Songs of Protest: IC3PEAK's Electro-Horror Offers A Social Critique of Putin’s Russia
The Russian electronic band continues to face suppression under Putin’s Russia and uses music to cry out against police brutality, homophobia, and censorship.
Written by Mahina Adams
Image courtesy of The Orchard
In 2013, singer Anastasiya Kreslina and producer Nikolai Kostylev joined forces to form the electronic band IC3PEAK. Pronounced “icepeak,” the duo comes from Russia and is known for its high-concept, disturbing, and artsy music videos. Their unique artistic approach may seem indescribable, but the two refer to their project as “audiovisual terror,” where they mix elements of trap, electronic, and horror. From kissing corpses to dressing as zombie babushkas in their music videos, IC3PEAK’s music has always been outside the mainstream, but their expanded audience and political ventures have subjected them to close watch by the Russian government.
Their start of heavy politicization was in 2018 with the release of their song “Смерти больше нет.” The song, which translates to “Death No More” in English, protests the Russian police, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Putin’s repressive policies. The music video starts with the Russian flag waving in the sky and Kreslina and Kostylev sitting on the shoulders of Russian riot police. They sing the lines, “I fill my eyes with kerosene / Let it all burn, let it all burn / All of Russia is watching me / Let it all burn, let it all burn.” Many absurd and outright mocking images occur in the humorously macabre video, including Kreslina singing about burning herself alive whilst sitting on the steps of a Russian government building, the two smoking a blurred out joint and indulging in pieces of raw meat at Vladimir Lenin's tomb, and the duo playing patty-cake together while they sit on the shoulders of two riot policemen in front of the Lubyanka secret police headquarters. Considering the pointed fun they have at the Russian government's expense, through both their lyrics and music videos, it is no surprise that, following the video's release, IC3PEAK suffered show cancellations for half their tour dates in Russian provinces. They faced pressure from Russian law enforcement who disrupted their performances and did not give IC3PEAK a valid reason for the cancellations. Expected to perform in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, they were instead detained and not released from custody until after their scheduled show time had passed.
IC3PEAK also attacks the issue of censorship by the Russian government. In their song “TRRST,” short for “terrorist,” they question why they are called terrorrists and why they have been put on the government's black list. The song relies a lot on visuals as its music video depicts the duo dressed up as riot squad members in front of the Kremlin protesting the Russian police and government officials within the building. They sing about war starting, being trapped in hiding, and only eating canned food as an expression of how they feel confined under Russian censorship. In an interview with NPR, Kreslina said, "It's a descriptive video, we're not revealing anything new in it. We're just saying out loud what people would like to say but are afraid to. We're describing the state of mind of a person of our generation, who really has nothing to look forward to and can't expect any changes."
IC3PEAK’s music has gained the attention of the younger generations, bringing awareness to the phenomenon of the technological generational divide between Russia’s youth and their elders who grew up in the Soviet Union where the government controlled all forms of media and had high amounts of censorship. The offline existence of Russian elders has shaped their complacent reliance on the attitudes of the government, which disapprove of music like IC3PEAK’s that call out the government for their oppressive views such as the country’s homophobic laws. In an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he stated, “Rap and other modern (genres of music) are rested upon three pillars: sex, drugs, and protest." Putin believes it is the government’s job to lead youth culture, but as Russian youth consume more and more Western media, his attempts to regulate Russia’s youth culture are faltering. Kostylev confirmed that, after the cancellation of their shows, there was an outpour of support. "We returned home from our last tour with new inspiration," he said. "Our fans really want to do something and change something for the better."
The duo deals with other issues outside of censorship and police brutality, such as the suppression of democracy and domestic violence. In their song, “Марш [Marching],” they address the lack of democracy in their country (“Without an invitation they come into my house / [With] a new word and a new law.”) Their song “Boo Hoo” deals with domestic violence, which was only decriminalized in Russia in 2017. “I was always good, I was never bad / All my life like a good girl I obeyed the rules / I’m tired of crying, tired of suffering / Either way I won’t be able to predict my own death.” The music video shows a little girl playing with dolls mimicking her parents, and over the course of the video, the dolls get more brutally aggressive with each other. LGBTQ rights are another major social issue IC3PEAK highlights in its work. As a response to the 2014 ban of gay imagery in Russia, their song, “Go With the Flow” addresses the homophobic laws and anti-gay policies present in the country. In the music video, IC3PEAK brought in queer communities from Brazil and their home country as their personal way of defying a government who deems queer culture “unhealthy.”
With its politically charged electronic music and five studio albums on the market, IC3PEAK told NPR the group hopes to continue creating a unique and original sound accompanied by videos with full effects. Known for music full of emotion and social critique, IC3PEAK challenges the political structures of the Kremlin from a youthful perspective and brings awareness about topics that extend beyond Putin’s controlled government.