The Bristol collective known as Massive Attack arose out of the acid house scene of late-1980s England to become one of the 1990s' greatest innovators. The group has literally changed the face of music every time out. They invented "trip-hop" on thei…

Experimental hip-hop outfit UNKLE was one of the original artists releasing material through noted UK label Mo Wax which helped launch the instrumental mid-90s downtempo breakbeat revival eventually termed trip-hop Though hardly the labels highest-pr…

French postmodernists Air raid every aspect of retro pop music, from the sublime to the ridiculous, in fashioning their sonic bricolage. Everything from Krautrock-inspired electronics to 1960s lounge music is incorporated into the work of Nicolas God…

b. 1970, London, England. Talvin Singh is one of the first artists to help bring traditional Indian tabla music to the mainstream, combining it with the rhythmic surges of drum 'n' bass. By 1997, he was able to speak in an assured fashion about the h…

In the early 1990s, Polly Jean Harvey's music was a bracing post-punk battle cry, staking out new territory for female alt-rock artists without resorting to didactic feminism. Over time, Harvey has grown more subtle and moody, embracing a more expans…

In the mid-1990s, the dreamy-but-grooving sound of trip-hop was confined to the U.K. underground until Portishead brought it to the worldwide mainstream. Combining electronics, lush production, Ennio Morricone-like guitar breaks, and angelic singing …

The musical careers of former studio engineers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker were given a boost by old college chum and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich when he let them remix OK COMPUTER's "Climbing Up the Walls." The resulting product led to greater…

As Thievery Corporation, Eric Hilton and Rob Garza started working together in the mid-1990s, crafting a sound initially rooted in electronica, but deeply influenced by dub, Latin jazz, and bossa nova. Their atmospheric, low-key style has made the Wa…

Q-Burns Abstract Message is the alter ego of Orlando Florida DJproducerremixer Michael Donaldson A member of the citys Eighth Dimension collective Donaldsons eclecticism has graced several compilations EP and single releases for various labels and re…

A fearless sonic adventurer, Icelandic songstress Bjork first appeared prominently on the musical map in 1988 with LIFE'S TOO GOOD, the debut album of her band, the Sugarcubes. Four years later, the group split, and Bjork wasted no time in working on…

Active from the early 1990s into the 21st century, DJ Shadow (Californian Josh Davis) has been called the Jimi Hendrix of sampling. His songs shift tempos in a blink, incorporating multiple time signatures, and it's to Shadow's credit that he's as co…

Paul D. Miller, better known as DJ Spooky, was at the forefront of a new movement in DJ culture and electronica in the 1990s in New York City. Purveying a self-described "illbient" aesthetic, he merged hip-hop, dub, dance music, reggae, jazz, the ava…

This British-French outfit started out in the early 1990s, with a sound that incorporated French-chanteuse vocals, primitive electronics, and Velvet Underground-meets-Neu chugging rhythm. Over the years, they refined their approach immensely, with ec…

b. Raymond Bingham, 16 April 1967, Dulwich, London, England. Best-known for his DJ partnership with Fabio, Grooverider's work has seen him proclaimed by at least one UK magazine as "the Godfather" of contemporary dance music. A major contributor to b…

Luke Vibert is one of a new breed of European club music experimentalists whose work spans several genres simultaneously and is one of a very few of that set to make any headway with US audiences A native of Cornwall Viberts work has been compared wi…

This UK electronica duo comprises Tom Findlay (b. Cambridge, England; bass, trumpet, keyboards, sampler) and Andy Cato (b. Yorkshire, England; trombone, keyboards, bass guitar). Cato, a 6 feet 8 inches tall Yorkshireman, grew up playing in a colliery…

Morcheeba, popularly known as the "trigger hippie" UK trip-hop combo, comprises Paul Godfrey, Ross Godfrey and Skye Edwards. The Godfrey brothers began working from their home-town of Hythe, Kent, around the early 90s, drawing on a number of influenc…

Over the course of his more than twenty singles for Force Inc the prime German label for forward-looking techno Ian Pooley has been inspired by the minimalist sound of Detroit as well as deep house Born in Mainz Germany Pooley began collecting record…

Diminutive, bald-headed Richard Melville Hall, better known as Moby, achieved greater mainstream success than any other electronica artist by virtue of his willingness to adapt electronic dance music to a well formed pop sensibility. From the '90s on…

Underworld rose from the semi-successful '80s synth-pop outfit known as Freur to become one of the great innovators in electronica. While the group's sound can easily be whittled down to its core elements--trance, dub, ambient, and a certain punkish …