It was the Thursday night before Halloweekend, and the atmosphere at Brooklyn’s Knockdown Center was electric. As I approached the venue, the subwoofers were already pulsing through the ground, signaling that the London-based record label PC Music was prepared to deliver a ghoulishly good time. The lineup featured umru, FADER documentary star Sophia Stel, and the visionary A.G. Cook, promising a night of intense, high-fidelity electronica.

A Night of Hyperpop Energy

The crowd was a testament to the genre’s reach, featuring an intergenerational mix of fans. I even spotted a cluster of attendees dressed as umru, hovering near the producer himself. By 9 p.m., the room was packed, and the energy was palpable. Umru’s set was exactly what the audience craved, blending frenetic bass loops with glitchy vocal samples. He kept the momentum high, weaving in tracks from artists like underscores, Charli XCX, and Tinashe.

Towards the end of his set, umru invited a surprise guest to the stage: June Vinette of B0YG1RL. Her brief, high-octane performance of “REALITY” served as a perfect bridge into the next phase of the evening.

Sophia Stel and the Art of Connection

When Sophia Stel took the stage, the energy shifted toward something more intimate and psychedelic. Singing tracks like “I’ll Walk” and “Bitches Talk Shit,” she commanded the room with a vulnerability that felt both confessional and powerful. Her performance, reminiscent of the emotional depth found in Lorde’s work, was backed by club-ready beats that kept the crowd moving. Despite a hint of nerves, her connection with the audience was undeniable, turning the venue into a space for shared, bittersweet optimism.

The Performance Art of A.G. Cook

The night reached its zenith when PC Music founder A.G. Cook took over the decks. Rather than a standard DJ set, Cook delivered a masterclass in performance art. Over 45 minutes, he built complex, textural soundscapes in real-time, isolating loops and developing them into intricate, arpeggiated patterns. It was as if he were composing the music on the spot, using his CDJ with the precision of a guitarist.

The set told a cohesive story, transitioning from sharp, sci-fi-inspired percussion to majestic, trance-like soundscapes. It was a rare, beautiful experience that left the audience in a daze, standing in collective silence before the house lights finally signaled the end of the night.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified some of the tracks umru played in his set. We regret the error.