Artists
Billy Woods
billy woods is an artist who defies easy categorization. He claims Washington, D.C. as his hometown but has spent nearly all his adult life in New York City. He was born in the U.S. but spent much of his childhood in Africa and the West Indies as the second child of a Jamaican intellectual and a would-be Marxist revolutionary. On the mic, woods is no less a conundrum, possessed of versatile flows and not only an ability to tackle topics other artists wouldn’t imagine, but bring unique perspectives to the familiar ones.
After spending much of the 2000s in relative obscurity woods stuck a nerve with 2012’s audacious mission statement, History Will Absolve Me. An album two years in the making, History was a Molotov cocktail of sarcastic fury, with production to match its uncompromising vision. in 2013 woods and fellow NYC artist Elucid joined forces as Armand Hammer and released the incendiary Race Music. In the years that followed, woods has released a steady stream of critically acclaimed projects, both as a solo artist (Known Unknowns, Hiding Places, Terror Management), and with Armand Hammer (Paraffin, Shrines, Haram)
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Rituals of Mine
Hailing from Sacramento, Rituals of Mine is the immersive, hybrid R&B-electronic project of Terra Lopez. Formerly known as Sister Crayon, the project led by Lopez and musician Dani Fernandez changed their name to Rituals of Mine after the then-duo signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2016. After parting ways with Fernandez in the fall of 2017, Lopez reclaimed Rituals of Mine as a solo project. Now, Lopez as Rituals of Mine is set to release her first album as a solo act, HYPE NOSTALGIA.
In 2015, Lopez’s life was turned upside-down by grief and loss: Her father took his own life and six months later her best friend passed away in an accident. Still, Lopez kept working even as her emotions went into overdrive. She went from being a high-functioning depressed person to dealing with the most crippling mental health experience of her life. But by 2018, she began the healing process and found therapy and medication that worked for her.
After leaving Warner Bros. Lopez signed to Carpark Records in April of 2019. Six months later, she shared a taste of what listeners will hear on HYPE NOSTALGIA with the release of the EP, SLEEPER HOLD. Filled with emotional intensity and self-reflective songwriting, the three-song project confronted the emotional rollercoaster that she’s been riding for the past five years, head-on.
With HYPE NOSTALGIA, Lopez didn’t want to solely focus on the heaviness of her life. Instead, she opted to create an album written from a pre-loss perspective. Dark moments and devastation glimmer throughout Rituals of Mine’s latest record, but they don’t dominate it. What does transpire is Lopez’s ability to reconcile with her emotional trauma by reimagining her past in a way that isn’t shrouded in total darkness, but glimmers of light and hope.
Between St.Augustine, Florida and Los Angeles, Lopez collaborated with producers Wes Jones and Dev the Goon on what would become HYPE NOSTALGIA. The result is a self-assured 13-track LP interspersed with future R&B, electronic and pop and layered with the softness of Lopez’s ethereal vocals. From tackling what it’s like to be a woman of color in the music industry to exploring intergenerational trauma, HYPE NOSTALGIA is an all-encompassing look at Lopez’s personal growth and resilience.
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Lab Rats
LabRats is a dynamic quartet of multi-instrumentalists specializing in many forms of popular American music. A year after the band’s formation, the band has proven itself to be an integral part of their hometown music scene. LabRats, performing all over Sacramento and the Bay Area, has their growing fanbase clamoring for more of their smooth yet psychedelic sounds. In addition to their many gigs and recording sessions, you can find LabRats at the Torch Club every Sunday night where they curate the “Sunday Sessions,” a free, inclusive and safe environment for musicians and other creatives to meet and perform with one another fulfilling the trio’s personal mission of giving back to the community that has shaped them.