It’s a warm, slightly hazy Sunday evening in Peckham, yet Vespers – a small, raw basement space – feels like it’s swallowed by night. Qiri, 26, storms onto the stage, with bandmate Estratosfera, 22, positioned just to her left. “I love music,” they repeat over jagged kick drums, while Qiri swings a huge flag reading: DANCE. RESIST. REPEAT. A crowd of around 200 people shouts every lyric back in English and Spanish, moving wildly to the sound.
Buenos Aires duo EQ have quickly stepped onto the global stage following their self-titled debut EP. Built on a clear mission to make unapologetically fun party music, they’ve already appeared at Skrillex’s debut CONTRA festival in Berlin this year and are currently touring across Europe and Australia for their first headline run. They’ve also attracted attention through recent remixes from Nick León, umru, and Underscores (under the Milkfish alias), while collaborating with Shygirl, Isabella Lovestory, Babymorocco, and fellow Argentine artist Six Sex.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Estratosfera says as NME runs through the list of collaborators. “When we started making music together, many of these people were influences or artists we admired, and now they’re peers in the same scene. It feels like a really positive sign that we’re moving closer to spaces that feel authentic to us and the kind of music we actually love. But at the same time, we’re still surprised, because it’s all happened so quickly, and we’ve done everything independently with our small team.”
Qiri adds: “We come from the southernmost country in the world – it’s not something people expect at all. So the reward feels even bigger.”
Three hours before EQ take the stage, the pair sit together in the venue’s seating area speaking with NME. Qiri (real name Candela Mattera) holds a cup of tea to soothe her throat, while Estratosfera (Laura Ferreira) talks about how they first met. “I used to play guitar a lot as a teenager, and when I was 18 I auditioned to become a live guitarist for trap artist and close friend Saralamacara,” Ferreira explains. “I got the role, and I toured with her for about two or three years.”
Alongside that work, Ferreira asked Saralamacara’s producer Evar to teach her production basics, though she still needed a computer capable of making music. That’s where Mattera came in – she not only had a proper setup but had also been awarded for her studies in electroacoustic experimental music.
The two quickly became close friends, spending nights at each other’s homes while obsessively refining their sound. “We’re really obsessive about vocals,” Mattera says. “We’ll record for eight hours straight, and still maybe not finish a single track. We do a lot of vocal comping, every detail in the chain has to be perfect – even how we resample things is very intentional.”
When their debut single ‘Boytoy’ dropped in 2024, its glossy neoperreo sound and Getty-style artwork went viral online, leading Mattera to leave her studies behind. She was relieved to do so, after feeling isolated in a male-dominated academic environment: “It was really draining for me. I already felt a bit out of place in music; the academic music world felt even more alienating. I really needed a community.”
“By not making traditional ‘Buenos Aires’ music like rock, Latin, reggaeton or even techno, we’re making a point: this also is Latin music” – Qiri
EQ’s music captures the intensity and closeness of Buenos Aires’ underground club culture. ‘B.S.A.S’ is a slick Baltimore club-inspired track that mirrors a typical night out, while ‘EQtamine’ sees them confidently declare: “You want the DJ? Bitch, I’m the DJ!” Across their work, EQ lean more into industrial and global club sounds rather than traditional Latin styles like reggaeton, something they openly acknowledge as unusual.
“It’s our own interpretation,” Ferreira says. “Some people in the Northern Hemisphere expect Latin music to follow specific ‘Latin rhythms’. But we don’t feel pressure to fit into a box that wasn’t made for us. If we want to explore regional sounds, we can. If we want to borrow influences from elsewhere, we do that too.”
Mattera adds: “By not making traditional ‘Buenos Aires’ music like rock, Latin, reggaeton or even techno, we’re making a point: this also is Latin music. I really feel there are a lot of people in my city who feel represented by that.”
Between the euphoric highs of their sets, EQ also confront a darker side of nightlife. The dreamy ‘Girls My Age’ reflects on women worn down by beauty standards but still determined to enjoy themselves, while ‘Subway Lullaby’ channels frustration at harassment through abrasive, chaotic production: “Ugh! I wanna spit at them / I wanna punch them!” That darker energy also connects to the fragile queer club spaces they grew up in. They reference venues like Deseo and HiedraH, which they say “prove a point in resisting the far right ascension in Buenos Aires, which is really comforting.”
There are other venues they could mention, they add, if they hadn’t already been forced to close under president Javier Milei. Since his election in 2023, Argentina has been hit by inflation reaching 211 per cent. Combined with his controversial social policies and alleged crypto-related scandal, only 35.5 per cent of Argentinians reportedly approved of him last May.
“Things are becoming expensive and people can’t afford to go out anymore, so clubs are shutting down,” Mattera explains, noting that Milei has also cut funding to left-wing cultural organisations. “Argentina has always been quite progressive in Latin America when it comes to human rights, and now a lot of that support has been removed.”
Their DANCE. RESIST. REPEAT. flag, they say, is a reminder of the real-world stakes behind the party atmosphere. “In Argentina, you don’t always realise you’re fighting for space while you’re part of the nightlife scene,” Mattera says. “It’s important to protect that. People don’t always see how vital nightlife is in Buenos Aires – it’s not just entertainment, it supports thousands of jobs.”
EQ add that it’s still rare for an Argentine act to break through internationally, and they’re determined to make the most of the opportunity. Mattera recalls working as a hotline operator and medical translator to fund their ‘Boytoy’ photoshoot. Now, they’re stepping into a wider world – carried by the strength of their community and sense of identity.
“When we started making this music, we were very young,” Mattera says. “There’s a lot of freedom in shaping your identity and sound. I think that connects to being a girl – not in a limiting way, but in a constantly evolving one.”
EQ’s ‘Girls My Age (Nick León “Adictiva” Remix)’ is out now via Fractura.
