This is a list of notable

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

ians, in alphabetical order by surname.

A–E

Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah (; born 1962) is an Egyptian composer of contemporary classical music and educator. He is a member of Egypt's third generation of classical composers. Biography Abdelfattah was born in Giza. He graduated with a ...

– (Egypt) experimental music *

Acid Mothers Temple Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., commonly shortened to Acid Mothers Temple or AMT, is a Japanese rock music, rock band, the core of which formed in 1995. The band is led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto and early in their career feat ...

– Experimental psychedelic rock * Arca – (Venezuela) Experimental, Electronic music *

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

- IDM, experimental, ambient, glitch *

Anaiis Anaiis (stylized anaiis) is a French-Senegalese singer-songwriter based in London who is noted for her diverse style, introspective lyrics and her Multilingualism singing ability. Biography Anaiis was born in Toulouse, France. While growing up ...

– (French) (Senegal) Experimental musician *

Miguel Álvarez-Fernández Miguel Álvarez-Fernández (born 28 November 1979 in Madrid, Spain) is a sound artist, composer, filmmaker, theorist and curator working between Madrid and Berlin, where he has taught at the Electronic Music Studio of Technische Universität Berli ...

– experimental radio and sound installations * Giulio Aldinucci – experimental electroacoustic composer *

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

– Alternative, Baroque pop, Experimental *

Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...

–

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

* Ron Anderson – noise and progressive *

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb). The band's work is cha ...

– experimental music collective * Frédéric Acquaviva – (France) Experimental music *

Autechre Autechre ( ) are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all o ...

– (UK) IDM, Experimental, Ambient, Glitch, Flashcore * Cities Aviv –

experimental hip-hop Alternative hip-hop (also known as alternative rap and experimental hip-hop) is a subgenre of hip-hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising "hip-hop group ...

, post-genre * Nigel Ayers – (UK)

sound art Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary Time-based media, time-based Artistic medium, medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in Cross-genr ...

, sound collage, member of

Nocturnal Emissions Nocturnal Emissions is Nigel Ayers's sound art project that has released numerous records and CDs in music styles ranging from electro-acoustic, musique concrète, hybridised beats, sound collage, post- industrial music, ambient and noise mu ...

* Derek Bailey –

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

– (USA)

Anti-folk Anti-folk (sometimes spelled antifolk) is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in New York City, founded by the musician, author and comedian Lach, as a reaction to the commercialization of folk music. It is characterized by its DIY ethos, ...

and experimental music *

David Behrman David Behrman (born August 16, 1937) is an American composer and a pioneer of computer music. In the early 1960s he was the producer of Columbia Records' ''Music of Our Time'' series, which included the first recording of Terry Riley's ''In C''.< ...

– live electronics *

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

– Alternative, avant-garde, experimental, electronica *

Bladee Benjamin Thage Dag Reichwald (born 9 April 1994), known professionally as Bladee, is a Swedish singer and rapper. In 2013, he formed the Drain Gang music collective alongside childhood friends Ecco2K, Thaiboy Digital, and Whitearmor. Bladee ...

– Cloud rap, experimental pop *

Boards of Canada Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of the brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. Signing first to Skam Records, Skam followed by Warp (record label), Warp Records in the 1990s, they received recognition following th ...

– ambient, downtempo, IDM, electronica *

Boredoms Boredoms () (later known as V∞redoms) is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise (Japan's noise music scene), though their more recent records have moved towar ...

– Japanese noise rock *

Burkhard Beins Burkhard Beins (born 1964 in Lower Saxony, West Germany) is a German composer/performer who works with percussion, selected objects and electronics. Living in Berlin since 1995, Beins is active in experimental music and electroacoustic improvis ...

– percussion and objects *

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

– Art Pop/Rock, Experimental Rock, Alternative Rock, Baroque pop *

Buckethead Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative and virtuosic electric guitar playing. Buckethead's extensive solo discography currentl ...

– guitarist *

Butthole Surfers Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has ...

– Alternative rock, Experimental, Avant-Garde *

Glenn Branca Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...

– guitar, noise ensemble *

George Brecht George Brecht (August 27, 1926 – December 5, 2008), born George Ellis MacDiarmid, was an American conceptual artist and avant-garde composer, as well as a professional chemist who worked as a consultant for companies including Pfizer, Johnso ...

– performance art *

Bull of Heaven In ancient Mesopotamian mythology, the Bull of Heaven is a mythical beast fought by the King of Uruk Gilgamesh. The story of the Bull of Heaven is known from two different versions: one recorded in an earlier Sumerian poem and a later episode ...

– minimalism, noise, drone, avant-garde jazz, modern classical *

Gavin Bryars Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, Musical historicism, historicism, Avant-garde music, avant-garde, and experimental music. Early lif ...

– indeterministic orchestration *

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

– indeterminate music * Can – Krautrock band *

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the M ...

– avant-garde blues artist. *

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Re ...

– experimental pop star. *

Cornelius Cardew Cornelius Cardew (7 May 193613 December 1981) was an English experimental music composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected experimental mu ...

– British composer *

Cardiacs Cardiacs are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Kingston upon Thames by Tim Smith (Cardiacs), Tim Smith (guitar and lead vocals) and his brother Jim Smith (bassist), Jim (bass, backing vocals) in 1977 under the name Cardiac Arrest. One ...

– British rock band *

Rhys Chatham Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952) is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist (flutes in C, alto and bass, keyboard), primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orche ...

– guitar, noise ensemble * Clipping. –

* Coil – sidereal sound,

scrying Scrying, also referred to as "seeing" or "peeping," is a practice rooted in divination and fortune-telling. It involves gazing into a medium, hoping to receive significant messages or visions that could offer personal guidance, prophecy, revel ...

hallucinogen Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mo ...

s, ANS,

glitches A glitch is a short-lived technical fault, such as a transient one that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among pla ...

Nicolas Collins Nicolas Collins (born March 26, 1954, in New York City) is a composer of mostly electronic music, a sound artist and writer. He received his BA and MA from Wesleyan University, and his PhD from the University of East Anglia. Upon graduating from ...

Loren Mazzacane Connors Loren Mazzacane Connors (born October 22, 1949) is an American guitarist who has recorded and performed under several different names: Guitar Roberts, Loren Mazzacane, Loren Mattei, and currently Loren Connors. His music has touched on many genre ...

* Controlled Bleeding – Paul Lemos * David Cope – composer, computerist *

Henry Cowell Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher, teacher Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 2022.C ...

– (USA)

tone clusters A tone cluster is a chord (music), musical chord comprising at least three adjacent musical tone, tones in a scale (music), scale. Prototypical tone clusters are based on the chromatic scale and are separated by semitones. For instance, three ste ...

and

Extended technique In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.Burtner, Matthew (2005).Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Exper ...

Cui Jian Cui Jian or Choi Geon ( zh, c=崔健; ; born 2 August 1961) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and musician. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Chinese Rock", Cui is often deemed the most influential rock musician in China. ...

– Alternative, avant-garde, experimental, electronica *

Alvin Curran Alvin Curran (born December 13, 1938) is an American composer, performer, improviser, sound artist, and writer. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and lives and works in Rome, Italy. He is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard ...

–

found sound Found objects are sometimes used in music, often to add unusual percussive elements to a work. Their use in such contexts is as old as music itself, as the original invention of musical instruments almost certainly developed from the sounds of nat ...

s *

Current 93 Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorte ...

– coined the term " apocalyptic folk" *

Chris Cutler Chris Cutler (born 4 January 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, N ...

– English experimental music composer and percussionist * Dead Air Fresheners – masked, anonymous chance music or

indeterminate music Indeterminacy is a composing approach in which some aspects of a musical work are left open to chance or to the interpreter's free choice. John Cage, a pioneer of indeterminacy, defined it as "the ability of a piece to be performed in substantially ...

ensemble *

Death Grips Death Grips is an American experimental hip-hop band formed in 2010 in Sacramento, California. The group consists of producers Zach Hill (drums), Andy Morin (keyboard), and vocalist Stefan Burnett, also known as MC Ride. Though he is not the ...

–

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...

–

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

Stuart Dempster Stuart Dempster (born July 7, 1936 in Berkeley, California) is a trombonist, didjeridu player, improviser, and composer. Biography After Dempster completed his studies at San Francisco State College, he was appointed assistant professor at th ...

– reverberant spaces,

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is a musical tuning, tuning system in which the space between notes' frequency, frequencies (called interval (music), intervals) is a natural number, whole number ratio, ratio. Intervals spaced in thi ...

, extended

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

techniques *

Earl Sweatshirt Thebe Neruda Kgositsile (born February 24, 1994), known professionally as Earl Sweatshirt, is an American rapper and record producer. Kgositsile was originally known by the moniker Sly Tendencies when he began rapping in 2008, but changed his na ...

- Experimental Hip Hop *

The Dillinger Escape Plan The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American metalcore band. The band was formed in 1997 in Morris Plains, New Jersey by guitarist Ben Weinman, bassist Adam Doll, vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, and drummer Chris Pennie. The band's use of Consonance and ...

– experimental metal, mathcore *

Arnold Dreyblatt Arnold Dreyblatt (born 1953) is an American composer, performance artist and visual artist. Biography Arnold Dreyblatt was born in 1953 in New York City. His mother, Lucille Wallenrod (1918–1998), was a painter. He started his studies at ...

–

* Kevin Drumm –

Iancu Dumitrescu Iancu Dumitrescu (born 15 July 1944) is a Romanian Avant-garde music, avant-garde composer. Life and works Dumitrescu was born in Sibiu, Kingdom of Romania, Romania. He received a master's degree in composition in Bucharest, where his teache ...

– composer, founder of Hyperion group dedicated to experimental music * Judy Dunaway * Kyle Bobby Dunn – composer, arranger, experimental guitarist *

Trevor Dunn Trevor Roy Dunn (born January 30, 1968) is an American composer, bass guitarist, and double bassist. He came to prominence in the 1990s with the experimental band Mr. Bungle. While performing with Mr. Bungle, he would dress similar to the S ...

–

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

* Marc Edwards – free jazz *

Leif Elggren Leif Elggren (born 1950, Linköping, Sweden), is a Swedish artist who lives and works in Stockholm. Active since the late 1970s, Leif Elggren has become one of the most constantly surprising conceptual artists to work in the combined worlds of a ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

–

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

, algorithmic composition *

Experimental Audio Research Experimental Audio Research (commonly shortened to E.A.R. or EAR) is an experimental music collective formed around Peter Kember (a.k.a. Sonic Boom), formerly of Spacemen 3. While Spacemen 3 were a relatively traditional rock and roll band with s ...

–

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

, synth/noise *

Carolina Eyck Carolina Eyck (born 26 December 1987) is a German-Sorbs, Sorb musician and composer who specialises in playing the theremin. Biography Eyck was born in 1987, near Berlin, Germany. She is a member of the Sorbs, Sorbian community of East German ...

–

thereminist The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

F–J

Jean-Baptiste Favory Jean-Baptiste Favory (born 1967) is a French sound artist and composer of musique concrète, electronic and instrumental music. Biography Jean-Baptiste Favory was born in Paris in 1967. His mother, Catherine Fournet (1945), is the daughter of ...

– musique concrète & electronic *

Florian-Ayala Fauna Florian-Ayala Fauna is an American artist, musician, poet, and music producer. Fauna is the main member of the post-industrial music project uncertain. Personal life Florian-Ayala Fauna was born in Norfolk, Virginia. At age 5, Fauna moved to B ...

– musician, music producer *

FKA Twigs Tahliah Debrett Barnett (born 16 January 1988), known professionally as FKA Twigs (stylized as FKA twigs), is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and dancer. She was a backup dancer for numerous musicians, and made her musica ...

– (UK) musician, songwriter, producer, director *

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimental New York School o ...

– composer *

Flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...

– experimental electronic producer * The Flying Lizards – (UK) experimental new wave group *

Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), better known as Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper. He has released seven critically acclaimed albums: ''1983'' (2006), ''Los Angeles'' (2008), '' Co ...

– hip hop, IDM, jazz, electronica * Henry Flynt – violinist, guitarist, inventor of Electronic Hillbilly Music *

David Fenech David Fenech (born 19 July 1969) is a French composer, guitarist and singer. His style has been described as 'a kind of punk musique concrète'. He uses the studio as an instrument, using a large panel of recording techniques. He has played an ...

– musique concrète & experimental pop music *

David First David First (born August 20, 1953) is an American composer and guitarist. His music most often deals with drones and interference beats, the latter aligning his music with that of Alvin Lucier. He has led the World Casio Quartet, Joy Buzz ...

– drones and interference

beat Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

s *

John Frusciante John Anthony Frusciante ( ; born March 5, 1970) is an American musician and the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, having been with the band across three iterations. He has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, ranging in style from acoustic gu ...

– guitarist, Rock Musician, Electronica, Hip Hop, Avent-Garde *

Cor Fuhler Cornelis William Hendrik Fuhler (3 July 1964 – 19 July 2020) was a Dutch/Romani improvisor, composer, and instrument builder associated with free jazz, experimental music and acoustic ecology. He played piano by manipulating sound with electrom ...

– improvising multi instrumentalist, composer, instrument builder *

Ellen Fullman Ellen Fullman (born 1957) is an American composer, instrument builder, and performer. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is known for her 70-foot (21-meter) Long String instrument, tun ...

– long string Instrument *

Diamanda Galás Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is a Greek American musician, singer-songwriter, and visual artist. She has campaigned for AIDS education and the rights of the infected. Galás's commitment to addressing social issues and her involvemen ...

–

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

* Roopam Garg –

* Qubais Reed Ghazala – musician, composer, father of

circuit-bending Circuit bending is the creative customization of the circuits within electronic devices such as children's toys and digital synthesizers to create new musical or visual instruments and sound generators. Circuit bending is manipulating a circuit ...

Seppe Gebruers Seppe Gebruers (born May 9, 1990) is a Belgian musician, composer and improvisor. He is also a teacher and researcher at KASK conservatory Ghent. Gebruers plays both solo and in bands. His work ranges from jazz to contemporary classical music. G ...

- Quartertone pianist, improvisor and composer *

Alice Glass Margaret Osborn (born 25 August 1988), known professionally as Alice Glass, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the co-founder and former frontwoman of the electronic band Crystal Castles. In 2014, she embarked on a solo career. She rel ...

– (Canada) Experimental, witch house, noise *

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

– minimalism, composer *

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who moved to the United States in 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long and ...

– composer and performer * Eli Gras *

Grimes Claire Elise Boucher (; born March 17, 1988), known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her lyrics often touch on science fiction and feminist themes. The visuals in her videos are elabora ...

– experimental electronica, synthpop *

Bruce Haack Bruce Clinton Haack () (May 4, 1931 – September 26, 1988) was a Canadian musician and composer in the field of electronic music. Biography From Alberta to New York (1931–1963) Bruce Haack played on his family's piano at the age of three, a ...

– experimental electronic composer *

Half Japanese Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair in 1974, after their family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland. Half Japanese' original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playin ...

– experimental indie rock * Richard D. James – experimental, ambient, electronic music, techno *

The Hafler Trio The Hafler Trio is an English conceptual art, conceptual, performance art, performance and sound art collaborative project. It was originally a duo formed in the early 1980s by Andrew McKenzie and Chris Watson (musician), Chris Watson. The thir ...

Lou Harrison Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his for ...

– (USA) gamelan influenced * Carl Michael von Hausswolff *

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

– composer *

Pierre Henry Henry at his home (January 2008) Pierre Georges Albert François Henry (; 9 December 1927 – 5 July 2017) was a French composer known for his significant contributions to musique concrète. Biography Henry was born in Paris, France, and bega ...

–

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...

Lejaren Hiller Lejaren Arthur Hiller Jr. (February 23, 1924, New York City – January 26, 1994, Buffalo, New York)Lejaren ...

– first computer composition ''Illiac Suite'' (1957) with Leonard Issacson *

Susumu Hirasawa is a Japanese musician and composer. He is well known for his work for the films of director Satoshi Kon and the animated adaptations of the Berserk (manga), ''Berserk'' manga series, alongside his work as a solo artist and as a member of P-Mode ...

Christopher Hobbs Christopher Hobbs (born 9 September 1950) is an English experimental composer, best known as a pioneer of British systems music. Life and career Hobbs was born in Hillingdon, near London. He was a junior exhibitioner at Trinity College London, ...

– experimental and systems music composer *

Tim Hodgkinson Timothy George Hodgkinson (born 1 May 1949) is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds, lap steel guitar, and keyboards. He first became known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry ...

– English experimental music composer and performer *

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

– English composer *

Horse Lords Horse Lords are an American avant-garde rock band from Baltimore. The members are Andrew Bernstein (saxophone/percussion), Max Eilbacher (bass/electronics), Owen Gardner (guitar), and Sam Haberman (drums). Their first album was released in 201 ...

- experimental

math rock Math rock is a style of Alternative rock, alternative and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush (band), Rush. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), cou ...

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

* Emily Howell – computer composer *

The Hub The Hub may refer to: Places * The Hub, Bronx, an area of the South Bronx, New York, known for its convergence of subway and bus lines * The Hub (Edinburgh), former church in Edinburgh that is now home to the Edinburgh International Festival * T ...

– interactive real-time computer network: John Bischoff,

Tim Perkis Tim Perkis is an experimental musician and writer who works with live electronic and computer sound. Discography "Boundary Layer" 2008 The Hub with John Bischoff, Chris Brown, Tim Perkis, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Phil Stone. Tzadik Records (N ...

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

, Phil Stone, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Mark Trayle * I Set My Friends on Fire * Martín Irigoyen –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

prepared guitar A prepared guitar is a guitar that has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques. This practice is sometimes called tabletop guitar, because many prepared guitar ...

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...

–

quarter tones A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval (music), interval about half as wide (orally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a major second, whole tone. Quarter tones divide t ...

aleatoric music Aleatoric music (also aleatory music or chance music; from the Latin language, Latin word ''alea'', meaning "dice") is music in which some Aspect of music, element of the composition is left to Randomness, chance, and/or some primary element of a ...

polyrhythm Polyrhythm () is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rh ...

and

polytonality Polytonality (also polyharmony) is the musical use of more than one key (music), key simultaneity (music), simultaneously. Bitonality is the use of only two different keys at the same time. Polyvalence or polyvalency is the use of more than one di ...

* Don Joyce –

sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or Musical composition, compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as musique concrè ...

* iwrestledabearonce *

JPEGMAFIA Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks (born October 22, 1989), known professionally as JPEGMafia (stylized in all caps as JPEGMAFIA), is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Flatbush, Flatbush, Brooklyn, he signed with Deathbomb Arc t ...

– experimental hip-hop

K–P

KK Null , known by his stage name KK Null, is a Japanese experimental multi-instrumentalist active since the early 1980s. He began as a guitarist but learned how to compose, sing, play drums, and create electronic music. He also studied Butoh dance at M ...

– noise rock *

Kommissar Hjuler Kommissar Hjuler (born Detlev Hjuler; 1967) works as a sound recordist in the field of Noise (music), Noise and Post-industrial music, visual artist, film maker and police officer at Flensburg, a town on the German border with Denmark. He often work ...

– cut-up collages * Anne La Berge – flute, improvisation, electronics, composition *

André Éric Létourneau André Éric Létourneau is a French Canadian media and transmedia artist, researcher, author, musician, composer, curator and professor based primarily in Montreal and Saint-Alponse-Rodriguez, Québec, Canada. He uses several pseudonyms, most ...

– gamelan, flute, composition, chance-operations, electronic music, microtonal music * George E. Lewis – trombone, composition, improvisation, electronic music, computer music *

Steve Lieberman Steven Paul Lieberman (born June 21, 1958), also known as the Gangsta Rabbi and The King of Jewish Punk, (Hebrew name ליב פרץ בין אליאזר ה־בדלן ה־נזדי or Lev Ava'ran bar-Eli'ezar ha-Bad'lan ha-Naz'ari) is a Jewish-Amer ...

– American punk bassist, flutist called The Gangsta Rabbi * A Life of Science – Arizona based electronic band * Lightning Bolt – noise rock *

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

– composer and performer * Annea Lockwood – environmental sounds *

Alvin Lucier Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. (May 14, 1931 – December 1, 2021) was an American experimental composer and sound artist. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Ar ...

– (USA) acoustical phenomena *

John Lydon John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...

– (UK) singer *

The Mars Volta The Mars Volta is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 2001. The band's only constant members are Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, producer, direction) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals, lyrics), whose partnership forms the core of the ban ...

– rock band *

Elio Martusciello Elio Martusciello (born 23 November 1959, Naples, Italy) is an Italian experimental music composer and performer, principally on guitar and computer. He has studied photography with Mimmo Jodice and visual art with Carlo Alfano, Armando De Stef ...

– Italian experimental music composer and performer *

Melvins Melvins (sometimes the Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Primarily a trio, they have also performed as a quartet, with eith ...

– experimental *

Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1987. Since 2004, the band's lineup consists of founding members Jens Kidman (lead vocals) and Fredrik Thordendal (lead guitar), alongside rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, drumm ...

– extreme metal, experimental metal, progressive metal *

Mama Baer Mama Baer (born Andrea Katharina Ingeborg Göthling; 29 October 1981) is a German sound recordist of noise music and post-industrial music. She is a filmmaker and visual artist in Flensburg. She has had solo and group art exhibitions around the wor ...

– voice improvisation * Travis Miller - Experimental Artist *

Miya Masaoka Miya Masaoka (born 1958, Washington, D.C.) is an American composer, musician, and sound artist active in the field of contemporary classical music and experimental music. Her work encompasses contemporary classical composition, improvisation, ele ...

– composer and performer *

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by Masami Akita, best known for a style of harsh noise music. Since 1980, Akita has released over 500 recordings and collaborated with numerous artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada a ...

– (Japan)

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music include ...

Moondog Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his ...

–

* Gordon Mumma – live electronics *

Muslimgauze Muslimgauze was the main musical project of Bryn Jones (17 June 1961 – 14 January 1999), a British ethnic electronica and experimental musician who was influenced by conflicts and history in the Muslim world, often with an emphasis on the Is ...

– (UK) * Ben Neill – sound installations, mutantrumpet *

Phill Niblock Phillip Earl Niblock (October 2, 1933 – January 8, 2024) was an American composer, filmmaker, and videographer. In 1985, he was appointed director of Experimental Intermedia,Alan Licht, ''Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Music ...

–

minimal music Minimal music (also called minimalism)"Minimalism in music has been defined as an aesthetic, a style, and a technique, each of which has been a suitable description of the term at certain points in the development of minimal music. However, two ...

composer *

– (UK) * Nurse With Wound – (UK and Ireland) collaborative solo project of artist Steven Stapleton *

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his lengthy ...

– (UK) composer and former critic and musicologist *

Midori (band) was a Japanese rock band. They were founded in Osaka in 2003, the lineup featured Mariko Gotō on vocals and guitar, Yoshitaka Kozeni on drums, Keigo Iwami on bass, and Hajime on keyboard. Gotō often wore a school uniform while performing, ...

– (Japan) four-member jazz-punk fusion band * The Observatory – Singapore-based art-rock band * Obsil – (ITA) composition, electronic music *

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

– (France) composer and organist. *

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

– (USA) meditative music,

, reverberant spaces, ''Expanded Instrument System'' *

Oneohtrix Point Never Daniel Lopatin (born July 25, 1982), best known as Oneohtrix Point Never or OPN, is an American Experimental music, experimental electronic music producer, composer, singer, and songwriter. His music has utilized wikt:trope, tropes from various ...

- (USA) electronic music, ambient music,

vaporwave Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

– (UK, USA,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

)

happening A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow in 1959 to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happening" i ...

s * Orange Monkey – (USA) * Ortiz Morales – (Spain) Experimental and noise music. Old kinematic synchronisms reconstructions. * John Oswald – (USA) plunderphonics *

Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a South Korean artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super highway" ...

–

s, action music * Paul Panhuysen – string and other

sound installation Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary time-based medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBell ...

s *

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

– (UK) saxophonist *

Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...

– (USA) microtonal composer * Portishead – Bristol *

Henri Pousseur Henri Léon Marie-Thérèse Pousseur (; 23 June 1929 – 6 March 2009) was a Belgian classical composer, teacher, and music theorist. Biography Pousseur was born in Malmedy and studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 19 ...

– (Belgium) self-described as "experimental"

Q–Z

A.R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinema ...

– (India) Film Music composer *

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

– (USA)

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

Hans Reichel Hans Reichel (10 May 1949 – 22 November 2011) was a German improvisational guitarist, experimental luthier, inventor, and type designer. Career Reichel was born in Hagen, Germany. He began to teach himself violin at age seven, playing in the sc ...

– Free improvisation musician and inventor of electro-acoustic instruments * Renaldo and the Loaf – (UK) * Dino Residbegovic – (BiH) experimental/live-electronic contemporary music composer *

The Residents The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vid ...

– (USA) *

Boyd Rice Boyd Blake Rice (born December 16, 1956) is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s. A pioneer of industrial music, Rice was one of the first artists to use a sampler and turntable as an instrum ...

– (USA)

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist music, minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his work became notab ...

– (USA)

minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

composer * Ivette Román-Roberto – experimental vocalist *

Cipriano de Rore Cipriano de Rore (occasionally Cypriano) (1515 or 1516 – between 11 and 20 September 1565) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in Italy. Not only a central representative of the generation of Franco-Flemish composers after ...

– (Franco-Flemish) *

David Rosenboom David Rosenboom (born 1947 in Fairfield, Iowa) is a composer, performer, interdisciplinary artist, author, and educator known for his work in American experimental music. Rosenboom has explored various forms of music, languages for improvisation, ...

–

biofeedback Biofeedback is the technique of gaining greater awareness of many physiology, physiological functions of one's own body by using Electronics, electronic or other instruments, and with a goal of being able to Manipulation (psychology), manipulate ...

(human) *

Keith Rowe Keith Rowe (born 16 March 1940 in Plymouth, England) is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, his paintings hav ...

– British guitarist *

Luigi Russolo Luigi Carlo Filippo Russolo (30 April 1885 – 4 February 1947) was an Italian Futurist painter, composer, builder of experimental musical instruments, and the author of the manifesto '' The Art of Noises'' (1913). Russolo completed his second ...

–

Futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

and

Kristoffer Rygg Kristoffer Rygg (born 9 September 1976), also known as Garm, Trickster G. Rex and God Head, is a Norwegian vocalist, musician and producer known primarily for his work with Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar. Biography Kristoffer Rygg was born ...

– Frontman and main composer of

Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian Experimental electronic music, experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album ''Bergtatt – Et eeventyr i 5 capitler, Bergtatt'', ...

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...

– precursor of

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

Pierre Schaeffer Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His inno ...

– Musique concrète * Mathias Rehfeldt – experimental organist, composer * Giancarlo Schiaffini – Italian experimental music composer and performer *

Elliott Sharp Elliott Sharp (born March 1, 1951) is an American contemporary classical music, contemporary classical composer, multi-instrumentalist, performer, author, and visual artist. A central figure in the Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimenta ...

– multi-instrumentalist *

Mark Stanley Mark Robert Speight, known professionally as Mark Stanley, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Game of Thrones'', '' Dickensian'', and as Rob Hepworth in the third series of BBC drama Happy Valley. Early life and educatio ...

– guitarist, composer * Solage – composer *

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

– noise rock band *

SOPHIE Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

experimental pop Experimental pop is pop music that cannot be categorized within traditional musical boundaries or which attempts to push elements of existing popular forms into new areas. It may incorporate experimental music, experimental techniques such as m ...

Soul Coughing Soul Coughing is an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/guitarist Mike Doughty (also known as M. Doughty), keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Yuval Gabay. They developed a devout fa ...

– improvisational

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, noise, and samples. *

Sprain A sprain is a soft tissue injury of the ligaments within a joint, often caused by a sudden movement abruptly forcing the joint to exceed its functional range of motion. Ligaments are tough, inelastic fibers made of collagen that connect two or ...

- experimental * Howard Stelzer – (USA) *

Sunn O))) Sunn O))) (pronounced "sun") is an American drone metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The band is known for its distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, ...

– drone metal band * Svoy – (USA, Russia) Universal Music Group producer/writer/artist, ''"...One of the most accomplished experimental electronic artists"'' —Timmy Kusnierek, Your EDM *

Swans (band) Swans are an American experimental rock band formed in 1981 by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. One of the few acts to emerge from the New York City-based no wave scene and stay intact into the next decade, Swans have b ...

– experimental rock,

no wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

Toru Takemitsu TORU or Toru may refer to: *TORU, spacecraft system *Tōru (given name), Japanese male given name *Toru, Pakistan, village in Mardan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan *Tõru Tõru is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western Es ...

– composer *

James Tenney James Tenney (August 10, 1934 – August 24, 2006) was an American composer and music theorist. He made significant early musical contributions to plunderphonics, sound synthesis, algorithmic composition, process music, spectral music, microt ...

– alternate tunings, perceptual phenomena *

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...

– alternative rock, indie rock, experimental rock, children's music *

Lynda Thomas Lynda Aguirre Thomas (born 21 December 1981), known professionally as Lynda, is a Mexican musician, singer, songwriter and activist. She achieved recognition in her native Mexico during the late 1990s and early 2000s. She was signed to EMI Cap ...

– experimental musician and performer *

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of in ...

– industrial music, noise, shock lyrics *

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French and American composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; h ...

– electronic music * Michael Waller – contemporary music * Ween – psychedelic and

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

band that covers a multitude of genres *

Xiu Xiu Xiu Xiu ( ) is an American experimental rock band, formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart in San Jose, California. Currently, the line-up consists of multi-instrumentalists Stewart (the only constant member since formation), Angel ...

– experimental rock, noise pop, spoken word * Kathleen Yearwood – experimental, avant garde composer *

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best k ...

–

drone music Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre of music that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters called '' drones''. It is typically characterized by lengthy compositions featuring relativel ...

Richard Youngs Richard Youngs (born 29 May 1966) is an English musician based in Glasgow since the early 1990s. His catalogue of solo and collaborative work formally begins with ''Advent'', first issued in 1990. He plays many instruments, most commonly choos ...

–

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

– composer and performer *

Evan Ziporyn Evan Ziporyn (b. Chicago, Illinois, December 14, 1959) is an American composer of post-minimalist music with a cross-cultural orientation, drawing equally from classical music, avant-garde, various world music traditions, and jazz. Ziporyn h ...

– (

Bang on a Can Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted contemporary classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Called "the c ...

gamelan Gamelan (; ; , ; ) is the traditional musical ensemble, ensemble music of the Javanese people, Javanese, Sundanese people, Sundanese, and Balinese people, Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussion instrument, per ...

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...

–

, various genres *

Zoviet France Zoviet France (also known as :$OVIET:FRANCE:, Soviet France, :Zoviet-France: and latterly usually written as :zoviet*france:) are a music group from Newcastle upon Tyne in north east England. While often dissonant and made of industrial textur ...

– British band

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Experimental musicians

Experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

A–E

F–J

K–P

Q–Z

See also

References