b. Simon Green, England. An acclaimed maker of "intricate, subtle mood music", according to his label Ninja Tune Records, Green became interested in music as a teenager, copying the music from television adverts and programmes. While at art college i…

Taking their name from the organization that produced lo-fi, arty films that influenced their early sensibilities, this Scottish electronic duo made big waves with their 1998 album MUSIC HAS THE RIGHT TO CHILDREN. They combined '80s-influenced synth-…

As a young boy growing up in Cornwall, England, Richard James made his first music by banging found objects together. Whether he's working under the moniker Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, or AFX, James has continued to experiment with sound in increasin…

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…

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…

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…

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…

British electronica duo Autechre (Sean Booth and Rob Brown) grew up with the sounds of hip-hop and electro in the 1980s. Further inspired by the sounds coming out of Detroit in the early '90s, they turned out a unique UK variant on techno, more abstr…

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…

In the mid-90s, UK DJ Tom Jenkinson was one of a number of artists who attempted to create more integrated dance music in the midst of a splintering scene. He began playing the bass guitar and drums as a teenager, inspired by his father's collection …

Recording as Cujo for Londons Ninebar label drumnbass deviant Amon Tobin fuses hip-hop and jazz compositional ideas with the bustling rhythms of hip-hop and jungle and the bent sonic mayhem of ambient and dub Unlike rolling junglists such as Alex Ree…

b. R.J. Krohn, 27 May 1976, Eugene, Oregon, USA. Adopting a Star Wars-derived bastardisation of his own name, originally given to him in childhood and which he admits to hating, hip-hop artist RJD2 deftly bends, pitches and manipulates samples approp…

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…

b. Scott Herren, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Producer Herren creates the most incredible of musics under the Prefuse 73 moniker, drawing on hip-hop's restless range and electronica's pioneering legacy. Although he says his impetus to record music was Mich…

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…

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…

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 …

b. Eric Yick-Keung San, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Armed with multiple record decks and a stack of vinyl, self-confessed DJ-nerd Kid Koala aka DJ Eric Yick-Keung San creates thrift-store audio collages that are densely packed with sonic det…

b. Hideaki Ishii, Tokyo, Japan. DJ Krush is a leading figure on the Japanese hip-hop scene and one of Mo' Wax Records' most influential artists. As a result of seeing a Tokyo screening of the rap film Wild Style, he began DJing to accompany breakdanc…

b. Andrew Michael Carthy, 10 February 1972, Stockport, Cheshire, England. Mr. Scruff's name is down to his neatly trimmed beard, and when you learn that his first record was Shakin' Stevens' "Green Door", you get an idea of the refreshingly quirky na…