Siberian DJs Are Terrible. But Their Animation Is Drop Dead.

I don’t generally patrol the internet looking for Siberian DJs. I know you’re surprised by that, but from now on, I just might start. This week the gods of YouTube delivered me Dropgun: the DJ duo from Tomsk.

Dropgun hails from Tomsk, Russia

Dropgun is about as far from my musical sensibilities as you can get (I spent ten years listening to nothing but Bob Dylan). In fact, I’ll just say it: Dropgun’s music is flat-out horrible. It sounds like it was made by a Jack Russell on amphetamines.

But when you combine this horribleness with an intoxicating pastel video, it starts to feel entirely of-the-moment.

They have lots of videos that pull off this weird trick, but the best is “Earthquake.” The animation is bubbly and delicious, like Japanese candy, but less hyper. This is contrasted against stark backgrounds that feel reminiscent of Communist propaganda posters, updated with a futuristic palette.

Mid-century Soviet propaganda

Communist propaganda from Zürich.

In fact, the video is actually very soothing, which is downright weird. Against all odds, this music video will relax you.

This bears remembering if you, like me, worry about the youngsters with all their exposure to over-stimulating media. Maybe technicolor pixels, like meditation, can help some of us cope with 21st century anxiety. Maybe art is our way of processing noise.

But we didn’t come here to pontificate about all that. No, we came here for a music video—a music video from the wilds of the Western steppes!