International Sounds

Ambiguous title! This article is about the relationship between where music is written and the way it sounds and the subgenre the artist adopts.

Most of you reading this blog aren't terribly familiar with drum & bass. Some might know a bit of dubstep, generally the angry wobbling kind, but I'll bet all of you have heard a lot of hip-hop and rap. We're North American! Hip-hop and rap are very much American genres, at least in origin and mainstream acceptance. Chicago house and Detroit techno are also American musical styles, but obviously a bit dated in this decade.

By contrast, hip-hop is not one of France's better musical creations. French electro, on the other hand, is huge! If you haven't heard of Justice, they're basically the most influential electro duo of all time. Following Justice is Danger, Breakbot, the entire Ed Banger record label, DatA, Toxic Avenger, Yuksek, and many more. And Justice's (arguably) biggest influence is Daft Punk, without whom modern house and electro would possibly not exist. Daft Punk isn't usually electro, but French house music is also excellent.

Germany has techno in a big way. Artists like Modeselektor, Fukkk Offf, Boys Noize, Booka Shade, and more define that sound. Mainland Europe in general has the garbage trance music so many people love! I'll give an opinion on that later.

The UK! British music is my favourite of all (that is my favourite song). They invented UK garage, drum & bass, dubstep, grime, and more. I'd live in the UK just for concerts and the radio. Many, if not most of my favourite artists are British.

Here's where it gets interesting. There are American dubstep artists like Starkey, British hip-hop producers like Hudson Mohawke, German drum & bass artists like Phace, and so on. The cool thing about them is that they bring their own sort of national sound to the music! Starkey's got a raw, in his words "street" sound for his music, drawing from rap and hip-hop. Hudson Mohawke brings the British experimental electronic sound to his brand of hip-hop. Phace's neurofunk drum & bass bears techno influences. What you get is genre and style blending, which creates some fantastic music!

The reason I bring this up is to keep in mind where music comes from while you listen to it. You'll be able to spot trends in artists when you notice this, and broaden your listening horizons! If nothing else, this article is a comment on geographical trends in music. Take from it what you will! Also, it doesn't just apply to these countries, these sort of trends exist everywhere music is produced. Which is everywhere.