Start 2023
Perhaps a barometer of the shifting demographics of the USA, Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny's latest album Un Verano Sin Ti -- 100% Spanish language -- is killing it on the popular charts.
AI arrives - AI apps such as ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney are getting a ton of hype and suddenly being used by seemingly everyone. AI apps can now generally write as well as a 4th grader.
Tech companies are going through mass layoffs as the economy cools, activist investors push them towards better efficiency, and they correct their overhiring 2020-21.
China (still without a vaccine and not taking one from the West) abandons it's zero-COVID policy after protests there. They also announce their population has peaked and is now on the decline.
The State of California declares an official end to the COVID pandemic emergency and Hong Kong cancels it's mask mandate.
Over 50,000 people are killed in a series of earthquakes in Turkey.
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Ane Brun
This was another artist that came up in conversation over an fancy ad industry dinner at Da Damiano in Köln (yes, for DMEXCO, scroll down and read our Max Richter bit.) We have to say, we loved our dinner guests, and their music recommendations, that evening. Brun’s recent release Benjamin (From the TV series ‘Etter Benjamin’) was fantastic and is on our heavy rotation. To dig deeper, we pulled up this one up from the Stockholm-based, Norwegian singer-songwriter. This compilation album marks Brun's second decade as a recording artist, following her previous career-spanning compilation Songs 2003-13 released ten years earlier. It’s very good, adult contemporary style, music that would have fit in perfectly on a playlist spun during that dinner. “Fingerprints” and “Don’t Run and Hide” are our favs on this release. (May '23)
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Those Pretty Wrongs
This one came on our radar as they were opening for Robyn Hitchcock at the Chapel in San Francisco, 14 May 2026. Turns out Jody Stephens was the drummer for the legendary band Big Star and his partner here, Luther Russell is an acclaimed solo artist and record producer. This release has that 60’s inspired feel, especially songs like “Always the Rainbow,” which you might have expected to come out of Laurel Canyon back in the day. The album is a mix of jangly acoustic guitar heavy folk mixed with dual harmonies boarding on twee rock territory, best demonstrated on probably the best song here, “New September Song. (31 Mar '23)
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