# List of experimental musicians

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

## A–E

* Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah – (Egypt) experimental music
* Alice Glass - (Canada) Experimental, witch house, noise
* Acid Mothers Temple – Experimental psychedelic rock
* Arca – (Venezuela) Experimental, Electronic music
* Aphex Twin - IDM, experimental, ambient, glitch
* Anaiis – (French) (Senegal) Experimental musician
* Miguel Álvarez-Fernández – experimental radio and sound installations
* Giulio Aldinucci – experimental electroacoustic composer
* Tori Amos – Alternative, Baroque pop, Experimental
* Laurie Anderson – electronic music
* Ron Anderson – noise and progressive
* Animal Collective – experimental music collective
* Frédéric Acquaviva – (France) Experimental music
* Autechre – (UK) IDM, Experimental, Ambient, Glitch, Flashcore
* Robert Ashley - totalist television opera
* Cities Aviv – experimental hip-hop, post-genre
* 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
* Bull of Heaven – minimalism, noise, drone, avant-garde jazz, modern classical
* Gavin Bryars – indeterministic orchestration
* John Cage – indeterminate music
* Can – Krautrock band
* Captain Beefheart – avant-garde blues artist.
* Charli XCX – experimental pop star.
* Cornelius Cardew – British composer
* Rhys Chatham – guitar, noise ensemble
* 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
* 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
* 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
* 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
* 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
* 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
* Franz Liszt – composer and performer
* Annea Lockwood – environmental sounds
* Alvin Lucier – (USA) acoustical phenomena
* John Lydon – (UK) singer
* The Mars Volta – rock band
* Malísima - ambient, glitch, IDM, noise, spoken word, abstract
* Elio Martusciello – Italian experimental music composer and performer
* Melvins – experimental
* Meshuggah – extreme metal, experimental metal, progressive metal
* Mama Baer – voice improvisation
* Travis Miller - Experimental Artist
* Miya Masaoka – composer and performer
* Merzbow – (Japan) noise music
* 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
* Midori (band) – (Japan) four-member jazz-punk fusion band
* The Observatory – Singapore-based art-rock band
* Obsil – (ITA) composition, electronic music
* Olivier Messiaen – (France) composer and organist.
* 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.
* Orchid Spangiafora – (USA) audio collage, Twin/Tone_Records, Feeding Tube Records, DownBeat
* Howard Stelzer – (USA)
* Sunn O))) – drone metal band
* Svoy – (USA, Russia) Universal Music Group producer/writer/artist, "...One of the most accomplished experimental electronic artists" —Timmy Kusnierek, Your EDM
* 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
* Zazie Productions, composer and multimedia artist
* Zoviet France – British band