Paperny T.A..M… (Паперный Т.А..М…) is a Russian music group that was founded in Moscow shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its leader is Aleksey Mikhailovich Paperniy (Алексей Михайлович Паперный; the T.A..M… stands for “fellowship of actors and musicians” (товарищество актёров и музыкантов), though information about the strange system of periods/ellipses is not forthcoming. […]

Nervy (Нервы; “nerves”) is a Ukrainian alternative-rock band led by singer and pianist Zhenya Milkovskiy (Женя Мильковский). He formed the band in 2010 after his solo career, which he had begun several years earlier, didn’t yield the results he wanted. The original members of the band were Milkovskiy (vocals, guitar), Dmitry Dudka (Дмитрий Дудка; bass guitar), […]

Louna (in Russian Луна, though they actually go by the Roman spelling—it means “moon”) is a pretty recently established Russian rock group. The name comes from the nickname of one of the founders, Lu (Лу; actually Lusine Gevorkyan, Лусинэ Геворкян), an ethnic Armenian. The group was founded in 2009 by two of the members of […]

Orgia Pravednikov (Оргия Праведников, Eng.: Orgy of the Righteous) is a Russian alternative rock band. They formed in Moscow in 1999 when guitarist Sergei Kalugin (Сергей Калугин) joined forces with the art-rock group ARTel (ARТель), and since then Orgia Pravednikov has continually honed its unique sound, which combines elements of acoustic and electronic music. Orgia […]

Svetlana Surganova (Светлана Яковлена Сурганова) is a Russian singer, musician, soloist, poet, and band leader most famous for her role in the Night Snipers (Ночные снайперы, 1993–2002) and as leader of the group Surganova and Orchestra (Сурганова и оркестр). Surganova, born in 1968, is originally from Leningrad and started to write songs at the age […]

U-Piter (Ю-Питер) is a Russian rock band formed in 2001 by Vyacheslav Butusov (Вячеслав Бутусов), who is best known for the popular Soviet rock band Nautilus Pompilius (Наутилус Помпилиус). The band usually writes their name in the Greek alphabet, to cement their connection to the god Jupiter (… who is Roman, but the point still […]

Skalpel (Skaльпель) is a Russian ska band hailing from Moscow. They are one of Russia’s best known bands playing old-school ska. Skalpel have made a mark on the international scene as well, playing shows with seminal bands like Bad Manners, The Beat, The Toasters, Be Nuts, Dr. Ring-Ding, Valkyrians, and others. They have released material […]

Male Factors is a Russian ska-punk band with a strong chanson influence. Their lyrics generally deal with criminality and drinking, and they were signed to Hobgoblin Records, a label notoriously owned by a former hacker and black marketer. They sang in Russian, English, Spanish, and German. They use the English name consistently. The band started […]

Zemfira (Земфира) is the stage name of Zemfira Talgatovna Ramazanova (Земфира Талгатовна Рамазанова), a Russian rock musician originally from Ufa, Bashkortostan. Zemfira has sold more than three million records over the course of her career, and continues to be popular in Russia and the former Soviet Republics. Zemfira was influenced from an early age by rock […]