If you like electronic pop music, I highly recommend the new album by Pussy Riot, the Russian protest group. The album is called CYKA, which Russian for “bitch.” Well, it’s Russian for bitch but saying it is also akin to saying fuck you. I had GPT translate a lot of the Russian lyrics after I found them on genius.com and it was quite interesting. If you translated a lot of it literally you wouldn’t get the meaning. One song repeatedly mentions “vata,” which literally means “cotton wool,” but in Russian political slang it’s an insult directed at someone who has been thoroughly indoctrinated by Kremlin propaganda.
Today’s incarnation of Pussy Riot is spearheaded by co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, who has lived outside Russia in exile in recent years after being imprisoned in 2012 and later placed on Russia’s wanted list.
The album does have a lot of Russian but some of the songs are in English, too, so don’t let that steer you away. Plus, this is the type of music where you’re seduced by the beats and other production more than the lyrics.
The title track, “CYKA,” actually samples Vladimir Putin speaking about the 2012 prosecution of Pussy Riot members.
The album has guest appearances by B Real from Cypress Hill, salem ilese and the band Avenged Sevenfold. “GORE” featuring B Real is especially good, although all three tracks with these guests are excellent.
If you heard Pussy Riot’s old music then you heard this new album, you wouldn’t think that it’s the same band. The new album is very much in the electronic pop vein. It kind of reminds me of M.I.A. and FKA Twigs. And even though I didn’t notice many guitars, the heavy beats sometimes remind me of Sleigh Bells. Suffice to say, this album has lots of bangers with loads of bass. I didn’t care for Pussy Riot’s music years ago when they were doing really raw punk rock but this new album is right up my alley. Rather than sounding like a collection of protest chants set to music, these songs stand on their own as genuinely compelling electronic pop.
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