Anyone who wants to present Russian music cannot ignore Zemfira. Popular and mainstream – millions of records sold – but also distinctly idiosyncratic. The music is usually accessible (we categorize it under Pop), but the attitude is rock.
The Retuses 3x
Music
From the green city of
Zelenograd /
Зеленоград. Dreamy indie-folk with a melancholic undertone. Created by
Mikhail Rodionov (1992).
Finding or meeting love (с любовью встретиться) is a difficult problem (проблема трудная). The planet spins round and round (планета вертится круглая, круглая) and flies into the distance (летит вдаль) through the clamor of days (сквозь суматоху дней).
Everyone hates someone – but discrimination is illegal and out of date. Here’s a solution from Грязь or Gryaz: hate them all, in general. Я ненавижу людей: I hate people – including yourself by definition.
The new year begins with “New Day” (Novyy den’), fully titled Новый день (наша Родина – Революция, ей единственной мы верны): The Revolution is our Motherland, and we are loyal to her alone.
As little as there is to be found about Окружающий Мир (The World Around), there’s just as little to report. Virtually nothing. And there wasn’t much to choose from either. It was Танцуй со мной (Dance with me) or nothing. Well then.
Louna 3x
Music
Lousine Gevorkyan (1983) has already made an appearance with
Тараканы!, but outside of such collaborations, she is the lead singer of her own project, Louna. Rock from Moscow (since 2008) with an occasional message: ‘The band is best known for its socially conscious songs criticizing Russian political elites’ (
Wikipedia).
A trio from Minsk, Belarus. Where lately a lot of bad news has been coming from – and music that also doesn’t always sound cheerful. Still, Molchat Doma (Молчат Дома, Silent Houses) is worth a listen. Especially if you’re a fan of new or 80’s wave (now called postpunk or coldwave), and if you could appreciate
Ploho.
The summer of 2019 in Russia (like 2020) was very turbulent. Journalist
Ivan Golunov was arrested and (after much uproar) released again, opposition candidates were denied entry into the
Moscow City Duma elections (on September 8), and protests broke out. Volodya Kotlyarov, lead singer of PornoFilms (Порнофильмы), picked up his guitar and sang.
Тараканы! 3x
Music
Believe it or not (check it on
Google), but тараканы means cockroaches. The band originally called themselves Четыре таракана (four cockroaches), with singer Yuri Lenin. Now, they are
Тараканы! (or Tarakany, with an exclamation mark), led by Dmitry Spirin. Punk rockers (from Moscow) since 1991. Like cockroaches, they’re tough to kill.
Besides the never-to-be-surpassed
hardbass version, see
Adidas), there is also a Три полоски (tri paloski) by Animal ДжаZ (Animal Jazz). From Saint Petersburg, check out the (English-language)
Wikipedia and
song lyrics. From 2009, and still holds up.
