Since the release of their acclaimed debut Ultrakunst in 2023, Brutalismus 3000 have toured the world; including huge 4000 people shows in South America and a Coachella set hailed as one of the best ever (with Reddit fans declaring the “summer of hardstyle”). And that was before Camila Cabello blew minds by joining them onstage to play B3K’s hit remix of “I LUV IT” ft Playboy Carti. Now on their European festival run they release new EP Goodbye Sal. Across the 6 tracks is everything that has made B3K the most hyped and controversial dance act in a generation, with their unruly music causing teenage techno riots worldwide. They have exposed the generation gap in club music, propelling them to even greater infamy – while their younger, femme skewing audience holds them ever closer to their hearts. Theo in the band was studying film in Berlin when B3K took off, with the EP title referencing Pasolini’s political art-horror film Sal. The music takes inspiration freely, from the dark sexy serrated buzz of electroclash, to the maximal stadium overload of hardstyle, and even 2010s EDM and Eurotrance, once considered verboten fruit (and all the sweeter for it). Vikki’s lyrics flip the gabber gender POV, as rage filled as the greatest female punks before. B3K draw from German synth squat-punk attitude, specifically artists like DAF or Atari Teenage Riot. Vikk is the most compelling front person in electronic music since Crystal Castles Alice Glass, singing in English, German, and Slovak (the daughter of migrant guest workers with Greek and Slovak roots). When her digitally distorted vocal comes in on “badthiings (rip avicii)” declaring “bad kids are running through the streets, yeh their running to a beat, yeh its really fucking neat” we are witnessing the exhilarating birth of a generational anthem.
