This is a list of notable experimental musicians. The list is in alphabetical order by surname if the band is of one person's name and is in alphabetical order by the first letter if the name is of a band's.<!--These are by no means all alpha by surname, but what do you call names like "Bull of Heaven" or "Experimental Audio Research", which of course should be listed by the first, not the last word in the name?-->

A–E

  • Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah – (Egypt) experimental music
  • Acid Mothers Temple – experimental psychedelic rock
  • Frédéric Acquaviva – (France) experimental music
  • Giulio Aldinucci – experimental electroacoustic composer
  • Miguel Álvarez-Fernández – experimental radio and sound installations
  • Amnesia Scanner – Finnish experimental electronic duo
  • Tori Amos – alternative, Baroque pop, experimental
  • Anaiis – (French) (Senegal) experimental musician
  • Laurie Anderson – electronic music
  • Ron Anderson – noise and progressive
  • Animal Collective – experimental music collective
  • Aphex Twin – IDM, experimental, ambient, glitch
  • Arca – (Venezuela) Experimental, Electronic music
  • Autechre – (UK) IDM, Experimental, Ambient, Glitch, Flashcore
  • Nigel Ayers – (UK) sound art, sound collage, member of Nocturnal Emissions
  • Derek Bailey – guitarist
  • Beck – (USA) anti-folk and experimental music
  • David Behrman – live electronics
  • Björk – alternative, avant-garde, experimental, electronica
  • Bladee – cloud rap, experimental pop
  • Boards of Canada – ambient, downtempo, IDM, electronica
  • Boredoms – Japanese noise rock
  • Burkhard Beins – percussion and objects
  • Kate Bush – art pop/rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, Baroque pop
  • Buckethead – guitarist
  • Butthole Surfers – alternative rock, experimental, avant-Garde
  • Glenn Branca – guitar, noise ensemble
  • George Brecht – performance art
  • Gavin Bryars – indeterministic orchestration
  • Bull of Heaven – minimalism, noise, drone, avant-garde jazz, modern classical
  • John Cage – indeterminate music
  • Can – Krautrock band
  • Captain Beefheart – avant-garde blues artist
  • Cornelius Cardew – British composer
  • Cardiacs – British rock band
  • Charli XCX – experimental pop star
  • Rhys Chatham – guitar, noise ensemble
  • Cities Aviv – experimental hip-hop, post-genre
  • Clipping. – experimental hip-hop
  • Coil – sidereal sound, scrying, hallucinogens, ANS, glitches
  • Nicolas Collins
  • Loren Mazzacane Connors
  • Controlled Bleeding – Paul Lemos
  • David Cope – composer, computerist
  • Henry Cowell – (USA) tone clusters and Extended technique
  • Cui Jian – Alternative, avant-garde, experimental, electronica
  • Alvin Curran – found sounds
  • Current 93 – coined the term "apocalyptic folk"
  • Chris Cutler – English experimental music composer and percussionist
  • Dead Air Fresheners – masked, anonymous chance music or indeterminate music ensemble
  • Death Grips – experimental hip-hop
  • Deftones – experimental rock
  • Stuart Dempster – reverberant spaces, just intonation, extended trombone techniques
  • Earl Sweatshirt – experimental hip hop
  • The Dillinger Escape Plan – experimental metal, mathcore
  • Arnold Dreyblatt – just intonation
  • Kevin Drumm – guitarist
  • Iancu Dumitrescu – composer, founder of Hyperion group dedicated to experimental music
  • Judy Dunaway
  • Kyle Bobby Dunn – composer, arranger, experimental guitarist
  • Trevor Dunn – bassist
  • Eartheater – vocalist, producer
  • Marc Edwards – free jazz
  • Leif Elggren
  • Brian Eno – ambient music, algorithmic composition
  • Experimental Audio Research – ambient, synth/noise
  • Carolina Eyck – thereminist

F–J

  • Jean-Baptiste Favory – musique concrète & electronic
  • Florian-Ayala Fauna – musician, music producer
  • FKA Twigs – (UK) musician, songwriter, producer, director
  • Morton Feldman – composer
  • Flume – experimental electronic producer
  • The Flying Lizards – (UK) experimental new wave group
  • Flying Lotus – hip hop, IDM, jazz, electronica
  • Henry Flynt – violinist, guitarist, inventor of Electronic Hillbilly Music
  • David Fenech – musique concrète & experimental pop music
  • David First – drones and interference beats
  • John Frusciante – guitarist, rock musician, electronica, hip hop, avent-Garde
  • Cor Fuhler – improvising multi instrumentalist, composer, instrument builder
  • Ellen Fullman – long string Instrument
  • Diamanda Galás – vocalist, composer
  • Roopam Garg – guitarist, composer
  • Qubais Reed Ghazala – musician, composer, father of circuit-bending
  • Seppe Gebruers – Quartertone pianist, improvisor and composer
  • Alice Glass – (Canada) Experimental, witch house, noise
  • Philip Glass – minimalism, composer
  • Percy Grainger – composer and performer
  • Eli Gras
  • Grimes – experimental electronica, synthpop
  • Bruce Haack – experimental electronic composer
  • Half Japanese – experimental indie rock
  • Richard D. James – experimental, ambient, electronic music, techno
  • The Hafler Trio
  • Lou Harrison – (USA) gamelan influenced
  • Carl Michael von Hausswolff
  • Joseph Haydn – composer
  • Pierre Henry – musique concrète
  • Lejaren Hiller – first computer composition Illiac Suite (1957) with Leonard Issacson
  • Susumu Hirasawa
  • Christopher Hobbs – experimental and systems music composer
  • Tim Hodgkinson – English experimental music composer and performer
  • Gustav Holst – English composer
  • Horse Lords – experimental math rock, krautrock
  • Emily Howell – computer composer
  • The Hub – interactive real-time computer network: John Bischoff, Tim Perkis, Chris Brown, Phil Stone, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Mark Trayle
  • I Set My Friends on Fire
  • Martín Irigoyen – guitar, prepared guitar, multi-instrumentalist, steampunk, composer
  • Charles Ives – quarter tones, tone clusters, aleatoric music, polyrhythm and polytonality
  • Don Joyce – sound collage
  • iwrestledabearonce
  • JPEGMAFIA – experimental hip-hop

K–P

  • KK Null – noise rock
  • Kommissar Hjuler – cut-up collages
  • Anne La Berge – flute, improvisation, electronics, composition
  • Daniela Lalita – (Peru) vocalist and producer of experimental music
  • André Éric Létourneau – gamelan, flute, composition, chance-operations, electronic music, microtonal music
  • George E. Lewis – trombone, composition, improvisation, electronic music, computer music
  • Steve Lieberman – American punk bassist, flutist called The Gangsta Rabbi
  • A Life of Science – Arizona based electronic band
  • Lightning Bolt – noise rock
  • Lil Ugly Mane - Experimental Artist
  • Franz Liszt – composer and performer
  • Annea Lockwood – environmental sounds
  • Alvin Lucier – (USA) acoustical phenomena
  • John Lydon – (UK) singer
  • Mama Baer – voice improvisation
  • The Mars Volta – rock band
  • Elio Martusciello – Italian experimental music composer and performer
  • Melvins – experimental
  • Meshuggah – extreme metal, experimental metal, progressive metal
  • Miya Masaoka – composer and performer
  • Olivier Messiaen – (France) composer and organist
  • Merzbow – (Japan) noise music
  • Midori – (Japan) four-member jazz-punk fusion band
  • Moondog – composer
  • Gordon Mumma – live electronics
  • Muslimgauze – (UK)
  • Ben Neill – sound installations, mutantrumpet
  • Phill Niblock – minimal music composer
  • Nocturnal Emissions – (UK)
  • Nurse With Wound – (UK and Ireland) collaborative solo project of artist Steven Stapleton
  • Michael Nyman – (UK) composer and former critic and musicologist
  • The Observatory – Singapore-based art-rock band
  • Obsil – (ITA) composition, electronic music
  • Pauline Oliveros – (USA) meditative music, just intonation, reverberant spaces, Expanded Instrument System
  • Oneohtrix Point Never – (USA) electronic music, ambient music, vaporwave
  • Yoko Ono – (UK, USA, Japan) happenings
  • Orange Monkey – (USA)
  • Ortiz Morales – (Spain) Experimental and noise music (old kinematic synchronisms reconstructions)
  • John Oswald – (USA) plunderphonics
  • Nam June Paik – happenings, action music
  • Paul Panhuysen – string and other sound installations
  • Evan Parker – (UK) saxophonist
  • Harry Partch – (USA) microtonal composer
  • Portishead – Bristol
  • Henri Pousseur – (Belgium) self-described as "experimental"

Q–Z

  • A.R. Rahman – (India) Film Music composer
  • Steve Reich – (USA) multimedia documentary opera
  • Hans Reichel – 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 – (USA)
  • Boyd Rice – (USA) noise music, ambient music
  • Terry Riley – (USA) multimedia minimalist composer
  • Ivette Román-Roberto – experimental vocalist
  • Cipriano de Rore – (Franco-Flemish)
  • David Rosenboom – biofeedback (human)
  • Keith Rowe – British guitarist
  • Luigi Russolo – Futurism and noise music
  • Kristoffer Rygg – Frontman and main composer of Ulver
  • Erik Satie – precursor of minimalism, dada
  • Pierre Schaeffer – Musique concrète
  • Mathias Rehfeldt – experimental organist, composer
  • Giancarlo Schiaffini – Italian experimental music composer and performer
  • Elliott Sharp – multi-instrumentalist
  • Mark Stanley – guitarist, composer
  • Solage – composer
  • Sonic Youth – noise rock band
  • SOPHIE - experimental pop
  • Soul Coughing – improvisational jazz, hip hop, noise, and samples
  • Sprain – experimental
  • Howard Stelzer – (USA)
  • Sunn O))) – drone metal band
  • Svoy – (USA, Russia) Universal Music Group producer/writer/artist,
  • Swans (band) – experimental rock, no wave
  • Toru Takemitsu – composer
  • James Tenney – alternate tunings, perceptual phenomena
  • They Might Be Giants – alternative rock, indie rock, experimental rock, children's music
  • Lynda Thomas – experimental musician and performer
  • Throbbing Gristle – industrial music, noise, shock lyrics
  • Edgard Varèse – electronic music
  • Michael Waller – contemporary music
  • Ween – psychedelic and lo-fi band that covers a multitude of genres
  • Xiu Xiu – experimental rock, noise pop, spoken word
  • Kathleen Yearwood – experimental, avant garde composer
  • La Monte Young – just intonation, minimalist, drone music
  • Richard Youngs – postmodern minimalist
  • Frank Zappa – composer and performer
  • Evan Ziporyn – (Bang on a Can), gamelan
  • John Zorn – postmodern, various genres
  • Zoviet France – British band

See also

  • List of musicians by genre

References