Russian

Smyslovye Gallyutsinatsii (Смысловые галлюцинации) is a Russian alt-rock band from Yekaterinburg whose sound has evolved from straightforward punk rock to, in recent years, more experimental works that sound closer to post-punk or indie. The band’s name translates to “meaningful hallucinations.” Smyslovye Gallyutsinatsii formed in 1989, at the end of the Soviet period, but did not […]

Chaif (Чайф) is a Russian rock band originally from Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). The name is a play on the Russian words for “tea” (chai, чай) and the slang for “pleasure” (kaif, кайф). Chaif saw national fame in the early 1990s with hits like “Don’t Rush” (“Не спеши”) and “17,” and they are still well known […]

Elizium (Элизиум) is a Russian ska-punk band from Nizhny Novgorod. Elizium plays across a number of genres, including ska, reggae, and metal, from which they have derived their own genre, which they call “space-rock” (“космос-рок”). Their name is taken from an ancient Greek conception of the afterlife. Elizium has  played with a number of well-known […]

Distemper is a Russian ska-punk band known for their combination of straightforward punk rhythms with danceable ska parts. Starting out in 1989 as a hardcore punk band, Distemper transitioned to their current ska sound around 1995. They consistently use a version of their name written in Latin characters. The band was formed in 1989 in […]

Aleksandr Novikov (Александр Новиков) is a Russian singer-songerwriter, performer, and poet who works mostly in the shanson genre, which he calls “urban romance” (городский романс). He is also the art director of Novik Records (Новик-Рекордс; “novik” also means “novice”). He was born and spent his early years on the Kuril Islands, in Sakhalin oblast, near […]

Band’Eros (Банд’Эрос) is a Russian R&B/hip-hop group that was founded in Moscow in 2005. The band’s name is a purposeful play on words – calling to mind both “banderos” – a Spanish word for an outlaw and “Band Eros” – referring to a certain sexuality within the group. The original members were Batishta (Kirill Petrov/Батишта, […]

Brother 2 (Брат 2) is the 2000 sequel to the cult favorite Brother (Брат), released in 1997. The film starts out with Danila Bagrov, the hero of both films, taking part in a television program about the heroes of the Chechen War, which he had fought in several years earlier. He gets involved soon after […]

Brother (Брат) is a highly regarded Russian drama/action film from 1997 that has achieved cult status. The main character is Danila Bagrov, who has just returned to his hometown in Russia from Chechnya, where he was fighting in the war. He gets in a fight at a concert almost immediately and attracts the attention of […]