"Mat bez elektrichestva (Profanity without electricity)": A ska-punk-rock album by Leningrad

Profanity Without Electricity (Mat bez elektrihcestva) is the second studio album by the legendary St. Petersburg ska-punk-rock band (and conceptual media project) Leningrad, in which frontman Sergei “Shnur” Shnurov makes his debut as the band’s lead singer after Igor Vdovin left the group in 1998. The acoustic album, which relies significantly on wind instruments (trumpet, tuba, saxophone, and trombone) to establish Leningrad’s trademark sound, has distinguished itself from other Russian rock releases of the late-1990s with its pronounced and unapologetic use of profanity in the song lyrics, which placed Leningrad on the map as a new and influential direction in post-Soviet rock music, in which explicit language was gradually becoming normalized before becoming officially outlawed in Russian media in 2014. Interestingly, Shnurov’s career and use of profanity in his lyrics and live performances did not experience significant disturbance due to the passed law, which the band publicly opposed. As Russia’s first official “profanity album” Mat bez elektrichestva also solidified Shnurov’s stage image and lyrical persona as one modeled on the stereotypical post-Soviet working class masculinity, marked by self-deprecating brashness, swearing, misogyny, economic struggles, and a distinct nostalgia for the musical landscape of the late-Soviet period. This persona is encapsulated in Mat’s fifth track “Wild Man” (“Dikii muzhchina”), in which the lyrical subject lists his most essential qualities, “balls, tabaco, alcohol breath, and stubble” (“iaitsa, tabak, peregar, i shchetina”). The album is also one of the last major rock releases in the post-Soviet pre-Putin era, which became increasingly market-driven, with musicians relying on live performance ticket sales as well as the competitive production values of their records. To the present day, Leningrad and Shnurov remain active, although having gone through numerous aesthetic and conceptual changes, as well as many band member rotations. In 21st century Russia Shnurov has become arguably one of the largest rock stars and media personalities of the Putin era, maintaining an active social media profile and digital footprint, having also embarked on a political career as a member of Russia’s center-right political party Partiia Rosta (“The Party of Growth) and serving as the general producer of the international Russian-language television channel RTVI.