Pulco. Daily Post August 3

This appeared in the Daily Post on August 3. It's about Pulco.

SINCE the dissolution of his former band at the turn of the century – darlings of the Peel session Derrero – Ash Cook has plied a trade in intimate home recordings.
Going by the name Pulco, he is known as much for his music as he is for his prolificacy – so much so that many describe Cooke’s music as a document of his day to day life.
“I say throw the window open and get the kids to play in the room at the same time.” he says. “It is the bits in the background that are important, I feel. The sound of life going on behind the music. It’s normal, the sounds of your life.”
What is usually a very personal blend of lo fi folk and psychedelia, recently, has opened its doors to collaboration.
“When I was with Derrero we did a bit of spoken word recording with Patrick Jones who is the brother of Nicky Wire from the Manics. He’s like this dark poet from the Welsh valleys. That’s when I started doing it myself... At the end of last year I had a load of poetry and that’s when I got other people involved.”
The idea gave birth to The Man of Lists. Cooke sent three poems each to nine different artists for them to treat as they saw fit. Results range from drone, slow piano and synth to near-tropical rhythm.
“It’s a collection of people I’ve met in my career and through social media. I sent them the poems that I had recorded on a Dictaphone and said: ‘You can do with them what you like’.
So it is an album of nine people and I’m the tenth – my input is really quite minimal.”
He adds: “The interesting bits were new arrangements where they’d cut my words to fit. There’s stuff there that I maybe didn’t pick up the first time or, through repetition, have given the poem a completely different meaning.”
Social media has also provided him the opportunity to connect with his audience. His case is somewhat individual, but he provides a brighter, almost hyper-local, side to the argument for giving music away for free.
“Not being in a band anymore, I gave up editorial control a long time ago, I just put it out there. That’s my style, or my niche, if you will... If you’ve got weaknesses, like if you’re not particularly good at guitar, use that as your strength. There’s no point in being something your not... When I started in the late nineties, the only real way you found out about music was through sitting in the bath, reading magazines. You didn’t have to take that many risks.
“Now it’s brilliant, it is so easy to send files to people. When I give stuff away for free you see the emails of people who’ve downloaded it. After they’ve taken some stuff, you see the same address will come back and pay for something at a later date.
“The relationship is a lot closer. There are fewer fans but they’re people who are your friends. Before, I never knew who were buying my records now I know all of them. I think that’s very healthy.
“I am lucky, though, that this is not my sole job. Not everyone is in that situation. If I can make a few bob out of it then that’s good.”
For more visit pulcomusic.com