Austrian electronic experimentalists Farmer Manual comprise a casual collective of musicians, DJs, computer geeks, and net freaks who count music as only one of a number of ongoing projects. The group's identity is as mysterious as the periodic transmissions from their Vienna studios (which began appearing in 1996), but their releases have... [+] Read More

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Vienna-based guitarist Christian Fennesz is one of the city's many artists associated with the noted Mego label, which releases mostly freeform ambient and experimental electronica. Similar in some respects to the work of Seefeel or Experimental Audio Research, Fennesz's six-string soundscapes are both darker than the former and more complex and... [+] Read More

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British techno outfit Germ are one of the most influential, under-recognized forces of innovation in the European experimental electronic music scene. Formative figures on the early U.K. techno map, Germ (along with the General Production Recordings label, through which they've released the entirety of their catalog) were defining the vocabulary... [+] Read More

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German post-techno duo Mouse on Mars is among a growing number of electronic music groups dabbling in complex, heavily hybridized forms that include everything from ambient, techno, and dub to rock, jazz, and jungle. The combined efforts of Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner (of Köln and Düsseldorf, respectively), Mouse on Mars formed in 1993,... [+] Read More

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Trumpeter/composer Rob Henke was born and raised in Chicago, IL, relocating to New York City in 1988; there he collaborated with the likes of Marie McAuliffe's Ark Sextet, Nick Didkovsky's Dr. Nerve and the Walter Thompson Orchestra while additionally fronting his own ensemble, the Washington Street Players. His debut LP for the Cathexis label,... [+] Read More

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Thrill Jockey instrumental duo Rome are, like many of the acts on the Chicago-based independent label, generally grouped in as loose adherents of "post-rock," a period-genre arising in the mid-'90s to refer to rock-based bands utilizing the instruments and structures of the music in a non-traditionalist or otherwise heavily mutated fashion.... [+] Read More

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Formed near Munich as a hardcore punk band, the Notwist gradually began to embrace a fusion of classic '80s indie-pop songwriting and scruffy electronic backings indebted to Oval and Autechre. The quartet is comprised of brothers Markus and Micha Acher (on vocals/guitar and bass, respectively) plus programmer/keyboard player Martin Gretschmann... [+] Read More

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Tortoise revolutionized American indie rock in the mid-'90s by playing down tried-and-true punk and rock & roll influences, emphasizing instead the incorporation of a variety of left-field music genres from the past 20 years, including Krautrock, dub, avant-garde jazz, classical minimalism, ambient and space music, film music, and British... [+] Read More

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