Music from another world

There’s music outside our bubble

Within the music market – Italian, European and American alike – there seems to be one immutable feature. A market that calls itself international but, in fact, remains confined to narrow geographic areas and continues to be dominated by the English-speaking world, while granting significant space to each country's own domestic output. The undeniable Anglophone hegemony doesn't just dominate the market quantitatively: it also dictates what can be canonized as a classic and what must be discarded. National discographies survive within this scheme only in a subordinate form, as tolerated exceptions, as long as they don't challenge the dominant symbolic order.

In the age of year-end lists, one of the clearest proofs of this rule lies precisely in the uniformity of listening habits among the specialist press across every Western country: national quirks aside, the year-end lists of an English, American, Italian, French or Polish webzine tend to resemble each other to a striking degree. There is clearly a shared market that cuts across different countries, a sort of relatively closed cultural bubble that – though constantly flooded by hundreds of thousands of new releases – remains almost entirely impermeable to influences from the rest of the world.

The main effect of this cultural and political hegemony is the systematic exclusion of music coming from the vast majority of the world's countries. Entire nations, and sometimes entire continents, are effectively erased from the Anglophone music market.

The following list of records, inevitably partial, focuses on a selection of Russian albums from 2025 available on Bandcamp, which represent only a tiny fraction of the country's musical output. A journey, then, into another world: a path running through electronic, gothic, ambient, psychedelia, progressive, jazz, post-rock, metal, folk, shoegaze, ethnic music and many other sonic strands, offering a glimpse into a vast and largely ignored scene.

Max Ananyev – Seasons (acoustic ambient, guitar ambient)

Saint Petersburg acoustic guitarist Max Ananyev is probably the most interesting discovery of this dive into contemporary Russian music. His minimal acoustic guitar conjures intimate soundscapes “suited to minds capable of dreaming” (as he puts it in an interview). Each track on “Seasons” evokes a different natural setting, divided across the four seasons. Ananyev has the gift of building worlds where time seems to stand still, as if placing before us fourteen paintings that capture a single, unrepeatable and eternal moment. From the icy winter of “White Frost”, which reveals the beauty of a landscape suspended in stasis, on the verge of bursting into life, to the rebirth of “The Water Awakening”, through to the delicate melodies of “Photosynthesis” and the summer of “Golden Time”, each track is a piece of a story that unfolds, season after season, telling of the changes taking place in the Russian forests that have shaped Max Ananyev's entire career. “Snow Magic” closes the circle, a new winter that reopens the eternal cycle of existence. Score 8

Brom – Чёрная голова (Black Head) (avant jazz, no-jazz)

Brom are a Moscow avant-jazz collective, among the most extreme currently active in Russia, as shown by the numerous enthusiastic reviews that have appeared both in local webzines and in the international press. Their new LP “Black Head” is a violent, twisted work that pushes jazz vocabulary right to the edge of math-rock: the post-punk bass is aggressive and in-your-face, the compositions swing between avant-prog, noise explosions and furious free-jazz drift, with Ivan Bursov's tenor sax looming over a chaos permanently on the verge of collapse. “Макароны” (“Pasta”) seems to conjure up the atmosphere of an Italian poliziottesco soundtrack, while “Сон милиционера” (“A Policeman's Dream”) is a superbly realized piece of chaotic, ferocious improvisation. Every track is a thrilling listening experience, even – and especially – in its most brutal moments, as in the devastating finale of the third piece. The band calls itself no-jazz, in homage to no wave, but looking at the cover art, and above all letting the music sweep you away, the idea of thrash jazz feels a lot more fitting. Score 8

Foresteppe – Vstrecha (ambient, minimal folk)

Most music produced in Russia obviously comes out of Moscow and St. Petersburg, but in this case we head to Berdsk, in Siberia, hometown of Egor Klochikhin, the man behind the project Foresteppe. Active since 2012 and author, among many others, of the gorgeous album “Diafilms” (2015), Foresteppe is a master at recreating landscapes inspired by the memory of a lost childhood, at rediscovering moments of peace spent safely at home, while outside the temperature can drop to minus fifty degrees. “Vstrecha” is a live recording from that very “Diafilms” period, which, blending ambient, folk, field recording and a strongly accentuated lo-fi aesthetic, forges a strong bond between sound and memory (the barely sketched guitar and the voices lifted from old home recordings on now-obsolete magnetic tape, used in Soviet Russia throughout the '70s and '80s). A single track of almost 30 minutes that turns memory into a timeless place, one that doesn't dream of grandeur or empires to rule, but seeks only peace and serenity. Score 7.5

Sivyj Yar – A Scarlet Sunset Over The Horrid Abyss (post black metal)

Vladimir Vishniakov, from St. Petersburg, is the man behind the project Sivyj Yar, active since 2014. “A Scarlet Sunset Over The Horrid Abyss” is a highly evocative work of atmospheric post-black metal, which draws on the poems of Russian writer Andrei Bely to describe the history and suffering of his people (the lyrics deal with the Stalinist era and the victims of the gulags). While the vocals are typically black metal, the guitars verge on post-rock, creating an intriguing and deeply immersive combination that turns every track into a sweeping, absolutely essential atmospheric black metal ride. The cover is an archival photo taken at the Kolyma camp, one of the cruellest sites of imprisonment in Russian history. Score 7.5.

Offizier Rinzer – Ministry Of Death (gothic, industrial)

“Ministry Of Death” is the debut album of the gothic/industrial project by Moscow-born musician Kira Rinzer, under the name Offizier Rinzer. Kira's words, set against an industrial backdrop, tell stories of ghosts, of the dead recounting their tales, trapped for eternity on radio waves. “Ministry Of Death” is thus an austere, conceptual work that moves between the dark-ambient of Lustmord, the industrial of Throbbing Gristle and perhaps a touch of Scott Walker's darkest records, aiming to create a dark journey into the post mortem, almost like a séance picking up the voices of the living, now lost forever in the air yet theoretically present for eternity. Original and pitch black. An excellent debut. Score 7.5

Rushana – Any Second Now (avant-pop, electronic)

Based in St. Petersburg, musician Rushana is behind a brand of auteur pop music that, in some ways, recalls a Russian take on PJ Harvey. We're not dealing with easy-listening pop at all, but rather a set of structurally complex songs (“Any Second Now”) that always contain a recognizable melodic core (“Racing Each Other”) which, however, never fully settles into a conventional song form. “Losing Myself” is a manifesto for an alternative, intimate and pained way of making pop music. The final acoustic track, “Mirel”, closes the album the way a seasoned singer-songwriter would. Score 7

The Re-Stoned – Dreams From The Outside. Stories Of The Astral Lizard Vol.3 (psych rock, psych folk)

The third chapter of the “Stories Of The Astral Lizard” trilogy by Moscow band The Re-Stoned continues the psychedelic jams that have marked their discography (now up to their twelfth LP). Clearly drawing on the most sprawling, lysergic strain of psychedelia, The Re-Stoned play with well-above-average technique and a top-tier knack for building hypnotic atmospheres (“Saikhshya Sakhyash”). The folk element dominates most of the tracks, with Eastern sounds merging with '60s psychedelia, expanding the senses just like the best examples from that golden era. Score 7

Nytt Land – Songs Of The Shaman (etnomusicologia, nord-music)

The Siberian duo Nytt Land, made up of husband and wife Natalya and Anatoly Pakhalenko, could be described as the Russian answer to the music of Norway's Wardruna or Denmark's Heilung: an attempt to rediscover the ancestral culture and ancient deities of Siberia's indigenous peoples. Shamanic folk, one might call it, played entirely on primitive instruments (mostly percussion), seeking to bring back to life the shamanic chants of the Manchu-Tungus peoples. Key figures in every primitive civilization, shamans forge a link between the spiritual and material worlds, guiding participants into a state of trance. On their album “Songs Of The Shaman” Nytt Land pursue this very goal through guttural chanting typical of Siberian traditions, percussive rhythms and the rediscovery of ancient, now-dead languages. Score 7

Electricjezus – Colossus (sludge, doom)

Electricjezus are a sludge/doom duo from Moscow, made up of Ruslan (guitar and vocals) and Oleg (drums). Active since 2012, in 2025 they released “Исполин” (“Colossus”), a compact LP that draws on the leading sludge/doom bands, probably first and foremost Electric Wizard, but which in practice harks back to Black Sabbath, the forefathers of this entire dark sonic world. Slow, monolithic and oppressive (“Morse Code”), they reach extreme levels across the thirteen instrumental, repetitive and psychedelic minutes of “Null”. Elsewhere they know how to get straight to the point, in more violent tracks like “Mother Of All Horrors”, bordering on post-metal, or in the abrasive vocals of “Snake Around The Neck”. A mature, alienated and pessimistic record, which gives nothing away to melody, but hypnotizes with guitar drones and deafening volumes. Score 7

Nikolai “BigNick” Bogaichuk was one of the most beloved and respected progressive music producers in Russia. A sound engineer and a fanatically passionate music lover, he released hundreds of LPs between 2000 and 2023, the year of his untimely death. The Russian band Roz Vitalis, the creative project of multi-instrumentalist Ivan Rozmainsky, decided to dedicate their new LP, “Dedication To BigNick”, to him. Roz Vitalis's music has been described by some as a Russian answer to Rock in Opposition, but in reality it isn't quite that avant-garde: it leans more towards chamber music, with technically accomplished piano solos that nonetheless retain a childlike spirit (“The Threesunny Light Power”), and jazz-rock enriched with folk instrumentation (“The Tragedy Of The Ancient Spring”). The nine tracks shouldn't be understood as a concept album telling the story of BigNick's life; rather, according to Ivan Rozmainsky, they follow as closely as possible everything BigNick taught musicians throughout his life — namely, the pursuit of a prog music free of nostalgia for the past. Score 7

ГНЁТ – Ночь Молода (black metal)

ГНЁТ is the black metal one-man band project of Maxim Levin, a Russian musician whose hometown is deliberately kept unknown. Raw guitars, fast rhythms and inhuman screams make him a disciple of Burzum and of the entire atmospheric black metal scene, from Mizmor to Paysage d’Hiver. Cold, snow and forests are the ideal backdrop for Levin's music, as clearly spelled out by the cover art. And as should happen on any black metal record, it speaks of an absolute otherness from modern society, of an isolated life far from cities, money and power, close to nature and the snow-covered forests that represent about as far from modernity as one can get. “По Блуждающим Тропам” (in English, “Along Wandering Paths”) is the record's most emblematic sonic journey, a necessary aimless wandering in order to find oneself again. Score 7

Dead Frank – Zoom Out (dark jazz)

Active in Saint Petersburg, Dead Frank are a trio made up of Danila Plaschev on bass, Maria Kachalova on drums and Sergey Khramtsevich on tenor sax. Their music is a mix of improvised jazz, free jazz and experimentation that doesn't quite reach the chaotic heights of the aforementioned Brom. The connection to traditional jazz isn't entirely severed, though: it lingers noticeably in nocturnal tracks like “Procrastination” and in the build-ups of tension that finally erupt in “The Lights On The Avenue Came On”, which alternates free jazz moments with early Coltrane-esque sonorities. “Zoom In” almost turns the lights off entirely, with the slow, dark sound of the bass dominating, the sax lurking in the background and minimal drumming stitching together the empty spaces. A particularly black kind of jazz, one that can recall — though in no way derivatively — bands like Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble or The Lovecraft Sextet. Score 7

Dzhuna – Мания (darkwave, shoegaze)

Dzhuna are a gothic/shoegaze/post-punk band from Moscow who broke up right after releasing “Мания”. Their career, which began in 2017 (thus officially lasting eight years), never strayed too far from 80s post-punk, managing – with a certain dignity – to carve out a place for themselves within the darkwave scene. Between a bass that traces engaging melodic lines that would delight any goth club, Cure-style guitar work, and vocals that might recall a Russian version of Molly Nilsson, the band revisits much of the stylistic vocabulary of dark music's history. It's likely that, had they not been confined to the margins of the world, Dzhuna would have been better known than they are now. Score 7

Kedr Livanskiy – Myrtus Myth (avant-pop, electronic)

“Myrtus Myth” is the fifth studio album by Kedr Livanskiy (stage name of Yana Kedrina), a Moscow-born Russian musician who began her career with LPs firmly rooted in club electronica. The new record consolidates an artistic trajectory that keeps drifting further from those origins. Her discography opens in 2016 with “January Sun”, an interesting minimal electronic work that seems to draw on the sound of Boards Of Canada. Years on, the Russian producer has gradually transformed her lo-fi sound into a form of esoteric pop, at times vintage-flavoured (“Anna”), more often modern, never chasing danceable rhythms but rather sounds built for attentive listening rather than dancing. The artist herself has been keen to point out that her main influence these days is Kate Bush. Rating 6.5

Otokoro – Immense Melancholy (ambient)

The war in Ukraine could hardly fail to leave its mark on Russian musicians over these three long years. Voicing that unease can't be easy for them, but Otokoro, an ambient musician from St. Petersburg, has managed with “Immense Melancholy” to capture the sense of loss felt by a generation weighed down by the fear of war. The six tracks use ambient textures to convey a sense of disorientation and helplessness that surfaces in the title track, in “Unseen passage”, and in the endless white noise of “Alimemazine”. Rating 6.5

Russian Gothic [Russian Music Part II] (darkwave, gothic)

The only compilation on this list, this collection of new Russian gothic tracks doesn't differ much from similar comps released elsewhere in the world, but it's worth flagging as it highlights the prolific output of a large scene that remains isolated from the rest of the world. Thirty-two tracks from as many little-known bands, spanning Russia and Belarus, retreading the traditional sounds of gothic rock and darkwave without seeking major innovation, but with a genuine desire to take part in the international gothic scene. The darkwave melodies of “Queen Of Dust” by The Star Of Išhtar and the pitch-black post-punk of “Private Cabinet” by Зима are very much part of that spirit. Rating 6.5

April Rain – Aperture (post-rock)

If Mogwai had been born in St. Petersburg, they'd sound more or less like April Rain, an instrumental post-rock band whose sound is typical of the celebrated Scottish outfit, both in its use of instruments and its evocative atmospheres. The Russian quartet employs all the classic devices of instrumental post-rock, from slow-building intros to crescendos and sudden guitar explosions that alternate with moments of stillness, in a constant quiet/loud interplay that's bound to appeal to fans of bands like Explosions In The Sky or God Is An Astronaut. Rating 6.5

Fedortolstoy – этого никогда не будет (shoegaze)

Hailing from Nizhny Novgorod, the band Fedortolstoy is one of the few examples of Russian shoegaze, with enveloping guitars and female vocals particularly suited to a dream-pop project. It's practically impossible to find any biographical information about the band online, but this new EP, barely fifteen minutes long, clearly draws on shoegaze's landmark acts with consistency and the emotional fragility typical of the genre. Rating 6.5

Oleg Grymov, Petr Ivshin – Winter Dream (cool jazz, smooth jazz)

Oleg Grymov (alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet) and Pyotr Ivshin (drums) are a fairly well-known duo among jazz fans in Russia. “Winter Dream” sounds just like a winter album, somewhere between cool jazz and smooth jazz, all soft, welcoming sounds to enjoy at home while it snows outside. The title track and the three ballads dedicated to Oleg's family, “Samira's Lullaby” (for his wife), the romantic “Portrait Of Irene” (for his daughter) and the sweet clarinet melody of “Katy's Tune” (for his second daughter), are emblematic of a warm, comforting brand of jazz. The dedications don't stop there: from Soviet jazzmen Stanislav Grigoriev and Vladimir Presnyakov Sr. to a jazz rendition of Chopin (“Étude Op. 10, No. 3, in E major”), the music is as ethereal and clear as a snow-covered landscape. Rating 6

Flynotes – Cast In Stone (psych rock)

The St. Petersburg trio Flynotes is a varied instrumental project brimming with influences ranging from psychedelia to post-rock, from prog to space rock, with occasional peaks of near-stoner distortion. Not particularly surprising or innovative, their music relies mainly on an elaborate interplay of guitar and keyboard melodies that will certainly appeal to fans of bands like Ozric Tentacles ("Carnival") and Motorpsycho ("Finishing Touches"). Rating 6

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