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Below are the artists featured in this episode in order of appearance. Their artist name, location and song featured is listed beneath their photo.

CHAV – Los Angeles, California – “Fashion Ho”

CHAV is a pop star from an alternate timeline who somehow found themselves in our today. They’ve come to remind us of who we are and who we could be, bringing with them a sweet and delicious taste of another world. CHAV currently chooses to communicate with this timeline through popular music, loading their verses with complex and nuanced ideas around race, gender, love and loss.

“As an artist with intersecting identities–black, queer, nonbinary, and someone who grew up with limited resources, I’m constantly having to prove how I’m viable in the music industry. Homoground using their platform to center the voices of people with marginalized identities is so in line with the community work that I do through Flat Pop Records, the label my partner and I started last year, as well as many of my other initiatives.”

Wildcard Characters – Worcester, Massachusetts – “Louder”

Music is dark matter. Magic is the stars. The future is x. Wildcard Characters is an unquestionably queer duo inspired by the nature of things that are fluid and ever changing. From gender and expression to exploration of things unknown, these characters leave things open to possibility and imagination.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has severely limited our ability to work as independent contractors. Between cancelled gigs and terminated projects, maintaining economic security has become a main concern. We believe that as queer artists, we are strongest when we raise our voices together. We grow and learn from sharing our experiences and our visions. Resources and community building platforms like Homoground are powerful avenues for the amplification of queer voices.”

Powderpaint – Brighton, East Sussex, England – “Fall Together”

“We want to be more visible as trans artists, celebrating queerness with big joyous tunes and danceable bangers. Particularly at a time when there is a national ‘debate’ in the UK orchestrated by high-profile TERFs who have set the agenda of every mainstream media outlet, we just want to be there to make our community feel like they can dance. If a few more queers out there get to hear us it’d be wonderful.”

Bebop Rocksteady – Brooklyn, New York – “Break in Case of Emergency”

Bebop Rocksteady is a radical nonbinary harm reductionist and drug policy reform advocate, activist, and philanthropist who DJs and makes music.

Danielle Grubb – Dallas, Texas – “Untitled”

The non-binary artist, Danielle Grubb, calls out to a lover in an attempt to deliver a message that they never sent. Their new song, Untitled, is an eclectic mix of classical piano motifs and pumping synths over house influenced rhythms. The song also presents the feeling of mourning in a less traditional sense.

“It’s the beginning of the loss of self into another person. I used to try to always paint the happy picture, and by doing so, left out the intricacies of what happens to a person’s identity when they fall in love,” says Danielle.

I just came out as trans masc, and it’s hard to get people to adjust to using my pronouns. I was recently misgendered on a radio show. And I thought to myself, this is probably no longer the platform for me. I’m having to navigate spaces all over again. It’s been a trip.

“I’m finally in the right emotional and mental state to make the music I’ve always wanted to be making, and I’m happy to be here,” Danielle says.

Odd!Drey – Jakarta, Indonesia – “Lofi”

“Just an 18 year old trying to put out my stories, and hoping that people will relate and find some semblance of comfort.

This track, Lofi, was inspired by my view on flings and passionate yet short-lived relationships and the word LoFi itself. The title itself is a wordplay. Lofi is the shortened form of Low Fidelity, a music genre that refers to music that is ‘low in quality or raw’. Fidelity itself means loyalty. I chose to use the word Lofi to imply low levels in loyalty. The song itself is slightly raw and lofi, in symbolism to those quick but passionate relationships I’m singing about. In this song, I let all my vulnerability be seen by the other person, and I hide nothing; but it’s because I have nothing else to lose since I won’t be with them for long. And thus with the music. It’s imperfect, but it’s real and authentic with nothing hidden.

I’d love to connect with people who I relate to, who are like myself, who are people I could look up to and want to grow with. I’d love to be heard by those very same people.”

Arami – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – “Whatcha Like”

“I am a singer/songwriter, producer, audio engineer, and poet from Philadelphia, PA. I’ve been making music for about 4 years give or take and I feel like my sound is Alternative Soul. I love all genres and take from them all so I try to implement that into my music. My influences come from everywhere but a couple of artist who have inspired me lately are Cleo Sol, REIYO, Alex Isley, and Victoria Monet.

I feel like I would be perfect for Homoground because I am a queer, non-conforming artist and I feel like we don’t get enough exposure in the media. Kids and teenagers only have “straight” music to listen to especially in the mainstream media and it sucks because not only is there better music out there but it’s really narrow minded and non-progressive.”

CREDITS

This episode was produced by D Orxata

Executive production and intro/outro by Lynn Casper

Homoground Theme Song by data.data.data

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