Pick one of your favorite electronic acts and one of the following is probably true: A) it’s a pair of two producers, B) they cite Daft Punk as a musical influence, C) they’re from the United Kingdom. The entire UK has one fifth as many people as the United States, so why does it put out so much more electronic music?

Britain has always held an important place in the global music scene; it’s not just a modern phenomenon. The Beatles get credit from music historians for the so-called “British Invasion” in the 1960’s. But it’s hard to use four shaggy-haired rockers to explain the current landscape of electronic music. The recent wave of DJs and producers is surely more than just “Beatles fallout.”

First, the Beatles’ music is more than forty years old at this point. It has a much smaller impact today compared to what it once did (even if we consider the title of Justice’s “A Cross The Universe”). Second, if we’re going to make the argument that “today’s music scene was shaped by yesterday’s musicians,” then most of the credit should go to the UK’s recent electronic acts– The Prodigy, Portishead and The Chemical Brothers to name a few. Still, this argument is not entirely convincing. It’s simply the nature of music to evolve; any musician in any genre can cite an influence. These influences explain how music evolved the way it did, but not why.

I can think of two reasons why the United Kingdom puts out more electronic music than the United States. First, the UK itself is much smaller and more densely populated. The United States doesn’t necessarily have any less talent, but it’s music scene is more fragmented. It’s easier to tour the entire UK than it is to tour the entire US. Likewise, it’s easier to generate buzz among sixty million people than three hundred million people. Britain is thus helped by its tight-knit electronic music community.

But a small population does not imply a thriving electronic music scene. In fact, the reverse seems more feasible: a large population helps. The more people in a country, the more potential producers and consumers of music there are. Here’s the second point: even though the UK puts out a large amount of electronic music domestically, much of it is “consumed” internationally. Hence, Britain also thrives because of it’s proximity to Europe.

As any wide-eyed twentysomething can tell you after returning home from his first trip abroad, Europe has a booming dance culture. European clubs stand head and shoulders above their American counterparts. They’re bigger and there’s more of them. Americans love to dance, too. But the culture is different than it is in Europe. Even though some big cities like L.A., New York City and Chicago have thriving dance scenes, most smaller American cities don’t have packed clubs every weekend.

The advantage for the UK is really the fact that it’s part of Europe, where dance clubs are the norm for teenage partygoers. Maybe asking why the UK puts out more electronic music than the US is akin to asking why it also produces more great soccer players. It’s largely a cultural response. Music is a product of environment and circumstance. The vast UK scene first grew out of European demand and then flourished because of Britain’s tight-knit electronic music community.

Audio Bullys

Everyone’s got those “this group is going to be huge in three years” predictions that fall completely flat. Audio Bullys is one of mine. I always thought these guys were going to compete with Bassment Jaxx to be the next big thing in house music. It still hasn’t happened. They never took off the way I thought the would (and deserved to.) These guys have been pretty quiet since their peak of popularity in the early 2000’s. They were supposed to release an album last September, but they pushed back the release without giving any details. Their last album came out in 2005; four years later they have only a handful of new tracks to their name. It’s hard to stay excited with so much time between releases. Let’s hope the extra year+ of work pays off and the new LP realizes its full potential. Some things are worth the wait, but everyone has a breaking point.

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Audio Bullys – We Don’t Care

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Audio Bullys – Gimme That Punk (Jak-Z Remix)

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Audio Bullys – Dope Fiend (Malentes One Hour Remix)