The only question left about PC Music remains whether or not it’d go over with the public. The London label/scene/collective specialize in a very particular strain of millennial dance music. If you’re reductive, call it “bubblegum bass,” shrieking pop melody with old-school dubstep inclinations, but that doesn’t capture their transgressiveness.
It’s been a solid year for PC Music. On Thursday night, they claimed Empire Garage for their very own. Yeah, that chin-stroking IDM now has a bunch of proletarian bros ready to get down for the cause.
Maybe the sky really is the limit.
PC’s star is Sophie, a semi-anonymous producer who may or may not be responsible for all the other names on the roster. There’s something special about his trademark sound, like he’s coaxing a computer out of its quiet slavery and letting it finally express joy on its own terms and in its own language. It’s technology finally, heroically talking back.
It’s fun to dance to. Sophie’s 1am spot might have been the loudest thing going at SXSW. Those polygonal, lollipop drums snap the elastic of your eardrums, his army of digital divas searing your frontal lobes. Standout singles “Lemonade” and “Bipp” were already deliriously meta, but they get even more mind-warping when pushed through something with a little more oomph than Macbook speakers.
Sophie makes outstandingly weird music. It’s almost a gimmick, relying on a globalized Internet culture to resonate with a generation of lone wanderers nurtured on IRL solitude. He’s already got the frat boys, though, which means the rest of the world is about to fall.
Complete SXSW Music coverage at austinchronicle.com/sxsw/music
This article appears in March 20 • 2015.