Pulco

The Man of Lists – Pulco

Release date: 18 June 2012

Pre-Order at Bandcamp:

The Man Of Lists is a new album for June 2012 and features music contributions from:

- Butcher’s Prime Cuts
- The Unexpected Bowtie
- Gwildor
- Adam Leonard
- Ratatosk
- Picturebox
- Snippet
- Ian Thistlethwaite
- Dan Carlson

Details here: http://pulcomusic.com/man-of-lists/

I’m a firm believer in lists!

“I can make a list for any occasion.

Lists help me organise the mundane and boring bits of my life so that I can clear my mind for better things. In a more colourful and creative way I also love writing lyrics and poems to document and categorise my day to day journey through the ordinary. Played back however, such writing can reveal lot about a person and really give you an insight in to how we tick as people. It can also be interesting to listen to.

From time to time I feel the need to bring all of this written material together, mix it with sound and call it Pulco! This is exactly what we’ve done with The Man Of Lists.

In the spirit of collaboration I thought that it would be an interesting exercise to build on the theme that I started with the Dictaphone Home album by inviting more of my musical pals to create tunes for the 25 poems on offer rather than contributing any of the music myself. The word went out in Sept ’11 and by the end of the year the album was pretty much in the bag.

I love the variety and texture of the music on the album. It all holds together really well whist still sounding like a Pulco record. For that I thank all involved. So sit back then and listen to what an ordinary bloke from North Wales gets out of life. Onward tourists.”
– Ashley Cooke

Sketchbook Season – Pulco – FREE Download EP

Reviews:
“Unsettling looped harmonies, running water and breathy whistling. You never quite know what you’re going to come across in a Pulco record, and that’s part of its charm. Sketchbook Season continues in the ‘lofi misery poet’ style that we’ve come to know and admire (albeit maybe at a distance).

The opening track – Whistle frog finds a way – is the perfect mix of obscurity and dischordant melody to suck your ears in and have its tune going round and round your head for hours like some sort of fucked up merry go-round. It wouldn’t seem out of place as the indie background to some hip new-media viral TV advert.

In amongst the weirdness though, there’s plenty of deep, wavy sounds to let yourself sink into. Don’t Stand Down is quietly beautiful, and Party Started has enough chorus-filled guitars and sunny synths to feel like it’s on some mad, drugged out trip.

There’s plenty more to this well thought-out and intricate little EP, but you can check it out for yourself, as it’s released…free via Folkwit Records.”
- Stephen McLeod, ArtRocker

“What better way to describe Autumn than the term that titles the new EP from Pulco? Sketchbook Season is out on November 21st from Folkwit Records and it’s another charming collection from Ash Cooke.

Derrero recently reunited as a a three-piece at the SWIGEN festival in Cardiff. And while I’m sure that Derrero fans are hoping that the band records new material together, some fans — like me! — are also hoping that Ash Cooke keeps making music under the Pulco moniker as his solo stuff is really great.

Sketchbook Season apparently started life as a set of songs recorded for The Garden of Earthly Delights radio show but, lest you think otherwise, these 5 tracks are as well thought-out as earlier Pulco releases.

Ash Cooke is adept at producing music that sounds as if it was casually developed. And then you listen to all the pieces in the songs, and the melody catches you, and you then appreciate what care went into these works. It’s a bit like one guy in his home studio trying to replicate the sound of an entire real band.

More the fuzz-pop of Ariel Pink than the automatic drawing-inspired sonic sketches of solo Bill Nelson.

Whistle Frog Finds A Way

This track is really a perfect example of what a musician can do in the world of home recording (provided said musician has talents like Mr. Ash Cooke). What starts as a spoken word piece — with a plucked guitar line reminiscent of “Bert Jansch” from the Ash Cooke/Adam Leonard collaboration Redlip — turns quickly into a rather insistent melody built on the back of a sample of a whistle. It’s a unique turn from Cooke and an interesting choice as an EP opener.

Don’t Stand Down

What a tune! Really, this is as good as anything Cooke delivered with Derrero. There, I’ve said it! The sample — choir or keyboard? — anchors the cut and the gentle rhythm begins. “Don’t stand down” is the main lyric and it’s nearly whispered in spots. An acoustic guitar leads the track forward as Ash sings this gentle ballad.

There’s a passing similarity to the best Boo Radleys here — “Ride The Tiger” without all the production elements and guitar — as well as the early solo stuff from Boo mainman Martin Carr in his Brave Captain guise.

Still, this is a lovely ballad and it’s almost too good to be a free download.

Party Started

The late Elliott Smith was, clearly, a bit of an influence on Cooke as a solo artist and that vibe continues into Party Started — put Smith’s A Passing Feeling on a mix before this similarly sad-but-hopeful track and you’ll see what I mean.

What makes Cooke deserve such high praise as comparison to Smith is that they both use the studio trickery sparingly; the elements here, like those on most of Smith’s From A Basement On A Hill record, are used with judicious effect. In the hands of other musicians, this sort of music would be pummeled, no melody left alive.

Cooke wisely lets the tune unfurl with that very Steely Dan-ish guitar riff as the hook, his voice a bit further back in the mix. There’s some silliness near the end, the cymbals (?) crash, and the song fades out.

As lovely as Don’t Stand Down and a sure sign of Cooke’s strengths as a solo artist.

Playful, a bit silly, and a touch folky, this track is simple and fun -- another side of Cooke, the flip of the previous two tunes.

Knuckles

With its Super Furry Animals-recalling keyboards, this tune is -- to my mind -- the closest Cooke's come to sounding like Derrero in his recent solo career.

Fans of that band and that era in the Welsh pop boom following the Britpop boom, should enjoy this short song. Again, it's a sign of Cooke's strengths that he can almost casually deliver this sort of easy melody, dress it up a bit in some studio effects, and produce something as good as the four-piece Derrero.

I'm always impressed at that sort of skill, especially when it's one guy in a studio doing all that.

Sketchbook Season will be out on November 21 via Folkwit Records. Mark your calendars!"
- A Pessimist is Never Disappointed

“Ash Cooke, better known as Bangor’s Pulco releases a new EP on November 21st – Ash is former frontman and creative force behind Welsh indie band Derrero (3 Peel sessions, 2 Peel festive 50 spots, tours with Gorky’s, Super Furry Animals etc).

Following hard on the heels of his current album Small Thoughts, Pulco’s ‘Sketchbook Season EP’ is a free to download collection of tunes that were recorded earlier in the year as a session for the eclectic radio show The Garden Of Earthly Delights.

The opening track Whistle Frog kicks in with the listener presuming it’s going to be an annoying looped song, however it turns out to be a light hearted opener. Don’t Stand Down is where Ash shows his Derroro beginnings with a simple but uplifting dreamy tune, as does Party Started. He then rubs it in with the quirky Hair and a line I could never sing ‘I’ve got too much hair.’ – along with Knuckles it makes a decent EP in an indie-folk fashion full of natty fills and effects that screw it slightly off centre. Recommended.”
- Link2Wales

Small Thoughts – Pulco – £8.99 + P&P

1. What’s In A Name
2. Place Lid On Me
3. Oxbow Lake
4. Machines/Mind
5. A Self Made Man
6. Beanbags
7. Return To Undersea Adventure
8. Night Owls
9. Thumb Piano For Jad Fair
10. Data Perils
11. Jan Van
12. Poem Over Hovering Ambience
13. Old Stones
14. Key Skills
15. Seahorse: See Sheep
16. Travel Lodge Mirror
17. Mexican Mods & Mexican Rockers

Reviews:

“In the realm of American indie, lo-fi always seems to connote music without a lot of ambition, and with a certain purposeful laziness.

However, in other parts of the world — New Zealand, for instance — lo-fi describes the prodigious output of a real tunesmith like Chris Knox.

And now add Wales to that list of places where talented artists are producing quality music on modest budgets.

Operating under the moniker Pulco, Ash Cooke, former frontman of Welsh indie-rockers Derrero, has brought forth a wonderful new album, Small Thoughts, out 20 June on the Folkwit label.

Sure, there’s no big production here but there are big tunes and big ideas — a song about Flemish painter Jan van Kessel, for example! — so that lo-fi label doesn’t seem like a bad thing at all.

“Machines/Mind” cranks forth like the best of the aforementioned Chris Knox, while “Place Lid On Me” has a lovely melody that recalls Cooke’s earlier band as well as Stephen Malkmus if Malkmus was trying to wrap his hooks around a solo Lennon tune.

“Night Owls” recalls not Lennon, but McCartney, specifically “Blackbird”.

There’s a real intimacy here. As an artist, Cooke is clearly making the most out of the benefits of home recording. The songs sound at once of-the-moment — off-the-cuff, even — and yet, there are bits of tenderness and lovely melody that many mainstream acts would kill for.

With the addition of his kid’s speaking voice to “Seahorse: See Sheep”, it’s indie rock as family memento. Both experimental and melodic, the song is perfect headphone music.

A vaguely Vini Reilly-ish guitar line anchors “Travel Lodge Mirror” before the spoken word bits kick in. Is Cooke singing in character or as himself? Either way the effect is one of soul searching.

My favorite track on the record is “Return To Undersea Adventure” with the backwards tapes (?) and ringing guitar sounds recalling both the music of some thriller film soundtrack and the trippier bits on the underrated C’mon Kids (1996) by Boo Radleys; Cooke’s voice does sound a bit like Sice’s at some spots on this collection!

“Jan Van”, about Dutch painter Jan Van Kessel, brings a slight blues edge to the rhythms at work here.

The ominous piano that opens “Oxbow Lake” leads into another burst of near-spoken word self-reflection. The sinister edge clouds what is otherwise a rather upbeat song and that tension keeps the song interesting until some retro blips-and-beeps and a crunchy acoustic guitar arrive and things end amid a bit of laughter from Cooke.

“Data Perils” sounds like the work of a full band and the somewhat downbeat melody line is ornamented by a plucked guitar and insistent drum machine. Hovering somewhere between side 1 of New Order’s Brotherhood (1986) and that Sice ghost again, the song is inward looking where other moments on the record are pastoral and expansive.

It’s not an accident that I opened with a reference to the glory days of the New Zealand scene; like the boom of bands around The Chills, Wales enjoyed a similar sort of indie musical renaissance following the early chart successes of Super Furry Animals.

And while the only Welsh band I heard played in bars during my one visit to Cardiff in 2000 was Stereophonics, there was a real sense of place to the best Welsh indie of the 1990s and up.

So, that said, the highest praise I could give Pulco is to say that while the scale may be smaller, the music from Cooke now is just as rich and warm in spirit as that made a few years ago by his earlier Derrero.

If John Peel were still alive, he’d be spinning Small Thoughts with the same kind of enthusiasm he once showed for Derrero.”
- A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed (Music Blog)

“Former Derrero member Ash Cooke aka Pulco is releasing his seventh DIY folky album this month, cobbled together from a vast array of strange and more conventional sounds.

Harnessing any sort of noise he can get his hands on to turn into a note or a segment of a track, Pulco even manages to turn the most unlikely of everyday social interactions into wonderful sonic moments. Most parents or those with siblings have no doubt experienced the frustration of trying to record with a condenser mic or two in a house filled with loud, excitable young children. Instead of tearing his hair out, Pulco instead manages to use these sort of supposedly untimely interruptions to his own advantage; embracing them fully and twisting and shaping them into parts of songs. It’s a brilliantly creative way of working, and the results show that… It kindof makes me jealous. I want an source of spontaneous samples to tap into! It’s also a much better documentary of childhood than family home videos surely…

Playful tunes with a youthful innocence and ‘sketchbook’ approach are never dull to listen to, and mercifully without pretence or ceremony.

‘Place Lid On Me’ is the track that stands out most after a fair few listens… or at least the one that seems to be most instantly recognisable as a great loofa, fuzz-pop track. and is also one that has a video to accompany it. Check it out below…”
- Stephen McLeod, Artrocker

“In the face of autotuned mainstream music which prizes image and production values over and above lyrical content, meaning and musicianship, it’s often refreshing to immerse yourself in the dirty, undistilled world of lo-fi. Coming straight out of left-field, Small Thoughts is an incongruous amalgam of thoughts and pieces built upon a solid avant-garde foundation; it feels much more like a songbook than an album… that is to say that each track is a standalone piece with little, if any, relation to the material alongside it. Ultimately, it’s the rawness of the recordings and the incorporation of some strange and bewildering sounds which tie the tracks together, be it a hoover or children laughing in the background. At times the desire to create something new and interesting can detract from, rather than accentuate the actual song, but tracks like Old Stones reaffirm the undeniable songwriting talent on display here.”
- AH, The Miniature Music Press

“Small Thoughts is a Technicolor sketchbook of ideas and whimsical exploration, some fully realised but mostly left intriguingly open ended. After seven albums down this road there’s no reason for Cooke to alter his M.O now, you just have to dive in and join him on his ramshackle ride.”
- Ian Fildes, Americana UK, 02 August 2011 More…

“‘goin’ loco, down in ..’ oh, sorry, I started getting enthusiastic about ‘Small Thoughts’ as soon as I saw the bands name, wirt large in a lettering that I last saw used by Pulp, on the cover of their ‘Different Class’ album. First impressions count for something with me and have always done, and Pulco are making some interesting noises even before I’ve started listening to their album. Correction, is – Pulco are Ashley Cooke, a 4 track veteran of tours with SFAs, Sebadoah and has even worked alongside John Cale. And I’ve heard him before, it is unmistakable, and it’s also around 8 years ago, probably on Peel – at any rate 2nd track ‘Place Lid On Me’ is a sound and vocal I recognise, and in a good way.

‘Oxbow Lake’ is guitar and tinny drum machine boosted with some with some smartly handled backing vocals and keyboard interjections, and the sound of a cat complaining about its sudden introduction to a microphone. Lyrical and funny, and declaiming his own spoken words with as much inspiration as he brings to a ballad such as ‘Machines/Mind’, the beachside oddness of ‘Thumb Piano For Jad Fair’, the thoughtful refelction of ‘Old Stories’, the techno excesses of ‘Travel Lodge Mirror’, and final track ‘Mexican Mods And Mexican Rockers’ is a gleeful deconstruction of the album, the band ethos, and is very amusing indeed. There’s more than comedy to the 17 tracks on ‘Small Thoughts’ though, and anyone listening to it will indeed find it a memorable experience, on a par with even Pulp? They might.”
- JG, Tasty Fanzine

“Pulco is Ash Cooke, who at the turn of the 00s was in the fabulous and much overlooked Cardiff-based post-SFA art-psych outfit Derrero, who sounded like this. Small Thoughts is actually his seventh solo album of scrapbook lo-fi experimental pop, interlaced with scrappy keyboards, found sound and spoken word and ambient passages it’s a highly singular work, often self-indulgent but openly all-embracing for its nuggets of odd melodic spark.”
- Sweeping The Nation (Blog)

“Small Thoughts Yet another offering from Ash Cooke on the local Folkwit Records label and very aptly titled too as Pulco once again puts down his thoughts and ideas on disc in song and spoken word. Using any instrument available and even at one stage allowing his kids to add comments to the recording, he ponders Ox Bow Lakes, Dutch painters and Travelodge mirrors. Again a challenging album for the discerning listener.”
- Dave Sutherland, The Essential Guide, Nottingham Evening Post

Current Releases:

Triceratops – Pulco – £8.99 + P&P

Limited edition, home craft packaged CDR.

1. drinking song for days long gone
2. wearing down well
3. jacuzzi
4. clean face
5. ifans friends
6. billy d horsey
7. close forms
8. i have of late
9. brain museum
10. vari speed
11. next to water
12. the swimmer
13. saunter days
14. a russian dance
15. picker hymn
16. fire

Reviews:

“Home recording carries on becoming ever more popular all the time, with the more creative and experimental of musicians able to put together sounds in their bedrooms on their laptop – in amongst the chaos and busy-ness of the rest of their life. The great myth that music would die out if we stopped paying for CDs is further being exposed as a result, but does it mean a shift in the way that we’ll view music differently as a result? I hope so.

Singer/guitarist Ash Cooke is one of the latest contributors to such a philosophy, assembling bits and pieces together using a four-track recorder and Dictaphone ‘during stolen moments in his wardrobe studio’. It’s music for music’s sake – with no pomp or overblown ceremony to speak of.

It’s not even to say that this stuff is just for those weird muso types that squirrel themselves away clutching armfuls of dusty vinyls, espousing over which valve microphone gives the warmest tone – with the likes of ‘tUnE-yArDs’ getting big-label support from 4AD.

Sound-wise, it has elements of the likes of softly-sang Iain Archer, but with all the added cut-and-paste obscurity of Highland songster Calamateur. It has the child-like innocence of someone exploring the world with fresh eyes and observation (and in fact, Ash’s son Ifan played his part on the track ‘Billy D Horsey’), and enough wonder to draw you in. All of that aside, Who can dislike a record that starts with ‘booze, booze, beautiful booze’?”
- Stephen McLeod, ArtRocker

Sorepaw – Pulco – £8.99 + P&P

Limited edition, home craft packaged CDR.

1. Tudor Grains
2. Coral Visions
3. Taking Time
4. Glitches
5. Whiskey Song
6. Pony Munchin
7. Policies Placed
8. Gonzalez Instrumental
9. Growing Hard
10. Altered Blogs
11. Strange Hail
12. Choppy Seas
13. Killer Set
14. Dino Song

Reviews:

“For his latest album, Ash Cooke, aka Pulco, has gone right back to basics and he seems to be thriving on it. “Sorepaw” was recorded on a Tascam Portastudio in the bedroom of his new home whilst waiting for the studio to be built. He also had to do it without waking his two young daughters. The result is an enchanting and delicate album that’s pretty much stripped back to guitar and voice. The impact however is huge. It has a charm that weaves around the deceptively simple phrasing. The guitar almost as expressive as the voice as they carry you off to a safe place”
- FATEA/Cambridge & Beyond

“Recorded in Ash’s attic Portastudio, there’s an attractive immediacy about the final product, which is matched by the sweet, quirky intimacy of Ash’s songs. This quality in turn probably reflects Ash’s conversion to fatherhood and all the commitment that involves (sessions took place in evenings when babes were asleep – you can even hear little snorings and sneezes from time to time!). Ash accompanies himself on guitar, ably and with a gentle melodic charm (and a touch of occasional mouth-percussion), there’s a bit of glockenspiel on the closing track, and he doubletracks all his backing harmony vocals. One track also employs some backwards-tape stuff, but this doesn’t interfere with the mood. Most of the time minimalist is indeed best, for the songs radiate their own sense of relaxed contentment and don’t really need any special pleading – rather like those of Syd Barrett, you just need to let them work their genial magic – which they will.”
- David Kidman, NetRhythms

Wengen – Pulco – £8.99 + P&P

Limited edition, home craft packaged CDR.

1. Vein
2. Song 37
3. Ifan
4. Sleazy Paddocks
5. Enjoy Your Ride
6. Jungle
7. Struggled To Wander
8. Frazzle (The Story Of Husker Du)
9. Glowing
10. Tide
11. Wengen
12. Plants Know
13. Old N Bold

Undersea Adventure – Pulco – £8.99 + P&P

Limited edition, home craft packaged CDR.

1. Haul Away
2. Squid
3. Kid Kippling
4. Paddle People
5. Love Of The Ocean
6. Sardines
7. Whistle For A Breeze
8. Kursk Flute
9. Ocean Trench
10. Snorkeling The Hours
11. Mrs Haines
12. Middle Ear Discomfort
13. Poseiden Adventure

Reviews:

“Kid Kipling, Paddle People and Whistle for a Breeze are clear, enchanting and very tuneful, with Cooke employing great harmonies and an interesting range of instruments (tin whistles and ukuleles among them). The lush and jaunty Love of the Ocean could have been performed by a pared down version of The Thrills. The subject matter is also often interesting, from the sinking of the Kursk to a sailor delivering news of a lost comrade (standout track Mrs Haines).”
- Jenny Alder, Americana UK

“…some truly fantastic phrases, both of music and lyrics”
- Neil King, FATEA

About Pulco:

Making home recordings on cheap tape players and 4 – Tracks since his youth
Ash has a love of all things lo-fi

Initially making his mark in Welsh group Derrero, Ash has continued to quietly release albums under the Pulco banner for the best part of ten years in amongst the chaos and busyness of his regular life.

During his time in  Derrero  the band released 3 critically acclaimed albums and toured with the likes of Super Furry Animals, Catatonia, Sebadoh and Granddaddy as well as collaborating on the film ‘Beautiful Mistake’ with John Cale

The band also recorded 3 sessions for the legendary John Peel.

In recent years Ash has been content to shun the big stages for the comfort of his wardrobe studio only venturing out to play live when there’s something new to say

Assembling musical bits and pieces together using a hand held recorder and Dictaphone Pulco songs feature cheap keyboards, toy instruments and just about anything else that Ash can lay his hands on to add something interesting into the mix

Poems, field recordings and interruptions by the kids are common place

It is music for music’s sake with no pomp or ceremony!

Pulco music has been described as left-field folk with a sketchbook feel, collecting thoughts and random events that have the child-like innocence of someone exploring the world with fresh eyes:

‘It’s all about grabbing a chunk of time and wrapping it around a good tune’

Pulco’s website: pulcomusic.com

Preview and download the complete Pulco catalogue at Bandcamp.