A wave of electronic music artists from former communist states are poised to become hits in the UK

After the plumbers, builders and baristas, here come the musicians. A new wave of eastern European performers are colonising the British dance scene, as artists combine post-communist edginess with influences gained from time spent in cities such as Berlin.

Many of the names will be unfamiliar to mainstream music followers, but among the cognoscenti there is growing respect for the likes of Romanian techno producer Cosmin TRG, Bulgarian DJ KiNK, Ukrainian artists Stanislav Tolkachev and Vakula, Polish duo Catz ’N Dogz and Russian producer Nina Kraviz. Even more high-profile is Lithuania’s Ten Walls, whose 2014 single Walking With Elephants reached number six in the UK singles chart.

According to Gosia Herman, the Polish publisher of Boiler Room, one of the UK’s leading underground music platforms, the electronic music scene in eastern Europe is exploding. Boiler Room’s latest documentary, Stay True Poland, which is due for release on 2 February, tells the story of a musical revolution in the wake of the political earthquakes of the last century.

“There are loads of exciting new artists gaining international recognition for their music,” she said. “Poland has grown to be an incredibly diverse place and now is the perfect time to tell that story to a global audience.”

Wojciech Taranczuk, one half of DJ duo Catz ’N Dogz, thinks it was only a matter of time before the music scene took off. “When Poland joined the EU, a lot of young people spent time travelling or living in London or Berlin or wherever. After a few years many came back with ideas for clubs and festivals.”

The new-found prestige of eastern European artists is a classic case of cultural cross-fertilisation. Dr Michal Murawski, of University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, thinks there is a fascination with the artists coming out of the former Warsaw bloc countries.

“It’s the best of both worlds, because, on the one hand you’ve got this popular idea of bleak communist tower blocks in grey skies and on the other the rising middle class and a developing market.”

According to Murawski, if you have the enthusiasm and capital, there is greater flexibility in the post-communist states than elsewhere in Europe. “Institutions are still maturing and a lot of people are taking advantage,” he said.

Ian McQuaid, editor of online music magazine The Ransom Note, agreed, adding: “In eastern Europe there’s still that slightly unregulated feel to a lot of dance events, something that large UK raves lost long ago.” Festivals such as Unsound, which began in Krakow in 2002, and Tauron Nowa Muzyka, held in an old coal mine in Katowice, are increasingly popular with Brits. “More than half of Unsound’s audience are foreigners, mostly from the UK. People come to discover artists,” said festival founder Mat Schulz. The success of these festivals, says Murawski, is partly the result of city planning: “Often, in socialist cities, there is more urban derelict industrial space, which lends itself to being appropriated for these kinds of cultural events.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Hotel Forum in Krakow. Photograph: Fumie Suzuki/Rex

The Hotel Forum in Krakow is one example. The building, which opened in 1989, was the flagship of communist-era hospitality. It took 10 years to build and lay empty for a long time. However, since 2012, when Unsound festival promoters began to use the ground floor, it has become a cultural hub. People are now embracing the modernist architecture from the communist period in the same way that many in London now love brutalism. Buildings once considered eyesores are being appropriated for music events.

“We wanted to use post-industrial spaces and communist-era buildings, such as Kino Kijów, a 1960s cinema,” said Schulz. “Although there’s some prejudice against this architecture, more young people have begun to appreciate these buildings.”

For Herman, the success of these artists is less about the past and more about the future. “Location has become less important and the internet has allowed us to connect with like-minded people around the world,” she said. “Yes, there’s an admiration for modernist architecture, but people move on, especially the younger generation.”

• This article was amended on Sunday 25 January 2014 to clarify that it was Unsound festival promoters who started to use the Hotel Forum in Krakow in 2012.