List of experimental musicians


This is a list of notable experimental musicians, in alphabetical order by surname.

A–E

  • Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah – experimental music
  • Acid Mothers Temple – Experimental psychedelic rock
  • Frédéric Acquaviva – 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 – Experimental musician
  • Laurie Anderson – electronic music
  • Ron Anderson – noise and progressive
  • Animal Collective – experimental music collective
  • Aphex Twin - IDM, experimental, ambient, glitch
  • Arca – Experimental, Electronic music
  • Autechre – IDM, Experimental, Ambient, Glitch, Flashcore
  • Nigel Ayers – sound art, sound collage, member of Nocturnal Emissions
  • Derek Bailey – guitarist
  • Beck – 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 – 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 – musician, songwriter, producer, director
  • Morton Feldman – composer
  • Flume – experimental electronic producer
  • The Flying Lizards – 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 – 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 – gamelan influenced
  • Carl Michael von Hausswolff
  • Joseph Haydn – composer
  • Pierre Henry – musique concrète
  • Lejaren Hiller – first computer composition Illiac Suite 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 – 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 – acoustical phenomena
  • John Lydon – 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 – composer and organist
  • Merzbow – noise music
  • Midori – four-member jazz-punk fusion band
  • Moondog – composer
  • Gordon Mumma – live electronics
  • Muslimgauze –
  • Ben Neill – sound installations, mutantrumpet
  • Phill Niblock – minimal music composer
  • Nocturnal Emissions –
  • Nurse With Wound – collaborative solo project of artist Steven Stapleton
  • Michael Nyman – composer and former critic and musicologist
  • The Observatory – Singapore-based art-rock band
  • Obsil – composition, electronic music
  • Pauline Oliveros – meditative music, just intonation, reverberant spaces, Expanded Instrument System
  • Oneohtrix Point Never - electronic music, ambient music, vaporwave
  • Yoko Ono – happenings
  • Orange Monkey –
  • Ortiz Morales – Experimental and noise music
  • John Oswald – plunderphonics
  • Nam June Paik – happenings, action music
  • Paul Panhuysen – string and other sound installations
  • Evan Parker – saxophonist
  • Harry Partch – microtonal composer
  • Portishead – Bristol
  • Henri Pousseur – self-described as "experimental"

    Q–Z

  • A.R. Rahman – Film Music composer
  • Steve Reich – multimedia documentary opera
  • Hans Reichel – Free improvisation musician and inventor of electro-acoustic instruments
  • Renaldo and the Loaf
  • Dino Residbegovic – experimental/live-electronic contemporary music composer
  • The Residents –
  • Boyd Rice – noise music, ambient music
  • Terry Riley – multimedia minimalist composer
  • Ivette Román-Roberto – experimental vocalist
  • Cipriano de Rore –
  • David Rosenboom – biofeedback
  • 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 –
  • Sunn O))) – drone metal band
  • Svoy – Universal Music Group producer/writer/artist, "...One of the most accomplished experimental electronic artists" —Timmy Kusnierek, Your EDM
  • Swans – 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 –, gamelan
  • John Zorn – postmodern, various genres
  • Zoviet France – British band