Sovietwave

At the height of the trance music boom in the 2000s, Russian trance duo PPK used the melodies of Soviet electronic music as the basis of their compositions, pioneering the fusion of contemporary electronic music with Soviet-era nostalgia.[4]

The main inspirations for Sovietwave artists are typically the collective cultural memories associated with the Soviet era.[5] Lyudmila Shevchenko of Jan Kochanowski University considers the genre a manifestation of romanticized "nostalgic myth".[6] Sovietwave became popular in post-Soviet countries in the latter half of the 2010s, drawing on synthwave and nostalgia for mid-century Soviet culture in the region.[7]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sovietwave experienced a growth in popularity, along with related forms of vaporwave and synthwave.[8] This upsurge was driven in large part by the success of the Belarusian post-punk band Molchat Doma, whose song "Судно (Борис Рыжий)" from the album Etazhi became a popular meme on TikTok. According to Cat Zhang of Pitchfork, the song connected with Generation Z's "deep pessimism towards the future".[9] Molchat Doma's entry into the mainstream spawned multiple compilations of the genre on streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube,[10] which feature more overt nostalgia for Soviet and Space Age aesthetics despite the band's criticism of the genre for "fail[ing] to recognize the harsh realities of life in the region".[11]

Sovietwave music is characterized by an emphasis on cultural and scientific aspects of Soviet life.

Sovietwave is based on modern electronic music trends such as lo-fi, ambient and synth-pop, as well as the electronic music of the late Soviet Union.[12] Despite Sovietwave's widespread use of sampling from radio programs and speeches, the genre is not overtly political.[12] Sovietwave music is characterized by an emphasis on the cultural, political and scientific aspects of Soviet life,[13][14] with excerpts from educational films and speeches by Soviet statesmen being used primarily to create a nostalgic experience for the listener.[13] Sovietwave usually draws on images of space and technological progress which disappeared with the collapse of the Soviet space program, together with positive childhood reminiscences and technological utopianism of the Space Age;[13][14] social scientist Natalija Majsova described this trend as "nostalgia for the past future".[15]

The genre is influenced by the music of old Soviet animation and film, such as The Mystery of the Third Planet, Guest from the Future, The Adventures of the Elektronic, Courier, Leopold the Cat, Moscow-Cassiopeia, Office Romance, One Hundred Days After Childhood, Three from Prostokvashino, and Yeralash. Common musical influences on the genre include Soviet composers Eduard Artemyev and Aleksandr Zatsepin, and the bands Zodiac,[12] Alliance,[14][16] Forum, Mayak, and New Collection. The genre is also influenced by the work of Western musicians that were popular in the USSR, such as Depeche Mode, Digital Emotion, and Modern Talking.[7]

Critic Ivan Beletsky, in an article about the ten greatest albums of the genre, noted that "sovietwave does not like to dig into archives and look for rare material for sampling; Gorbachev's speeches, radio calls of "Mayak" or Gagarin's "Let's go!“ seems to be enough for them [sic].[17]

• Soyuzmultfilm
• Hardvapour
• Hauntology
• Technological utopianism
• Space age pop
• Nostalgia for the Soviet Union

• The Guardian: Russia's musical new wave embraces Soviet chic
• History & Culture Academy of Latgale The Nostalgic Phenom of the Sovietwave Music
• Peek-a-boo music magazine SOVIETWAVE. Cosmonauts' day special
• Internet radio station «Советская волна», 24-hour broadcasting music in the genre sovietwave.
• Soviet Nostalgia Now Has Its Own Soundtrack. Jacobin. 19 February 2022.