Fans of the Nightwatch books (two of which were made into the movies “Nightwatch” and “Daywatch,” although the movies diverge considerably from the plot of the books) might have noticed that the main character is always listening to the music of Russian rock bands with extremely poetic lyrics, particularly a band called Nautilus Pompilius.

The series is about a Cold War between the secret police forces of good and evil magic in modern Moscow. The forces of good have a “Nightwatch” to make sure all the vampires, werewolves and witches strictly observe the treaty that ended the original war, and the forces of evil have a “Daywatch” to police the good guys. Both forces use the “letter of the law” to find ways to trip each other up and weaken each other without getting caught. Not too surprisingly, the good guys aren't really all that good, since waging a secret war tends to be morally corrupting. Still, they do try to do the best job they can, and one thing most of them have in common is that they listen to Nautilus Pompilius. Supposedly, the powers of evil just can't stand the band.

When I was reading the books, I was struck by how intelligent and poetic the quoted lyrics were, so I decided to look up Nautilus Pompilius on Youtube. Sure enough, I found them- someone has kindly posted quite a few Nautilus Pompilius videos for the rest of the world to enjoy. Now you can hear for yourself. This is the music of the Nightwatch!