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Listings are
in the opposite order of appearance: headliner is listed at the top,
next is the support band(s),
and the last band listed is the opener.
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Sunday November 8
2026
Armand Hammer -from New York City, NY -For nearly a decade as a duo, and longer still as solo artists, Armand Hammer have left a palpable mark on modern rap and hip-hop. At turns both sharp-witted and soul-crushing, their lyrics unspool threads of socio-political, historical, and philosophical import with a potent blend of incisive critique, gallows humor, and narrative élan. Mercy is the first Armand Hammer album since 2023's We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, a project that The Observer (UK) described as "an exceptional record that deserves your time and headphones" and The Line Of Best Fit deemed "their headiest and most impressive work thus far." On 2021's Haram, their first with The Alchemist, the duo "drag postcolonial wounds onto the examination table" (Pitchfork). Beats Per Minute called it "a tremendous success." Earlier this year, billy woods released GOLLIWOG, "“a densely poetic, totally masterful tour de force" (Rolling Stone) and "one of 2025's truly essential albums" (The FADER). Meanwhile, ELUCID's "enthralling" (MOJO) 2024 album REVELATOR was described by Pitchfork as "soul food for those who know a better world is possible if we're willing to fight for it." The New York Times, in naming REVELATOR one of their Best Albums Of 2024, called it "a dense, overdriven, fiercely abrasive album that cranks up the tradition of Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad productions for 21st-century impact." Sha Ray & DJ Haram -from the Bay Area, CA -Critical Thot is the bold new collaborative album from Bay Area-based rapper/producer Sha Ray, and producer/electronic musician DJ Haram—two uncompromising artists reshaping rap and experimental sound. It is an intriguing pairing; Haram is one-half of the duo 700 Bliss with rapper and poet Moor Mother and has several solo records under her belt—including 2025’s critically acclaimed Beside Myself (Hyperdub)—and high-profile collaborations with BbyMutha, Fever Ray, Ghais Guevara, and Armand Hammer. Meanwhile, although Critical Thot is Sha Ray’s official debut album, her reputation as a next-wave talent precedes her. Haram got wise in 2022 when she saw Sha Ray perform at a show in Brooklyn. “We spoke at the venue and after that I followed her on social media. She gave an incredible performance, so later on when she slid in my DMs asking for beats, I was already on board,” Haram explains. An Armand Hammer/DJ Haram show in LA was the nexus for these connections to yield fruit. Sha Ray flew down from the Bay to link with Haram, and although the two didn’t end up recording anything that day, it was the springboard for the cross-country collaboration that culminated in Critical Thot. The whole album was made remotely: Haram cooking up beats in Brooklyn and sending them to Sha Ray, who would send back demos and notes. They got to know each other as artists, and as people, while they worked on this project. “Haram and I have had so many overlapping experiences working as women in the music industry, which really enriched our bond. That, and her very striking approach to production, really inspired a lot of the writing on this record,” Sha Ray says. That writing is razor sharp and refreshingly direct. Sha Ray quickly proves herself to be in a class of her own, navigating even the knottiest of DJ Haram productions without taking her foot off the gas. Haram digs deep into her bag with beats that run the gamut from experimental and abrasive to slinky fun to darkly foreboding. Percussive thuds and shots are layered with intricate details and soft linings. A trappy banger dissolves into a flood of strings. A sparse industrial soundscape slowly coheres into a cacophonous uppercut of a rap record. Sha Ray bobs and weaves her way through every drum break and synth with a defiant ease. “As a rapper I’m pretty exclusively interested in interrogating misogyny and sexuality in my work. Critical Thot is a deliberation on unapologetic feminine authority, while being very honest about the complicated truth of being a participant in self-objectification, and sexuality as a social currency,” Sha Ray elaborates. “This record focuses a lot on defining power in feminine sexuality as relational and ever-shifting, and thus inherently imperfect. However, it is a power that I have and I am going to use it.” Critical Thot features contributions from Nappy Nina, JWords, and Archangel. |
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