Russian post-punk: the music of the modern Russian soul

Russian Russian post-punk is one of the genres of Russian music that defies logical description, but is given to us, as they say, in sensations

A bit of history

From the British and Americans, this genre was adapted to Russian realities by the well-known musician and leader of the Kino group, Viktor Tsoi. Of the pioneers of post-punk, you may know such bands as "Joy Division", "Happy Monday", "The Slits". The most important thing to know about the origin of this genre in other countries is that the bass guitar comes out almost in the first place in the sound of melodies. They sound like very dynamic songs with harsh melodies, rough vocals and a minimal set of equipment. Sometimes even with specially worse mixing and mastering in order to give the sound more atmosphere.

The philosophy and peculiarity of Russian post-punk

If we talk about ordinary punk, it has its roots very deeply and even in Soviet-era Russia (USSR), as for Russian post-punk, it became popular in Russia in the early 2010s. This genre was associated with the generation of "Doomers". Doomers are people who were born in the second half of the 90s, but they are not a whole generation of people, but rather an offshoot. Doom is the “death” derived from English. This word is an Anglicism in the Russian language. Despite its meaning, this word has taken root and has become more poetic in our country than meaning a man going to his death, if translated in literally.

Who are Doomers? – These are melancholic and depressed people. They are inspired by longing, the gloomy aesthetics of Russia, nostalgia, the aesthetics of "panels" (a panel is a 3- or 5-storey house built during the late Soviet Union). Russian post-punk is an outlet and a source of inspiration for doomers. Almost all of these songs contain an atmosphere of failure, unrequited love and other problems that are relevant today.

In Russia, there is a phrase among the people: "Russia is for the sad," our doomers can easily be attributed to this phrase. Why Russia is for the sad, I think it can be described in one sentence: In Russia, people smile a little, but this does not mean that they are unfriendly :)

Bands that play Russian post-punk

Russian Russians and CIS countries have a lot of bands today, maybe some bands are not from Russia, but they sing in Russian, so we will refer them specifically to Russian post-punk.

Top 5 Russian post-punk bands that, in our opinion, make very atmospheric, pleasant and good music:

5. «Перемотка»