Sunday 29 March 2026, 7.30pm
We’re excited to welcome DJ Haram to OTO for a rare live show, and their first London date since the release of Beside Myself on Hyperdub. It is a debut that feels like the culmination of years of vital fringe work, hitting like a fully-formed world, fusing together concrète noise, Jersey kicks, brickwall low-end, politically-charged rap and darbuka-driven percussion. A huge record, built with a wide circle of collaborators, Moor Mother, Armand Hammer, KAYY DRiZZ, El Kontessa, Dakn, bbymutha and others. One of the standout releases of 2025.
DJ Haram is an electronic music producer, multi-disciplinary propagandist, and self-described anti-format DJ, originally from New Jersey and currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Stylistically versatile, Haram is known for a sound that folds experimental bass and club music into analogue synths and percussion, concrète and noise pressure, politically-charged rap collaborations, and Middle Eastern instrumentation and sampling.
In July 2025, Haram released their debut album Beside Myself on Hyperdub, a long-awaited full-length that ties together more than a decade of vital fringe activity into a tightly authored statement. The record moves with DJ logic and mixtape velocity, swaddling surreal spoken exchanges and voice-led writing with Jersey kicks, brickwall low-end, darbuka-driven rhythm, electroacoustic abrasion and smoke-stained horns, while pulling in a wide network of collaborators including Moor Mother, Armand Hammer, KAYY DRiZZ, El Kontessa, Dakn, bbymutha and more. Beside Myself received major year-end recognition, landing in The Wire’s Releases of the Year 2025 and Boomkat’s Albums of the Year 2025.
Haram makes up half of 700 Bliss, a hip hop and noise project with Moor Mother, whose album Nothing to Declare (2022) was widely acclaimed. They also run Monday Night Raw, a monthly show on Brooklyn staple The Lot Radio, curating open format DJ b2bs alongside live rap and experimental performance, and previously held a five-year residency at Rinse FM London with Rage Radio. Alongside solo releases including Grace (Hyperdub, 2019) and Handplay (2023), Haram’s collaborative orbit spans billy woods and the Backwoodz ecosystem, plus remixes and collaborations with artists including Armand Hammer ft. Pink Siifu, Ghias Guevara, Debby Friday, and Fever Ray.
Internationally, DJ Haram has played stages including Dekmantel, Unsound, Roskilde, Le Guess Who, Pitchfork Festival, Tashweesh and Bonnaroo, and has toured widely from Tokyo to Istanbul.
During the late noughties Crystabel Efemena Riley toured Japan and Europe using drums, electronics and make-up in power-noise trio Maria and the Mirrors. This was the start of her interest in patterns on skins — human and drum. An interest in dimensional patterns existing on (and off) different skin surfaces, exploring the idea of 'care and uncare': layered skins, recycled drum skins, smetled sculptures, other metallics and electronics. Crystabel has been a long-term collaborator with Sue Lynch who welcomed her into the Horse Improvised Music Club and later played in the London Improvisers Orchestra. She is currently working on the multi-format duo project @xcrswx with Seymour Wright, together they created the sounds for Edward George’s Black Atlas film at the Warburg Institute.
Nunguja’s ever-evolving artistry has taken her to some of the most renowned stages in the world. Beyond playing the legendary PAN label nights at Berghain/Panorama Bar in Berlin, she has made striking sound performance debuts at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris and Spazio Maiocchi in Milan. She has also performed at MoMA PS1’s Warm Up Series in New York, launched her Oroko Radio residency, and played at iconic venues such as Tate Modern in London, Yuyu Club in Mexico City, and The White Hotel in Manchester, among others.
Nunguja’s unique perspective and diverse experiences have profoundly shaped her sonic identity, infusing her work with a rich tapestry of cultural influences and an unmistakable sense of playfulness. She seamlessly bridges different musical worlds, crafting immersive soundscapes that transcend borders and invite listeners on a journey of discovery and wonder. Her DJ sets are a masterclass in versatility, effortlessly blending experimental sounds and electronic music into a dynamic, genre-defying experience. This boundary-pushing approach not only highlights her technical and creative prowess but also cements her as a forward-thinking artist dedicated to redefining the possibilities of contemporary sound.
