Escape Into A Virtual Techno Fantasy with k☆truck, TRVSHBXVT, dicqbeats and KFC Murder Chicks

By Caydie Tampac, Kat Beglau

Photos by Aden Oster

I step into what appears to be a dim, vast void with an irresistible curiosity. Then in an instant, I find myself blinded in a vivid kaleidoscope of colors with flashing streaks of fluorescent pinks, blues and greens beaming down from the lights above. People are sparkling and dancing in neon fishnets, faux furs and vibrant hair all around me. My ears are entranced with turbulent, synth-heavy melodies of beeps and boops and twinkles and jingles. Some may wonder if they had somehow been transported to a 2000’s pixelated video game. In actuality, it’s the hypnotic electronic beats of k☆truck, TRVSHBXVT, dicqbeats and KFC Murder Chicks. 

The audience engaged in a heated pool noodle battle. Photographed at West Street Market by Aden Oster 10/13/25.

On Oct. 13, West Street Market, a beloved hotspot in downtown Reno, transformed from an eatery in the day into a rave club at night. The four techno artists performed one after another to send audiences into a world of nostalgic fantasy and slapstick humor, from tunes reminiscent of a beloved childhood video game to referencing the notorious adult cartoon “Family Guy.” This broad selection of electronic subgenres include hypergrunge, breakcore, hardcore and hyperpop.

K☆truck

k☆truck refers to her music as “video game music” because of her lifelong love for video games, particularly Super Mario. Her experience in music began early into childhood as she grew up in a musical family. 

“My dad was a DJ and I always enjoyed seeing him DJ in a dark room with beats playing.”

She also shares that her grandfather was a Blues musician and her cousins are involved in music as well. And so, k☆truck developed a natural inclination to follow in the footsteps of musicians before her. Prior to becoming known as k☆truck, she started out as a drummer and soon found a knack for creating similar instrumental beats within electronic music.

Making techno hyperpop beats is something that k☆truck not only loves, but has found a sense of comfort in. k☆truck shares her experience as a trans-feminine autistic artist who has regularly gone through feelings of alienation and isolation due to the harrowing stigma of neurodivergent and transgender people. 

For k☆truck, computer code is straightforward in contrast to the complexity of social interaction. Themes of technology are evident within her music with its heavy synth and harmonic autotune. “It’s easier for me to create music than have a conversation with someone.” She finds creating techno music and her songs as a representation of herself, along with making beats that thrum to the hearts of its listeners.

Through her 2-D video game-esque music, k☆truck has found the ability to “escape into a virtual world, understand my own reality and find happiness from it.” If you haven’t listened to k☆truck yet, allow her to send you to a digital realm of nostalgia.  

bk☆truck mixing beats and vocalizing in ethereal autotune. Photographed at West Street Market by Aden Oster 10/13/25.

“Video game music is so awesome and so beautiful, it makes you feel like you’re immersed in an entire world.”

k☆truck is available to listen to on Bandcamp, Spotify, Youtube, Apple Music and Youtube Music.

trvshbxvt

trvshbxvt, or Tre or Trashy, is a techno artist hailing from northern California who fuses the satirical, humorous performances of post-nightcore with the dissonant thrashiness of hardcore punk. It wouldn’t be uncommon to find audience members banging their heads and throttling their bodies into one another to the staggered, agitated beats. 

“Making music, I’m used to emotional, usually sort of sad-sounding rave music, which seems kind of contradictory, but that’s kind of been my brand.”

trvshbxvt began their career in electronic music in early 2015. She would frequently switch between two stage names before landing on trvshbxvt. The inspiration for the now permanent stage name originated from when Rigby of the popular 2010 cartoon sitcom “Regular Show” changed his name to Trash Boat.

“I changed my name so I could force myself to be stuck with it. Even if it’s stupid, I'm locked in, I'm stuck with it from now on.”

The sound of trvshbxvt is a broad spectrum of musical genres; it's reminiscent of industrial hard-core rave music, leaning into the electronic subgenres of breakcore, nightcore and post-hardcore electronic music. They also blend influences of screamo, an emo subgenre, into their songs. She describes it as “femcel” music. All jokes aside, trvshbxvt perceives making music as a medium to connect with others who may find themselves feeling lost or alone, and undoubtedly constructs a sense of community among their audience.

trvshbxvt belting out and bopping to the beat. Photographed at West Street Market by Aden Oster 10/13/25.

“I just want to reach people who are going through shit, I guess.”

trvshbxvt is available to listen to and is selling merch on Bandcamp.

dicqbeats

“Angry clown Dracula sex music” is the self-appointed definition of dicqbeats’s artistry, with rapid, gritty, distorted breakbeats that samples anything from birds to the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song. 

All the way from D.C. (short for d*ck and c*ck as they put it), dicqbeats made a short visit to Reno as they traveled state to state alongside fellow techno artist KFC Murder Chicks, undoubtedly having left a lasting impression on the Biggest Little City.

In their mid-teens, dicqbeats started creating music by playing in thrash metal, death metal and prog metal bands as a bassist and drummer. Later as they entered their 20s, they dipped into the world of electronic music from the comfort of their dad’s basement. The unique name originates from when they were in a dilemma to come up with one up until their friends made a comment on their music that lit a lightbulb in their mind. 

“He was like, ‘Dude, you make beats, but you’re always just dicking around,’ because I always made clown-level beats, so I decided to just roll with it.”

The kind of individuals that dicqbeats wishes to fill the audience with are chaotic, wild animals who aren’t shy to let loose and go crazy, letting everything out to fast and heavy breakcore. Over the course of their career, they’ve been enraptured by those who go insane, even if the rest of the audience is backed in a corner in fear and confusion. That is exactly what dicqbeats is all about. At a dicqbeats set, expect to catch flying pool noodles in the air and have noodle fights with each other.

Hardcore techno beats aren't the only thing that defines dicqbeats. In contrast to the cheeky name, dicqbeats has been vocal as a political activist. They use their platform to speak out about political issues, protesting through their merch that reads  “abolish ICE.” Although it wasn’t the initial intention when debuting after simply goofing and joking around, suddenly dicqbeats became an advocate as they spoke out at shows and benefits.

”I remember hearing when I was a kid, ‘If you want people to listen to you, first you gotta make them laugh,’ and dicqbeats kind of ended up being the platform for that.”

dicqbeats performing in an assertive stance. Photographed at West Street Market by Aden Oster 10/13/25.

dicqbeats is available to listen to on Apple Music, Amazon Music, TIDAL, Bandcamp and Spotify. 

KFC Murder Chicks

From the dangerous 4chan landscape of the mid-2010s, a band gained notoriety through an alternate reality game (ARG) that exposed anti-capitalist values by satirizing the business practices of major big-box corporations. If you’re confused, you are not alone. 

As the headlining act of the show, the audience welcomed the KFC Murder Chicks after three eclectic, electronic music sets. Iconically, faradayribcage represented the KFC Murder Chicks as, according to the group’s lore, their other touring member was repossessed by their parent company. 

As faradayribcage sings most of the tracks on “223,” faradayribcage was able to sing live and grab the audience's attention with sensual dance moves paired with flashing lights. This contrast between the dance and the music’s strong beats reinforced the KFC Murder Chick’s hyper-grunge sound and their proclivity to blend genres. 

KFC Murder Chicks mixing beats and belting out. Photographed at West Street Market by Aden Oster 10/13/25.

Not only does faradayribcage perform with KFC Murder Chicks, but she also has her own extratone girl industrial music, which is super fast-paced and beat-heavy while also taking on more personal themes.

KFC Murder Chicks played their iconic song “QUEEN” off of their album “223,” which continues their tradition of politically charged music and references their ARG origins with lyrics that declares them as the "queens of the shit pile.” 

ARGs are typically multimedia interactive storylines that are created and controlled by a person or group. ARGs invite participants to sleuth the internet for clues that the creators of each game plant, like a virtual scavenger hunt. 

The ARG that birthed KFC Murder Chicks was started by DJ Rozwell in 2015. It centered around the fictional search term “Erratas”. One of the main intrigues for this particular ARG was continuous references to a fictional underground homeless girl band. By fans of the ARG and the KFC Murder Chicks, including the YouTuber Nexpo, this fictional band is thought to be DJ Rozzwell’s inspiration behind the KFC Murder Chicks.

At the show, the KFC Murder Chicks maintained their relationship with the ARG and their perpetually expanding lore by encouraging their audience to participate in the bit. To escape into a world of fem empowerment and anti-capitalist values, where people could dance, scream and escape the harshness of real life with their music.

KFC Murder Chicks astonished the crowd with the metal-inspired, electric music from their album “223”; however, the show’s impact on Reno extends beyond music. When the lights came back on, showgoers were exchanging information in the post-dance haze and making plans to go to the Biggest Little Fur Con at the GSR. They were also checking in with each other to make sure that everyone had a way to get home safely, or at least a way to get to the next party that night. Hopefully the KFC Murder Chicks come back to Reno, and in the meantime, please promise not to search Erratas!

KFC Murder Chicks is available to listen to on bandcamp, soundcloud, TIDAL,  YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music.

To hear about more events at West Street Market, follow their Instagram here or at @wsm.events