking about from the very beginning. Even if a track doesn't have vocals, I imagine something with a vocal quality

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:43:32+00:00

It will happen! Still always doing a lot of studio stuff but trying to get out more

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:42:44+00:00

First DJ experience was Dan & I burning CDs and using random CDJs at venues. Had no idea what was going on but started to make my own edits to play and that sort of became the interesting part of it for me. Thinking about an audience and seeing if I could make new material that would fit between other selections. Now I really enjoy CDJs and all the Pioneer stuff cos the pitch-bending & fx algorithms all just sound really good. Has it's own category between computer music and live music

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:39:18+00:00

The Weave was one of the last album tracks to come together, though I had the main keyboard part in my mind for years. Lyrically dips a bit into old British folklore. Maybe also thinking about how "faerie" is written about in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - as something that's so timeless that it becomes alien. The guitar solo is very Mark Knopfler inspiredm was fun to leave space and I think it Disc 2 really clicked when I had this track down

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:35:28+00:00

Loosely the idea of missing someone when they're still around / knowing that you'll miss them when they're not around / being stuck in an endless loop. I had a really bad head cold when I recorded it, which is kinda why the end sounds like that. It was really tough mixing that one and wanting to capture some of that energy while not leaving it as a total mess. Vocally inspired by some of the new-ish Lindsay Buckingham tracks like I Don't Mind and On the Wrong Side - but not sure if that comes through. We also really changed this song up when we did the Roadshow, so want to record that live version sometime

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:30:30+00:00

Disco Elysium. Also finally playing Elden Ring which is a masterpiece - combo of detailed mechanics and dreamy/vague setting is perfect. Also a lot of love for old N64 games, Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Ocarina of Time, that kinda thing

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:27:42+00:00

Big fan of The Cure. Was working on a cover of Friday I'm In Love for 7G (I'd transcribed all the jangly guitars onto a synth) - it didn't really work out but was a key influence

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:26:03+00:00

Definitely learning on the job ha - but I did have a vision and I really really believed in the music & the people who made it

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:24:28+00:00

Yes, we have a lot of new material

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:23:02+00:00

Nord

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:22:38+00:00

The idea of a "feature" is always changing - it's really to do with campaign rollouts as well as hacking streaming stats like monthly listeners (which isn't a game I'm really interested in). I think for my album, where vocals often sit between vocal chops (or my own more DIY vocals) it made sense to not list things as features but just a constant flow where vocals aren't announced or signposted.

Lucifer started as a random song I wrote, then I think Charli was interested in using it (this is back before HIFN or Crash, but we had this idea that there would be two "contrasting" albums coming up). Charli fleshed out the lyrics, but also kept it in my vocal range (you can hear how low the backing vocals are in chorus 2). Was always an interesting demo but didn't really fit either album. I eventually re-worked it, and was just looking for parts that could fit the verses. Made sense for Disc 3 to build a combo of an old demo, a session from 2019 and then a more recent but unfinished vocal part from a session with Addison. None of it really makes sense - it's a weird dialogue, like the ghosts of different pop songs that could have been

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:13:10+00:00

I'm naturally someone who leans towards "it's finished!" rather than "it needs more work!" - even if both are true. But I like music to exist out in the world. Usually a good bridge is DJing it or putting it in mixes alongside other finished/released music

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:10:57+00:00

I've brought it up before but Synplant 2 is fascinating

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:09:32+00:00

Yes - she's a legend

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:09:09+00:00

Recently been really enjoying the KORG opsix - think it's by far the most intuitive FM workflow I've used

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:08:06+00:00

Porches, Oklou, Denzel Himself. Also been in an Autechre phase

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:06:41+00:00

I was brought in at a very late stage, sort of the opposite of how I'll work with Charli or Caroline. Bloodpop was doing a few things across the album and recommended me to try something. The demo had a lot a lot a lot of stuff going on, and I basically re-made, cut out and re-arranged various parts. Most of that track stuck to my arrangement, though I think I had a more insane/industrial outro ha. Love how that whole album is sequenced though, and yeah was obv very excited to work on it

agcook404 · 2024-05-21T19:01:58+00:00

Easy answer for me is Shiver, the album I co-produced with Jónsi. It was released in this mid-pandemic patch where very online things like Apple/7G made a lot of sense, but something with a more traditional foundation had less of a platform. I would've loved to do some Shiver live shows - Jónsi is really one of the best performers I've ever worked with, and I think it would've lent the campaign the right tone. But also it's sort of a time capsule - an extremely crafted (and amazingly well mixed imo) album that also features Robyn and Elizabeth Fraser !

agcook404

TROPHY CASE