Experimental / Avant-Garde / Noise
Music that foregrounds process, extremity or concept over song — noise, musique concrète, free improvisation, sound art, drone and avant composition. Has a real core of its own AND gathers the avant edges of Jazz, Classical, Rock, Electronic and Ambient.
1Musique Concrète / Tape Music
Musique Concrète / Tape Music
Composition from recorded sound and manipulated tape.
Noise
Texture, distortion and volume as the material itself.
Free Improvisation
Real-time creation with no fixed score or idiom.
Sound Art / Field
Listening, place and the gallery rather than the stage.
Drone & Minimalism
Sustained tones and slow process.
Plunderphonics / Collage
Music built from other music.
Avant-Garde Composition
The experimental edge of notated/concept composition.
Glitch / Digital Experimental
Error, data and the machine as instrument.
Avant-Rock / RIO
Rock's most uncompromising experimental wing.
Industrial / Experimental
Mechanized, confrontational sound design.
Deconstructed & Outsider
Club music dismantled, plus the untrained avant.
Voice & Sound Poetry
Extended voice and text-as-sound (musical, not speeches).