John is joined by Alex Cook, better known as A. G. Cook, to talk about how he wrote, recorded and produced the album ‘Britpop’. A. G. Cook, is a London-based artist and producer. After studying at Goldsmiths University, he founded PC Music, a label shaping hyper pop with artists including Hannah Diamond and Danny L Harle. His debut solo albums, ‘7G’ and ‘Apple’, arrived in 2020. In addition to his own music, Alex has shared his production talents with numerous pop icons, including Jonsi, Madonna, and Caroline Polachek, and Charli XCX. In May 2024, he released his third studio album, ‘Britpop’, a 24-song exploration blending pop, experimental electronics, and acoustic sounds. Catching up at Strongroom Studios, Alex guides us through the three distinct chapters of the album, digging into the production and song writing approaches he took to make them stand out. As well as sharing some intricate plugin demos, we hear stories of developing a harmonic style, meticulous automation and what it means to be an aggressive listener.   Tracks discussed: Heartache, Serenade, Lucifer TAPE IT Thanks to our friends at Tape It for supporting the podcast. Visit tape.it/tapenotes or use the promo code TAPENOTES in the app to get 50% off. MUSIVERSAL Skip the waitlist and get your 25% discount HERE LISTEN to ‘Britpop’ here. New Alias LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES   linktr.ee/tapenotes  Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective GEAR MENTIONS Soundtoys Filter Freak Waves MetaFlanger Deamtonics Synthesizer V  Reveal Sound Spire Xfer Serum Xfer OTT Sonic Charge Synplant 2 Logic Compressor Native Instruments Reaktor Native instrument Razor IK Multimedia Mixbox Udo Super 6 Synth Sonic Academy Kick 2 Arturia Vocoder V Melda Productions M Bit Fun Electro Harmonix Pitch Fork Roland TR-606 Roland Juno Synth Rode Microphones Sony C800G Shure SM58 Arturia DX-7 Soma Synths Lyra 8 Logic Pro OUR GEAR https://linktr.ee/tapenotes_ourgear HELP SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to help support the show you can join us on Patreon, where among many things you can access full length videos of most new episodes, ad-free episodes and detailed gear list breakdowns. KEEP UP TO DATE For behind the scenes photos and the latest updates, make sure to follow us on:  Instagram: @tapenotes  Twitter: @tapenotes  Facebook: @tapenotespodcast   YouTube: Tape Notes Podcast Discord: Tape Notes Patreon: Tape Notes To let us know the artists you’d like to hear, Tweet us, slide into our DMs, send us an email or even a letter. We’d love to hear!  Visit our website to join our mailing list: www.tapenotes.co.uk TAPE NOTES TEAM Will Brown  Tim Adam-Smith  Will Lyons  Nico Varanese  Guy Nicholls  Jessica Clucas Katie-Louise Buxton  Seb Brunner-Stolovitzky  Jonathon Coughlin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices