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…

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 …

This experimental UK-based techno outfit comprises Andy Turner and Ed Handley, who are signed to influential label Warp Records. Turner and Handley discovered electronic music while at school, where they had access to a Moog synthesizer in their musi…

Offered to dance music punters as the "intelligent way out of blind-alley hardcore', Future Sound Of London emerged in the 90s, the brainchild of Garry Cobain (b. Bedford, England) and Brian Dougans (b. Glasgow, Scotland). They met at college in Manc…

b. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Tobin visited Europe as a child and returned to the UK in his teens when he developed a passion for hip-hop, blues and jazz, including the music of Grandmaster Flash, Lightnin' Hopkins, Eddie Palmieri and Thelonius Monk. Wh…

As far as German bands that were actually influenced by the Krautrock sound of the late 1960s and '70s, Mouse on Mars are one of the most successful and influential children of that scene. Formed in the early '90s, the Dusseldorf-based twosome use du…

One of the key artists of the folktronica movement, Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, mixes samples of jazz, acoustic, and psychedelic music with mid-tempo techno and hip-hop beats to create a uniquely warm and organic form of electronica. 2003's ROUNDS i…

Formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1996, Mogwai are proponents of mostly instrumental, guitar-based indie rock that relies more on atmospherics than traditional pop song structures. Like their American counterparts Low, the band creates soundscapes that …

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…

Formed in the early 1990s, Orbital was the brainchild of the English brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Drawn from a wildly diverse set of influences, ranging from disco to hardcore, Orbital's style broke free from dance music conventions. It is rich a…

Based in south London, England, ‘-Ziq is effectively studio musician Mike Paradinas, although he has also worked in tandem with Francis Naughton. Both were students when they first met the Aphex Twin, Richard James, who invited them to join his new R…

Mancunian Dylan Nathan is one of a new generation of artists to begin producing electronic music inspired by UK artists such as Orbital and Aphex Twin but without having much interest in or contact with the UK acid house explosion from which those ar…

Radiohead burst onto the Britpop scene in the early 1990s with a clamorous, post-U2 take on guitar rock, buoyed by the hit "Creep." They subsequently developed their songwriting and production skills on THE BENDS and achieved iconic status with their…

Drawing equally from punk rock and new-music pioneers such as John Cage and Glenn Branca (whom guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo both played with), Sonic Youth employed a palette of white noise that deconstructed punk-rock orthodoxy into radi…

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…

Pick almost any forward-looking trend in rock and you're likely to find that Eno blazed the trail. Beginning in the 1970s, Eno pioneered everything from art-rock to ambient music to sample-based electronica. His career began with Roxy Music, where he…

Although Oval are perhaps more well-known for how they make their music than for the music they actually make the German experimental electronic trio have provided an intriguing update of some elements of avant-garde composition in combination with t…

His style formed by a fusion of the barest acid house and straitjacket-tight Detroit techno Richie Hawtin became one of the most influential artists in the world of techno during the 1990s even while sticking to out-of-date synth dinosaurs like the R…

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…