Briana Cheng on A&R + This Was Summer 1978

This week’s episode features Briana Cheng, an A&R for 4AD and owner of the artist management company B4. We talk about what she does, how she works with new artists, and how high personal stakes put her in the position to take working in the music industry very seriously from a young age.

There’s some clips of songs by artists Briana works with through this episode, here are the titles in the order they are played:

Tkay Maidza “Cashmere”
Hawa “My Love”
27delly “No Complaints”
Velvet Negroni “Wine Green”

Continuing on with my run of playlists flashing back to summers of yore, I give you THIS WAS SUMMER 1978. This one is a snapshot of the peak disco era, and while the main vibe here across genres is extreme 70s laid back hedonism you can sense the mood shift in the angsty punk that’s bubbling up and odd outliers like Kraftwerk’s Hot 100 charting “Trans Europe Express,” which in this context sounds as though it’s coming from another universe. [Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]