PC Music’s Pop Crypt rave was an intergenerational hyperpop bonanza

It was the Thursday night before Halloweekend and every creature was stirring. Standing on the corner of 54th and Flushing, I could already feel the subwoofers pulsing through the ground as I approached Knockdown Center, where the London-based record label PC Music was set to throw a ghoulish rave. This wasn’t going to be just another Brooklyn rave: umru, The FADER’s latest documentary star Sophia Stel, and A.G. Cook were on the lineup, so I knew that I was going to come out of the night with a sore neck and plenty of clips eating into my iPhone storage.

After filing through the Knockdown’s TSA-like security check, I dashed straight to the stage and landed a spot right up front. Concert-goers were just beginning to fill the space, and to my left, I spotted a cluster of several people dressed as umru, all crowded around the genuine article, in his typical baseball cap and a polo shirt. “I thought of this costume before I saw your guys’ Halloween costumes article,” one of the faux-umrus yelled over. Shortly after, the room began to fill, pushing up against the barricade. It was barely 9 p.m. and I was already set to dance all night.

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If you’re a hyperpop fan in the five boroughs, you’ve probably been to an umru set: the DJ and producer plays so many b2bs it’s become a bit of a meme. His set on Thursday night was the exact party those fans came for, revving up with frenetic bass loops and glitchy vocal samples to pop songs that kept concert-goers on their feet. Dressed in his classic headlamp and a pair of cartoonish sanpaku eyes, underscores, Charli XCX, and Tinashe’s “Melatonin” kept the energy high.

Towards the end of his set, umru brought in a surprise guest: June Vinette from B0YG1RL. Playing “REALITY” from the B0YG1RL album released in October, June jumped across the stage during her brief performance, turning the crowd up even more.

The crowd roared when Sophia Stel stepped onto the stage, mic in hand. Dramatically shifting the show’s energy with her psychedelic pop sound, the room sang with her to “I’ll Walk” off the greatest album of all time. Raising the energy as her set went on, Stel bounced across the stage to “Bitches Talk Shit” and “I Do,” then peeled off her black hoodie for a climactic performance of “Now I’ve Got A Lot You Know.”

Stel’s heartfelt set felt like a nod to Lorde — her words are touching, romantic, and even confessional, while her melodies are backed by club-pop beats that had me swinging and bopping my head, mirroring her movements on stage.

I could tell that she wasn’t just there to hype up the crowd : Stel was pouring her heart into the microphone. Despite or perhaps because of the contrast between her set and the preceding DJs, she seemed almost nervous, but never awkward. The way her music connected with the audience felt optimistic, if tinged with bittersweetness.

When PC Music founder and electronic music legend A.G. Cook took over the decks, I expected a rave-ready setlist of Millennial favorites. What I got instead was pure performance art. In his mere 45 minutes on stage, Cook isolated loop samples, developed them with more textural beats, and then transitioned these sounds through arpeggiated patterns seamlessly, as if he was making music on the spot.

I was so in awe that I stopped jumping around and stood, mouth agape, trying to figure out if he had secretly switched to using a synth. A.G. Cook used the CDJ like a songwriter strumming the guitar — all of his samples were pieced together perfectly and yet each sang a melody of their own.

And tying together the whole set was a true arc, not just sounds played in succession. Before Pop Crypt, I never understood that a DJ set could truly tell a story. Beats with percussive, sharp-edged tones like a simulated sci-fi adventure flowed into dreamy, trance-like soundscapes that filled the venue with a majestic atmosphere.

I felt a cold sweat build up around my forehead, but suddenly, it was all over and the house lights were back up again. Following the crowd onto Flushing, I remained in a daze—the night felt like a flash that seemed to last forever.

Very rarely do I come out of a rave and call it “beautiful," but packed tight as sardines amongst revelers in their costumes, swaying, singing, and then standing in silence, Pop Crypt transformed Knockdown Center. From A.G. Cook to Sophia Stel to umru to B0YG1RL, PC Music brought together generations of the hyperpop family for a strobe-lit feast.

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