Co-Mission Contributor: Faustina Masigat
(Photo by Vincent Bancheri)
Meet Faustina Masigat:
This time has felt creative, but more gestational for me – like a pregnant pause. I have never felt more affirmed or overwhelmed by the world: affirmed by the social revolution all around us, and overwhelmed by what feels like collective grief. I see other artist’s creativity seem to accelerate, but I’m not always sure of my place in things as an artist. So I’ve been trying to remain soft and receptive and curious, even when things feel abrasive.
Support Faustina Masigat:
www.mamabirdrecordingco.com/faustina-masigat
www.facebook.com/faustinamasigat/
faustinamasigat.bandcamp.com/album/faustina-masigat
www.instagram.com/faustinamasigat/
Co-Mission Contributor: They/Live
(Photo by Daniel Jackson)
Meet They/Live
Never thought I’d say this, but with this song, you really gotta wait for that beat to drop….
“Another Body” is a strangely arranged, hybrid song in two parts: one part for spiritual introspection; one part for dancing by yourself and crying. Haha! But I’m serious. What else can you do in 2020? It’s about missing cities, missing old lovers. It’s about missing affection, connection, and possibility. But it’s also about becoming someone else entirely {during a global crisis} because you just have to.
Thank you for listening, Whitney
LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/
https://bornlosersrecords.
https://www.facebook.com/
https://twitter.com/they__
Venmo: @Whitney-Mower
Paypal: wemower@gmail.com
LYRICS:
When it’s time to learn
My star-collecting fern
I weave my heart into the sun
Why won’t I forget
Why won’t I form anything
Then 1) to verify the mind for value
Then 2) the hemisphere’s delight we make our will
I was over you
I was over you
I was over you
I was over you
Even if I call another body
Riding through the veil with all we fend
Even if I make it to the ocean
Will I ever dare to love again?
Even If I cross into the number
Flying through the light to comprehend
Even if I call another body
Will I even dare to love again?
I was over you
Co-Mission Contributor: Miwi La Lupa
(Photo by Monica Frisell)
Meet Miwi La Lupa:
To whom it may concern:
The Los Lakers are playing a game that’s watching me as I type this on my couch. I trust that the pandemic has had a major impact on your life as it has mine. I hope that any negative things in your life right now will turn to positive sooner than later. I hope you are healthy! I just changed the channel from the basketball game to The U.S. Open. Amazing. Oh to live in a bubble… A safe, weird little bubble where you can do your job and feel almost completely safe while you do it!
If this global pandemic hadn’t hit us, or been adequately suppressed by knowledgeable, compassionate, patient, selfless humans, I’d likely be right where I am now: On my couch watching The U.S. Open. But, I believe I would have deserved this rest and relaxation as I would have been in between month-long stretches of tour with my friends in Bright Eyes as a singer and multi-instrumentalist. I really like playing with those musicians. Hell, I just love playing with great musicians. Period. I miss that. For me, there’s nothing like creating sounds with friends. A close second? Eating food with friends. Whatyagonnado?
I’m thankful for this technology, physical, and mental (instru-mental) health right now. It’s allowing me to earn my humble living by continuing to teach music lessons remotely, record music at home, sell my music, and type this sincere note to you… while watching this incredible 5th set of U.S. Open Tennis… Have they arrested the cops who killed Breonna Taylor yet?????
If you’d like to purchase my music directly from me:
MIWILALUPA.COM
TIGERSHRIMPRECORDS.COM
If you’re feeling Tip-sy:
Venmo: @miwi-lalupa
Paypal: @miwilalupa
Available for remote recording sessions:
Email: Miwilalupamusic@gmail.com
WILL TRADE MUSIC LESSONS FOR THERAPY
Co-Mission Contributor: Rachel Baiman (feat. Ben Garnett)
(Photo by Natia Cinco)
Meet Rachel Baiman
Support Rachel Baiman:
Patreon: www.patreon.com/rachelbaiman
Venmo @Rachel Baiman
Paypal.me/rachelbaiman
www.rachelbaiman.com
www.facebook.com/Rachelbaimanmusic/
www.instagram.com/rachelbaiman/
Goodbye to Folkadelphia Radio
Folkadelphia Radio on WXPN is ending…for now. 3 weeks and 3 episodes from now, on August 26th, Folkadelphia Radio will celebrate its 500th episode, which I took as a golden opportunity to say goodbye. Our weekly hour together will go on an indefinite hiatus. Since my first semester at Drexel University’s WKDU in 2007 to WXPN at present, I’ve hosted radio programs almost every week, the majority with Folkadelphia Radio, spending countless hours in basically the same 3 block radius. Folkadelphia has been a true labor of love for me the entire time. It’s been extremely gratifying to watch it evolve over the years with the guiding principles I think holding true throughout, to expose listeners to new artists they might otherwise not hear, to support those rising artists by giving them a platform to share their voices, and to push against the boundaries of what might be considered folk music. I have absolutely loved being a conduit between the artists and the listeners, experiencing that electric passionate travel back and forth, seeing what sparks.
One of my favorite ways we shared music was with our Folkadelphia Sessions, live tracked studio sessions with artists on tour or locally situated, showing off their creativity and music in a raw, unadorned capacity, what we thought of as “folk music”. My most recent count has us at over 260 sessions, which feels insane to me. The mastermind behind the “Folkadelphia Sound” for nearly all these years is Clark Conner, who beyond being an impeccable and passionate audio engineer, is a true partner in what Folkadelphia Radio is all about, and one of the reasons I’ve been doing it for as long as we have been doing it. Of course, I also want to thank everyone at WXPN, especially John Vettese, for their support for all of these years. There are countless other people to thank for their help along the way — I think about you all often and value you all dearly.
Mainly though, I want to thank the artists and the listeners. The two pieces of the puzzle, who made each week of our sonic explorer’s club and crate digging archaeology a total joy, profound honor, and deep privilege. It feels hard and messy to say goodbye to a project that has felt so tied up with my personal identity. Though, it’s not exactly a goodbye. Over the last few months, I’ve been trying to make a small difference with a handful of artists during the pandemic with Co-Mission: An Artist Relief Project, which feels like a natural extension of Folkadelphia – you can find out more about it here: http://folkadelphia.com/. I want to continue cultivating the ideas and harnessing the energy & (hopefully) goodwill that we’ve created over years of Folkadelphia Radio. I want to focus on being that conduit linking artists and audiences. I want to see more diverse representation in folk music. I want to work closer with artists who are looking to achieve their goals and need help pulling it all together. If you are looking for that person or are engaging in that kind of work, let’s talk. Let’s talk even if you aren’t.
Anyway, thank you so much for the time we’ve spent together, it won’t be the last. For now, we have 3 episodes, 3 hours of Folkadelphia Radio together and I hope you’ll join me in closing out this chapter.
Co-Mission Contributor: Sarah La Puerta
Meet Sarah La Puerta
Several months ago, I moved from Lockhart, Texas into an old stone chapel in upstate New York to embark on a new creative journey. I hardly got a chance to look around the city of Troy before everything shut down, so now here I am, confined to my chapel’s ambivalent religion of isolation. Plans that seemed certain are now tenuous. Admittedly, very few things felt certain even before the pandemic. Plans that were threadbare have since turned to spider silk.
Right now, instead of preparing for a tour of Australia, I’m preparing a tamale in the oven — and I’m grateful for both the tamale and the oven. I spend these uncertain, unstructured, unpaid days writing stories, illuminating manuscripts, collaborating with others from a safe distance, and sinking deeper into eccentric habits, while remaining hesitantly optimistic about the construction a post-pandemic new “normal.”
To follow and/or support these artistic gestures, visit my website and archive at www.sarahlapuerta.com, or my music site at www.sarahlapuerta.bandcamp.com. Request your prophetic postcard!
Co-Mission Contributor: Adam Lytle
(Photo by by Dustin Condren)
Meet Adam Lytle
I was in the midst of recording a new album with my band, Quicksilver Daydream when it became apparent that Covid-19 was rapidly spreading through New York City. We decided to hit pause, for our collective safety, and watched as jobs, vacations and upcoming shows were canceled. The first few weeks of quarantine were pretty rough from an existential standpoint. The Brooklyn live-music community was a huge part of my life and it’s taken time for me to adjust to the void it left behind. But, I’ve been lucky to stay in good physical health. The only positive thing about the world getting turned upside down, is that it forces us to focus on what’s important. In this sea of uncertainty, reading, writing songs, and cooking, with my partner Meg, have been my lifeline. We’re taking it one day at a time over here and letting that be enough.
Support Adam Lytle:
quicksilverdaydream.bandcamp.com
Paypal: lytleab@gmail.com
Venmo: @adam-lytle
www.instagram.com/adamblytle/?hl=en
Co-Mission Contributor: Sadie Dupuis
(Photo by Natalie Piserchio)
With all my tours and readings canceled for the foreseeable future, I’m sleeping in my own bed (or at least anxiously lying awake in it) for more consecutive nights than ever in my life. A more regular home base has made it less daunting to take on new projects this spring. One such project is Wax Nine Journal, a poetry weekly housed by the record label I run. Touring my book through 2018 and 2019 and meeting other poets, I was somewhat astonished to hear how few opportunities there are for us to make income through readings and even through their publishers – it’s harder than music, somehow! Almost all the writers I know rely on other forms of work that cannot happen with social distancing. Wax Nine pays small stipends to everyone we publish, almost all of which are funded by donations. The best way to support me right now is to help me support writers by making a donation (or reading and sharing the journal, or submitting some of your work!)
MY PRETTY POET
I chew up my feet
Running down a mountain times five
When I buy the green gem
I’m envied by thousands
When I look into the makeup monitor
My eyes the color of American money
Bleach-sanitized
There are two rescue seals
And I squat naked in front of a curtain
Legs spread like a man at work
At work against the demons in my molar
Which pummel each other all through the nights
Waiting to pop out my skull
Surprise
You were bad all along
The only pretty thing in this evil world
Is the ghastly bitch
Support Sadie Dupuis:
www.waxnine.com
sad13.bandcamp.com
www.sadthirteen.com
twitter.com/sad13?s=20
Co-Mission Contributor: Jacob Augustine
Meet Jacob Augustine
Music is my life. It’s all i do. Though I have original music and many original projects on the horizon my livelihood is playing old country songs in nursing homes. Since the pandemic, since before the pandemic all of that good work has gone away and I have been left to my own devices but in the end all is well for me and my thoughts prayers and positive energy goes out to everyone in more need than myself. If you live long enough, your gonna learn about loss. This song is about that. All life is beauty and loss makes it even more so. The fact that we die, and that all things die makes this journey that much more special. All is fleeting. This life is a gift in any from.
One can support my musical endeavors here:
jacobaugstine.bandcamp.com
paypal: jacobaugustinebooking@gmail.com
Co-Mission Contributor: Twain
(Photo by Sasha Arutyunova)
Meet Twain
The pandemic allowed me to stop striving and really begin to take care of my mental health.
Support Twain:
twain.bandcamp.com
www.instagram.com/twainband/
www.facebook.com/twainband/
Paypal: twainband@gmail.com