Mumiy Troll

One of Russia's biggest rock bands, Mumiy Troll's members grew up in Vladivostok, a city of a half-million people in the far eastern edge of the country, a good 10-hour flight from Moscow.

"It's like the rest of the world was [another] galaxy. We had nice beach and nice sea, but we were far from everything," says singer and frontman Ilya Lagutenko, who was introduced to Western rock through illegally smuggled records. Purchasing clandestine music may have been his first act of rebellion, but upon forming his band in the early 1980s, Lagutenko began drawing direct attention from authorities, and the group was reportedly described as "socially dangerous" by a local Communist Party hack.

Walking a line among power-chord rock, folk and pop and at times recalling Depeche Mode and U2, Mumiy Troll's music focuses on universal themes such as existence and love. After the USSR's disintegration, the band led the rock charge in a country that had gone crazy for the genre, and it's now in the midst of its first proper American tour.

Earlier this year, Mumiy Troll released its latest Russian-language work, Comrade Ambassador, via American distributive channels, and has plans for an English album before long.

Someone appoint them cultural ambassadors of melody, already.