Russian

Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Гражданская Оборона; translates as “civil defense”), also known as GrOb (ГрОб, “coffin” in Russian), was one of Russia’s earliest and most influential punk bands. Their earlier work is very minimalist, lo-fi punk rock, while the group began to verge toward noise rock and finally shoegaze in the 1990s. The band’s frontman, the poet […]

Krovostok (Кровосток) is a Russian hip-hop group from Moscow. Formed in 2003, Krovostok consists of Shilo (Шило, stage name of Anton Chernyak, Антон Черняк) on vocals, producer Feldman (Фельдман, stage name of Dmitri Fain, Дмитрий Файн), and beatmaker and backing vocalist Fantomas 2000 (Фантомас 2000). The band is know for their liberal use of profanity […]

The Groom (Жених) is a 2016 Russian comedy and the directorial debut of Aleksandr Nezlobin (Александр Незлобин). Released in September 2016, the film stars Sergey Svetlakov (Сергей Светлаков), Olga Kartunkova (Ольга Картункова), Sergey Burunov (Сергей Бурунов), Georgiy Dronov (Георгий Дронов), and Aleksandr Demidov (Александр Демидов). The film is the story of Helmut, a German man who […]

Last Tanks in Paris (Последние Танки в Париже, or П. Т. В. П.) is a Russian post-punk band originally from Vyborg, near Saint Petersburg. The band plays a style of music heavily influenced by bands like Joy Division, and has come to be known for their outspoken political views. They have taken a strong stance […]

The Duelist (Дуэлянт) is a 2016 Russian adventure drama written and directed by indie filmmaker Aleksey Mizgirev (Алексей Мизгирев). Starring Pyotr Fyodorov (Пётр Фёдоров), Vladimir Mashkov (Владимир Машков), and Sergeу Garmash (Сергей Гармаш), the film is the third Russian film released in IMAX. The film is set in Saint Petersburg in 1860. The retired officer Yakovlev […]

Brothers Grim (Братья Грим—spelled differently from the original Brothers Grimm; грим means stage or film makeup in Russian, but that might be coincidence) is a Russian soft rock group. It was founded in 1998 by the brothers/twins Grim—actually Konstantin (Kostya) and Boris (Borya) Burdaev (Констаинтин/Костя Бурдаев; Борис/Боря Бурдаев), who went by Konstantin Grim and Boris […]

Zveri (Звери; “beasts”) is a Russian rock group formed in 2001, one of the biggest and best-known to emerge in Russia in the twenty-first century. Its founder was Roman Bilyk (Роман Билык), who goes by the name Roma Zver (Рома Зверь). Zver grew up in Taganrog and attended a construction and economics institute nearby before […]

Black Lightning (Чёрная молния) is a 2009 Russian fantasy/adventure/superhero film. It is about a 1966-issue Volga car (one of the Soviet Union’s makes) that Dmitry Maikov, a high school student, is given by his father. It turns out that the car can actually fly … and it contains missile launchers. Dmitry goes through multiple changes […]