Thank you for taking time to write a comment, Russ!
To be honest, I'm not sure that even Russians can say much about our culture. There is a version that a lot of it was destroyed by communists; but there also was an aggressive industrialisation. Also, it is in fact rather close to European/American culture, despite political talks. To make this point I would just compare this music to music from India, China, Turkey, which has very specific sound. I think during the time of iron curtain, a lot of Soviet people romanticized life in USA to an unrealistic extent, and "banned" music from abroad influenced music lovers so deeply, that older people here have some "special America" in their minds, which doesn't really exist, and also for younger people who now live with the internet and millions of goods here it is kind of irrelevant.

Some younger people here take a big interest in Soviet culture, also they study an older music equipment, like vinil records; imagine, you are born among digital devices, any music just appears from nowhere, and then you find out that there is a physical (analog) world, and music which is so different from the mainstream.

Yet, contemporary music and young culture is also worth to study, it may sound simple and aggressive at first, but it reflects the outside world (environment) in which modern people live.