They are currently one of the most in-demand techno duos in the world, after playing a set at the Coachella festival in 2024 and touring China earlier this year.
Berlin’s hard techno duo Brutalismus 3000 have released their second album in three years, featuring more pounding beats and intense vocals, plus: a surprise contribution from Hollywood actor Anya Taylor-Joy, known from the Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit.”
The duo – producer Theo Zeitner and singer Victoria Vassiliki Daldas – have an unconventional backstory, not unlike their music. Zeitner and Daldas founded Brutalismus 3000 in 2020 after meeting on the dating app Tinder in 2018 – a match that proved above all a musical one.
British techno group Underworld also feature again on their latest album, but the surprise addition is Taylor-Joy, who recites a poem written by Zeitner about a hungover morning over synths on the track “Morning Is For The Happy.”
Their hard techno with a punk attitude has broad appeal. “Romantika,” released in 2022, is their most-streamed song on Spotify with over 45 million plays, and the duo has more than 1 million monthly listeners on the platform. On Instagram, they have more than 400,000 followers.
Berlin is best known for minimalist techno – but that is precisely what the duo wanted to move away from. “That whole hard techno thing eventually got really stale and at times had something of a circus about it,” Zeitner said of the sound of his home city.
“At some point we just thought: screw it, we’re established now, so let’s do exactly what we feel like,” Zeitner said. The result is 14 tracks and just under 40 minutes of techno blended with punk, metal, trap and dubstep – all in chaotic harmony.
Brutalismus 3000 are set to play in Miami, Chicago, Montreal and Los Angeles in the coming weeks, alongside numerous European festival appearances.