21 Vek

21 Vek ("21st Century") is a rock trio from Skopje, North Macedonia, made up of three well-known names from the city's underground scene: Vasko Atanasoski on vocals, Rade Jordanovski on bass and Deni Krstev on guitar and backing vocals. Before 21 Vek they were known from bands such as Bernays Propaganda, FxPxOx, XAXAXA and My Tear. Their sound draws on influences from post-punk to Macedonian traditional music.

The band wrote every song of its first album in nine rehearsals between July and September 2018. Deni Krstev recorded, edited, mixed and mastered it at Studio 1060 in Skopje, with Atanasoski as executive producer, and it came out in 2018 as the LP 1 on Balkan Veliki, the label Atanasoski runs. Its nine songs include "Daj mi kolkovi", "Novo sonce", "Kako vo 96ta", "Northern man" and "Gazam skali".

In 2022 the trio played a showcase in Novi Sad on 1 September, as part of the city's European Capital of Culture programme, and on 7 September an EXIT festival warm-up party in the city park of Strumica, where the organisers billed them as a "cult Macedonian trio" whose fun pop-punk shows often turn into stand-up comedy. Their whole first album is gathered here in one playlist.