More apt to cite stately rock paragons Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson as their inspirations than Derrick May or Aphex Twin, the French duo Air gained inclusion into the late-'90s electronica surge due chiefly to the labels their recordings appeared on, not the actual music they produced. Their sound, a variant of the classic disco sound coaxed... [+] Read More

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Boom Bip is a Cincinnati-based hip-hop artist whose command of the human beatbox and sample salvage has few equals beside Rahzel the Godfather of Noise. After playing in several bands during high school, he became a DJ in 1993 while attending college in Cincinnati. Offbeat turntablist methods gradually raised his profile, and he began recording... [+] Read More

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The Norwegian ambient dub trio Drum Island comprised ex-Ismistik member Ole J. Mjos, Apollo Records co-founder Torbjorn Brundtland and promoter-turned-DJ Rune Lindbek. Under the name Those Norwegians, the group issued a series of 12-inch singles on the UK label Paper Recordings before evolving into Drum Island, issuing their brilliant... [+] Read More

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The Norwegian folktronica foursome Flunk was formed out of the studio jam sessions of a trio of Oslo musicians: producer Ulf Nygaard (also of Folk and Rovere), guitarist Jo Bakke (formerly with the Happy Campers), and drummer Erik Ruud (a member of the Guidance-label act Antenna). After adding vocalist Anja Oyen Vister, Flunk recorded their... [+] Read More

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Being a quirky co-ed nine-piece from Reykjavik, Iceland, Gus Gus was almost bound to inspire comparisons to the Sugarcubes, though the onset of ten years caused the group to inherit the influences of electronic fuzz and trip-hop rhythms rather than the bout of post-punk lunacy which inspired the Sugarcubes during the late '80s. Begun as a cinema... [+] Read More

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More akin to French nu-disco compatriots like Daft Punk than his Wall of Sound label-mates, Jacques Lu Cont's Les Rhythmes Digitales project bridges the gap between the quintessentially early-'80s phenomenon of synth-pop and more contemporary styles like acid-house and trip-hop. Lu Cont is actually of British origin, however; he was born Stuart... [+] Read More

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Though he is known as one of the leading lights in France's dance music scene, producer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Mirwais Ahmadzai was born in Switzerland to Italian and Afghani parents. After moving to Paris at age six, he immersed himself in music, learning the guitar before he hit his teens. In 1979, he started the electronic/punk/disco... [+] Read More

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Money Mark is the alias of Mark **** a keyboardist whose funky, retro-flavored riffs earned him the unofficial title of the fourth Beastie Boy. Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawaiian father and a Chicano mother, Nishita moved to the West Coast when he was six; some years later, he hooked up with the Dust Brothers production team, and began... [+] Read More

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Never mind digging in the crates -- the Avalanches probably just buy them whole, sight unseen, and find a way to bounce off each platter. Eventually morphing into a gang of six merrymakers bent on filtering their all-encompassing record collections through original instrumentation and a great deal of sampling, the Avalanches came from one of the... [+] Read More

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The act with the first arena-sized sound in the electronica movement, the Chemical Brothers united such varying influences as Public Enemy, Cabaret Voltaire, and My Bloody Valentine to create a dance-rock-rap fusion which rivalled the best old-school DJs on their own terms -- keeping a crowd of people on the floor by working through any number... [+] Read More

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The man behind such productions as the Mighty Bop (downtempo hip-hop), Bob Sinclar (house), and Réminiscence Quartet (acid jazz) is Chris the French Kiss (aka Christophe le Friant), a Parisian DJ and head of the crucial French label Yellow Productions as well as a producer. Le Friant began DJing in 1987 while still a teenager, and formed Yellow... [+] Read More

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The men behind U.K. soul outfit Zero 7 -- producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker -- launched their careers in the music industry as tea boys at a London recording studio. Soon after, however, both were in the thick of action, working alongside a string of well-known British musicians such as the Pet Shop Boys and Robert Plant. They spent the... [+] Read More

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