Area 224 Ltd.

Content + Communications Consulting

You are here: Home / Archives for Dave

Dave

The Next Big Thing — Or, Three Musical Acts About to Explode

We’re back on Day Three of A Month of Content…Here’s a post that appeared on Dave’s Substack this past June; it has been lightly edited with some editor’s notes updating statistics.

It’s time to amaze your friends! Yes, thanks to yours truly listening to a lot of new music, a little sleuthing, and a chap called Canadian Steve, you are about to become The Tastemaker. The Influencer. The guy (or gal) who tells everybody six months from now that you told everybody about this artist six months ago.

Behold, The Next Big Thing, 2025 Edition. Here goes.

The Next Big Thing, Solo Artist: CMAT

To become The Next Big Thing, you have to have both a vibe and a catchy single. Meet CMAT, who provides both right here. The song is called…”The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station.” Color me intrigued — or, more accurately, “colour me intrigued,” as CMAT is from Ireland.

We’re a scant three seconds into this video and I’m nonplussed. Do I tell everyone about this artist? Do I take a screenshot? Do I subscribe? Do I wonder what has happened to society when some mysterious artist — who appears to be named after a college admissions test or a part you’d find inside a Ford Thunderbird — has only 27,000 subscribers?

Editor’s Note: What a difference a few months and an album launch can make, CMAT now has 48,000 subscribers, and the video has been viewed 246,000 times and counting.

Mind you we haven’t even listened to the song yet. This is the impact of CMAT.

Quick internet scan tells us that the artist CMAT is a young woman whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson. Gotta admit, while it’s a pretty name, Ciara Thompson doesn’t roll off the tongue like CMAT does.

And here’s the CERTIFIED BANGER(™) that will be your Song of the Summer.

She visited the States in September, 8 American shows (and one in Toronto, which is not yet part of America) in a two-week span. Funny enough, her new album, Euro-Country, dropped at the end of August.

Like I said: CERTIFIED BANGER.

My thanks to Canadian Steve, who introduced me to CMAT (and dozens of others) on his Substack.

Also check out this song:

She’s going places, kid.

The Next Big Thing, Duo: Mind Enterprises

To summarize where we’re going with this, it’s time for a screenshot of a tweet. From me, of course. I’m clever and modest.

I am simultaneously late to the party – this act has been around for years, it seems – and brand new to the courtyard wine-and-cheese-fest vibe known as “Italo Disco,” as it seems that the duo is tapping into the milieu of the modern Italian zeitgeist. Or they’re trending in my X bubble. Same diff.

In any event, it was thanks to a random repost of an Italian Fashion Party that I learned of the existence of Mind Enterprises.

And, after I gave her an immediate follow, this tweet about Mind Enterprises, also from Miss White.

I was quickly able to confirm that the music in the first tweet is from Mind Enterprises, the vibe matches; the second tweet sealed the deal.

And, it follows — like that one kind of cognitive bias where you buy a car and then everyone is driving that same car — Mind Enterprises owns Twitter. (Mind Enterprises is probably too cool to call it “X.”)

Here, then, 45 Minutes of Mind Enterprises. As they say in the business, “You’re Welcome.”

Only have 22 minutes to spare? Here’s a shorter video. Again, accept the awesomeness with my compliments. (I love what you’re doing with your hair.)

BTW, no article that even mentions Italo Disco would be complete without Giorgio Moroder’s classic, “Chase,” which was part of the soundtrack of my youth because the local NBC affiliate used it for Notre Dame football highlights; I can still see Vagas Ferguson cutting through the Purdue defense.

(Feel free to go down the Giorgio Moroder rabbit hole; and one-half of Mind Enterprises looks awfully similar to young Giorgio.)

The Next Big Thing, Rock Band: Wunderhorse

This band came around at the right time, it seems: they toured the US, then went back to their home in Britain and were just in time to fill what is a void in rock music. Like, rock music wasn’t…rocking…and now it’s back.

Wunderhorse is definitely a throwback to the days of guitar-heavy rock.

To wit, “Rain.” In the running for my Song of the Year, this ditty is outstanding.

Here’s a version recorded in Dublin:

And here’s “Rain” live on Kimmel:

And if you’re really interested in a breakdown from someone who has been there…here’s Justin Hawkins saying what I’ve been saying (but he said it 7 months ago).

There’s more from the band, too: “Leader of the Pack” is a clever little song:

And a three-song set in The Netherlands, which starts off with “Midas”:

You Are Now The Tastemaker

That’s right, friends. I may not have my finger directly on the pulse of what’s cool, but I’m somewhere in the Top Quintile. That’s good enough these days, so check out these acts, amaze your friends, and enjoy your December.

Editor’s Note: We’ll be releasing our Top Songs of 2025 next week on the blog.

Lean Into the Absurd with AI

We continue our Month-long content festival with a talk about AI and absurdity.

The genie is out of the bottle when it comes to Artificial Intelligence. AI will change the world! AI will take our jobs! AI will cure cancer!

All those things could eventually be true.

But, starting a couple years ago, when I first started playing around with AI tools, I took a different approach.

How Absurd Can You Get?

Now, is there a method to the madness? Yes: Akin to playing MadLibs, I was trying to spur creativity. And sometimes, I failed spectacularly. In any event, here’s a smattering of some wins and losses from my journey into AI absurdity.

How Absurd Can You Make It?

Here’s a for instance: say you want to encourage people to get a colonoscopy — and you know that the recommendations have changed, suggesting that you get one starting at age 45 — but you can’t really use a picture of a diseased colon to get people to make the appointment.

Enter: The Vintage Colonoscopy Travel Poster!

Well, it was close.

Enough of that, let’s try another topic.

What About The Four-Panel Cartoon?

Sure, you can type that into your favorite machine and maybe it’ll spit back something that makes sense. Like, how bout two dogs discussing the song “Last Resort” by the band Papa Roach?

Maybe a little too dark. Here’s another attempt: A dog named Clyde introducing himself.

Sigh. Not sure which one is Clyde.

What Would Huff Do?

Huff is my friend on X; he has created some really interesting AI art as the technology has advanced. Some of it is a little more political, but a couple of his creations stand out. Like…

Also, he sent me one of his personal favorites: a recreation of Stewie and Brian from Family Guy, posing for a 1970s mall photo.

Round Three: Merger & Acquisition Division

The earliest days of AI imagery left spelling to the imagination.

And, remember when the USFL merged with the XFL and created the UFL? This guy remembers.

What’s The Point?

For me, the point is to sharpen creativity. To think about things in new and different ways.

It’s also a great way to learn the nuances of the various platforms: typing in a prompt, then realizing the prompt wasn’t quite right, then sharpening your focus — “create an image in the style of a 1970s mall photo session” — can lead you down various paths you may not have thought of. And you’ll compare and contrast ChatGPT with Gemini or with Grok or…well, whatever tool you’re using, you will learn its particularities, and THAT will help you think a little better about whatever problem you’re trying to solve.

A Month of Content

31 Days of Content

It’s December 1. So I decided to issue a challenge to myself; and you can join in on the fun.

The challenge: Create Content Every Day. Each day, for 31 days. The entire month of December.

Throwing down a gauntlet.

There’s really no catch here: come up with something new, repurpose something old. Remember, “systems vs. goals.” Your mission is to create a “system.”

Hey, It Worked for Jerry…

As the story goes, Jerry Seinfeld decided to build a writing habit by getting a big calendar and putting an “X” on each day after writing. Once you see a series of X’s — first one, then two, then next thing you know it’s a week straight —you start to build confidence.

Then the process gets refined, you get better at what you’re doing, and you have even more confidence when you realize how much you can accomplish in 30 minutes. Then an hour. Then two hours.

Or, Borrow from James Clear

Clear’s book Atomic Habits sits nearby. It’s a great read — and one I wrote about in my August 16 edition of The Saturday List on my Substack — and one nugget has really stuck with me. This one:

I’ve faced challenges with this trying to build a habit of going to the gym or getting exercise; but just saying to yourself “Hey, I missed yesterday, so I can’t miss today” is often just enough of a trick to keep at it.

What’s Coming from Dave?

Good question: posts like this, sure, but also new stuff…and some “merchandising” of old content, too.

Like these: podcast interviews that a friend JUST told me “you should do more of these.”

While I line up the “more of these…” here are three of them:

First up, an October 17 interview with writer and professed music nerd Stephen Barrigar.

And this one, a few weeks later, with writer and blogger Jennifer Brown:

AND, why not a throwback: Jim Rogers, in February of 2021. (We both looked so young!)

How Will You Make These 31 Days Count?

The Saturday List – November 15, 2025

What I’m Watching, Reading, Listening to, and Rediscovering

Watching: Two Shows With Buzz, The Chair Company and Pluribus

In this case, I haven’t started either yet. No spoilers, please. And part of the mystery behind both shows is…the mystery behind both shows. In other words, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT EITHER ONE IS ABOUT.

Here’s the trailer for Pluribus.

Here’s the trailer for The Chair Company.

Both have 100% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. Subscriptions required (AppleTV for Pluribus, HBO for The Chair Company).

Reading: Ten Global Trends, by Ronald Bailey and Marian L. Tupy

Sometimes, it’s just a matter of perspective. Sure, things may appear bad “out there” on a few different levels, but Messrs Bailey and Tupy decided to take a contrarian view of things, and the result doesn’t just look good on your coffee table; this is a really positive book.

The authors scour research reports and study what is really happening with the world, its people, its economy, and its resources.

Take the environment as just one example: between 1982 and 2016, the global tree canopy increased by an amount that’s greater than the land area of Alaska and Montana combined (865,000 square miles). And, interestingly, thanks to higher temperatures in mountainous regions, trees can, in some cases, grow in higher altitudes.

Maybe things aren’t all that bad, eh? Grab the book at this Amazon Link.

Amazon.com: Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know ...

Thanks for reading Own The Narrative! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

Listening To: Geese, The Band That’s Having A Moment

“Geese” is the name of a band from Brooklyn. I’d try to define their sound but would run out of hyphens after the first “Post-Punk-Meets-Indie” suggestion and just send you a couple YouTube links.

Like this one, the song “Taxes” that the band performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live. (Certain to end up on Dave’s Top Songs of 2025 post, coming next month.)

Or this one, “I See Myself,” from a couple years back.

And this one, “Crusades.”

Here’s their Wikipedia entry and the band’s website, if you’re looking for more info.

Rediscovering: An Unconventional Ad From Burger King

One of the most interesting advertising experiments ever was called “Whopper Virgins.” The Burger King chain worked with ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky 16 years ago to find people that were…so “off the grid”…that they had never had a hamburger, let alone a Burger King Whopper.

Seven minutes or so of joy. Worth a watch.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet. Cheers, and see you next week.

Songs of the Decade (So Far)

It’s time for one of those bars that show you how far along you are, you know, updating the virus scanner or something like that. Except…it’s time for that with the 2020s.

Time, first off, for the disclaimer: I don’t care that there was no “Year Zero” and I also don’t care that the new millennium started in 2001. The 2000s started in 2000, the 2010s started in 2010, and the 2020s started in 2020.

That being said…

My Candidates for Song of the Decade

Rather than usual rankings — which I have done here for every year since 2022, and I have done on other socials going back to 2020 — I’m instead thinking we’re just going to go freeform. Like, here’s a song I liked, and here’s another one I liked and here’s one that has grown on me more than expected. And so on.

The Districts, “Cheap Regrets” (2020)

Yes, I have adored this song since I first heard it. I have tweeted about it for the past five years. No regrets at all.

This song, for me, is a “Time and Place” song: I can tell you what I was doing (sitting in a parking lot in suburban St. Louis during the pre-pandemic shut-down period of 2020) when I first heard the song.

And I give thanks to my car’s SiriusXM setup, because I was able to rewind and replay it five times in a row.

It has also stuck with me, remained on my playlist, and isn’t going away. Great video, too.

Depeche Mode, “Ghosts Again” (2023)

I reached out to my pal “Canadian Steve,” from whom we’ve received a few contributions in the past, for his vote on “Song of the Decade (So Far)” and his response took less than a minute. His comments:

“Written and recorded shortly after the passing of original member Andrew Fletcher, a band that had recorded songs about death brought a newfound honesty to the inevitable.”

This particular song made an appearance in *my* Top Ten from 2023, clocking in at #4.

The Last Dinner Party, “Nothing Matters” (2023)

This was my #1 Song of 2023, and there was something about the energy of the band, the in-your-face-F-bomb lyrics that spoke to me. And quite a few others, too, as mainstream airplay followed (with an edit or two) for “Nothing Matters.”

Here’s the video version, complete with the F’ing chorus.

Chappell Roan, “Pink Pony Club” (2020)

Unless you’ve witnessed this turning a dance floor from meh to party in the span of ten seconds, you might not “get” Chappell Roan. Okay. Fine. That was me until a while back.

But, here’s to Chappell for being the right person at the right time — even if the song came out in 2020 and really didn’t become a THING until maybe last year — and becoming a cultural touchstone in the process.

Lola Young, “Messy” (2024)

This was released in June 2024 but, like Ms Roan above, Ms Young also appears to have been on a slow simmer for a while before standing thisclose to becoming absolutely huge.

Getting airplay in 2025 and topping alternative airplay charts in the US and Canada is enough to move this onto my Top Ten list for this year — hey, I don’t spend time on TikTok so I wouldn’t have seen it catch fire, and Young didn’t appear on Fallon and elsewhere til this year anyway — and, in addition to the below official video, you MUST check out the Glastonbury performance; emotional in a way that is taken aback at the success that she no doubt visualized.

Mannequin Pussy, “Sometimes” (2024)

My fear with this song is that, once we get to 2029, people might forget how downright awesome it is.

Part 90s angst and part 2000s female-led punk-ish rock, this song spoke to me in a “hey, this could have simultaneously been released in 1991 or 2001 or like yesterday” way.

Not sure how much sense that makes, but MP brings it. My #1 Song of 2024.

Bartees Strange, “Heavy Heart” (2022)

Interestingly, Mr Strange only hit #2 on my Top Ten Songs of 2022 list. (Click the link to see what was number one.)

However, Strange has staying power, has come out with new music, continues to have the soul-meets-rock sound that defies categories, and he’s so charming in interviews I wouldn’t mind having a beer with him.

And the song still hits.

Glass Animals, “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” (2021)

Not the Glass Animals song you were expecting, anon? (That’s okay, here’s a link to “Heat Waves.”)

“Space Ghost…” got some heavy alternative airplay on the satellite channel I frequent in 2021, and the volume of weird rhymes hit me in a way that Twenty One Pilots might have; but this song spoke to me. And still does.

Fontaines D.C., “Starburster” (2024)

Kid 1 told me this should have been my Top Song of 2024 selection. She was overruled but it was a tight race and Fontaines finished second to the above-mentioned Mannequin Pussy. (Number 3, Fat Dog’s “Running,” hasn’t caught on throughout the universe as much as I would have hoped, but I’ll link to it nevertheless.)

I’m still a BIG FAN of this song. You may be as well.

Comments? Questions? What Am I Missing?

Let me know in the comments, and/or tweet away.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...