TOPS and SMERZ

Jet Black Cat Music and Felons Brewing Co present a double headline show featuring TOPS (CA) and Norwegian duo SMERZ.A rare chance to catch two of the most interesting indie acts of the moment in one night.TOPS (CA)Musicians David Carriere, Jane Penny, Marta Cikojevic, and Riley Fleck —write timeless music that reliably threads immediacy and depth. Bury the Key, their first full-length since 2020 and with new label home Ghostly International, is a captivating reintroduction for the Montréal band: ever refined, undoubtedly masters of their melodic craft yet unafraid of evolving and testing themselves against different, at times darker tones. The album faces feelings once locked away, engaging the give-and-take between happiness, hedonism, and self-destruction.SMERZSmerz is the Norwegian duo of Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg, based in Oslo and Copenhagen. The duo released their sophomore album, Big city life, in May this year through Danish label Escho.Using collages to capture moments of everyday life and dreams, Smerz tell stories lived and imagined—of apathy, loneliness and internal monologue, love and friendship. Smerz operates at the intersection of genres, drawing inspiration from compositional techniques in classical music, the experimentation of computer music and the immediacy of pop music, in the palettes of girly existentialism.Join us for a very special double bill at Felons Barrel Hall.