BLIGATORY’s mission is to amplify the voices of music fans, establish an inclusive community for all, and offer an alternative to traditional music criticism. We are committed fully to amplifying the voices of ALL music listeners and providing them a space for discussion, collaboration, and community.
TEAM
Dominick
Baglivo
Co-Founder
Philadelphia, PA
A graduate of Drexel University, Dominick is a former Music Director and current DJ at Philadelphia's only free-format, non-commercial radio station: WKDU Philadelphia 91.7FM. Around the same time BLIGATORY launched, so did Partly Cloudy, a weekly radio show focused solely on new music. Both projects are extensions of Dominick's core belief that nothing builds stronger communities than the power of music. You can listen to Partly Cloudy on WKDU every Saturday 2-4PM ET.
DeVán
Whitaker
Co-Founder
Portland, OR
DeVán is a lifelong music entertainer and enthusiast. Beginning as a DJ for Bridgecity Music in his youth, DeVán's professional engagement with music and entertainment spans well over a decade. In recent years, the BLIGATORY platform, short-form content creation, and podcasting have been his primary modes of creation. His skills include: writing, content creation, DJing, and multimedia design.
Cameron
Benson-Davis
Editor
London, UK
Cam is a recent graduate from the University of Warwick, but a lifelong student on the means of communication and linguistics. He's been writing English freelance articles since 2019, and in Spanish since 2021. These include artist profiles, travelogues, poems, reviews, longform essays, interviews (Xiu Xiu, DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ, & more), and commentary on industry affairs. Other artists he's listening to 24/7 are Sufjan Stevens, Injury Reserve, Sea Power, Ecco2k, sLUms, Animal Collective and SOPHIE. Most recently he's emerged from a three-year voyage examining epistemology in art criticism, but he doubts the sabbatical will last long. Lowkey a maximalist.
Peter
Doherty
Editor
Sunderland, UK
Peter is an avid writer, collector, and blogger. His content creation, via Instagram and his website, covers album reviews, physical media collection, artist interviews, and year-end lists. Additionally, Peter also hosts Unknown Pleasures every Monday at 6PM on SPARK Sunderland.
Atticus Deeny
Editor
Philadelphia, PA
Atticus is a music journalist currently living in Philadelphia. He is a recent graduate of Drexel University, where during his time he served as Entertainment editor for their newspaper, The Triangle. He has also written for WXPN, a Philly-based public radio station. Atticus creates YouTube videos as well, based primarily around music and CDs.
Ben
(AKA Synth)
Contributor
Long Island, NY
Ben is a writer specializing in reviews, creative nonfiction, and prose poetry. His favorite artists are Kanye West, Charli XCX, Bladee, Yves Tumor, Westside Gunn, Ecco2k, and Nick Drake. When he’s not writing or making videos, Ben spends his time either watching movies or in the gym.
Pablo Hawkins
Contributor
Orlando, FL
Pablo is a journalist and content creator with over 250K followers on TikTok. Pablo has recently worked as a writer for United Masters, and currently provides coverage to various art and culture mediums across their various platforms like Instagram, Twitch, and Discord.
