Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt have known each other for many years. They are best friends, know each other like the back of their hands, and interpret each other musically with the ease of a plastic bag being blown by the wind. This is the philosophy that has fueled Smerz’s songs for almost a decade and continues to guide Big City Life, the duo’s new full-length album.
In Big City Life, Smerz continue their exploratory work into what is possible—or not—in electronic pop that is mysterious, danceable, and fueled by synthesizers. Ethereal, of course, fragmented like dreams, rising beautifully like nightfall after sunset. Nocturnal, esoteric, mysterious songs, capable of lighting up a club at the right moment, or making you cry at the wrong one. Be careful—you’ll fall in love with them. It’s that simple. MR

Girls 96 (ninety-six) are Paloma Moniz and Ricardo Gonçalves, a dance-punk and electroclash duo built on the contrast between energetic, pulsating electronica and confessional narratives that oscillate between indifference and obsession.
They made their debut with 1996 (2024, Maternidade), using this contrast to narrate and mirror the intensities and nostalgia of the chaotic rituals of the night, what precedes it and what follows it.

After a year of traveling back and forth between Portugal and London to perform live, Girls 96 began to hint at their first full-length album with the singles “Estrela Superstar” and “Circos”.
While trying to decide between leaving the party or staying a little longer, Girls 96 dance between cheesy honesty and blasé performativity.