Glitch is a type of experimental electronic music that began in the 1990s. It is known for using intentional "glitches" or unusual sounds in audio recordings. These sounds come from mistakes or malfunctions in recording equipment and digital devices. Artists who create glitch music see these errors as creative materials rather than problems to fix. In the Computer Music Journal, composer Kim Cascone called glitch a subgenre of electronica and used the term "post-digital" to describe its style.

In the 1990s, glitch music was made by physically altering broken hardware. By the 2000s, it shifted to using software to recreate the same types of errors. Important albums like Oval’s Systemisch (1994), Fennesz’s Endless Summer (2001), and the Clicks & Cuts series (starting in 2000) are considered major works in the genre’s history.

Other styles based on glitch music developed over time. Glitch hop combines glitch sounds with the rhythmic patterns of hip hop and became popular in the late 1990s. It later became more widely known in electronic dance music (EDM) by the late 2000s. Microhouse uses glitch elements within house music. Music journalist Philip Sherburne named this style in a 2001 article for The Wire. Glitch music also influenced other genres, including experimental and ambient music, from the 2010s onward.

History

The glitch aesthetic began in the early 20th century with Luigi Russolo’s 1913 Futurist manifesto, L'arte dei rumori (The Art of Noises), which inspired noise music. Russolo built mechanical noise generators called intonarumori and composed pieces such as Risveglio di una città (Awakening of a City) and Convegno di automobili e aeroplani (Meeting of Automobiles and Airplanes). In 1914, a crowd disturbance occurred during one of his performances in Milan, Italy.

In 1979, Christian Marclay used broken vinyl records to make sound collages. Yasunao Tone used damaged CDs in his 1985 performance Techno Eden. The 1992 album It Was a Dark and Stormy Night by Nicolas Collins included a piece where a string quartet played alongside the skipping sounds of CDs. In 1994, Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima created the soundtrack for the video game Streets of Rage 3, using randomized sequences to produce unusual, experimental sounds.

Glitch music became a distinct movement in Germany and Japan during the 1990s. In Germany, Achim Szepanski’s works and labels like Mille Plateaux helped shape the genre. In Japan, Ryoji Ikeda contributed to its development.

Nuno Canavarro’s 1988 album Plux Quba included electroacoustic sounds similar to early glitch. Oval’s 1993 debut album Wohnton helped define the genre by blending ambient music with glitch sounds. Their 1994 album Systemisch used sounds from damaged CDs to combine experimental glitch styles with more accessible music. This album influenced artists like Autechre and Björk, who sampled a track from it on her 2001 album Vespertine. Oval’s 1995 album 94 Diskont was described by Pitchfork as a key reference for the glitch movement. In 1998, The Wire magazine listed 94 Diskont as one of 100 influential records, calling it a work of "pure crystalline beauty" made from digital sounds.

The term "glitch" was first used in music in 1994 by electronic duo Autechre in their song Glitch. In 1995, experimental group ELpH released the album Worship the Glitch.

As digital audio tools became common in the early 2000s, glitch music shifted from hardware-based methods to software simulations. The Clicks & Cuts compilation series, released by Mille Plateaux starting in 2000, documented and helped establish the glitch movement. AllMusic called the first volume of the series the "official genesis" of glitch music, and Pitchfork ranked it 21st on its 2017 list of the best IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) albums.

Alongside Mille Plateaux, a group centered on American duo Matmos and the San Francisco label Tigerbeat 6, led by producer kid606, introduced a more intense style to glitch production. This group, which included artists like Lesser and Blectum from Blechdom, built on the work of Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, and Oval, while emphasizing bold live performances.

In 2001, Fennesz released the album Endless Summer on the Mego label. Recorded using a laptop, a microphone, and a few guitars and pedals, the album received praise from Pitchfork, Fact, and Resident Advisor. Pitchfork ranked it 22nd on its 2017 list of the best ambient albums. In 2007, Joshua Meggitt of Resident Advisor noted that Fennesz’s work brought warmth and emotional depth to glitch music, contrasting with the colder, more intellectual styles of other artists in the scene.

Production techniques

The main difference in glitch music is between mistakes that happen by accident and those made on purpose. In the beginning, artists used broken or damaged equipment to create glitch sounds. Yasunao Tone made CDs with small pieces of clear tape on them to stop the CD from reading properly. Markus Popp from Oval used tools like exacto knives, paint, and tape to damage CDs, then turned the sounds from these broken discs into loops with skips. Nicolas Collins changed an electric guitar to make it work with electrical signals and adjusted a CD player so he could change recordings during live performances.

As digital audio workstations became common in the late 1990s and 2000s, artists began using software instead of physical tools. They started cutting short pieces from old recordings and mixing them with glitch sounds, clicks, and scratches to replace or add to traditional drum beats. This change led to a question: Is glitch music about changing complete songs after they are made, or about creating new music from leftover digital pieces? In a 2013 interview, Markus Popp explained that he uses leftover pieces as the main material for his music, not just adding glitch styles to finished songs.

Today, most glitch music is made with digital audio software. Common tools include programs like Jeskola Buzz and Renoise, as well as flexible setups like Reaktor, Ableton Live, Reason, AudioMulch, Bidule, SuperCollider, FLStudio, Max/MSP, Pure Data, and ChucK. Some artists also use digital synthesizers such as the Clavia Nord Modular G2, Elektron’s Machinedrum, and Monomachine.

Glitch hop

Glitch hop is a type of music that began in the late 1990s. It mixes glitch techniques with the rhythm and structure of hip hop. This genre has beats that are usually medium to fast, ranging from 80 to 130 beats per minute (BPM). It uses cut-up music clips, repeating sounds, twisted bass sounds, and glitch noises instead of or along with regular drum beats.

The genre started around 1997, with early work by Push Button Objects on the Chocolate Industries label as one of its first examples. Early producers like Machinedrum, Prefuse 73, and Dabrye combined glitch techniques from IDM with hip hop beats. This style was influenced by the rhythm style of producer J Dilla and the mechanical drum sounds from IDM. The genre became more popular in the early 2000s and was linked to the Los Angeles beat scene, which began with the Low End Theory club night in 2006, started by producer Daddy Kev. Artists connected to this scene, such as Flying Lotus and his Brainfeeder label, Nosaj Thing, and Shlohmo, added elements from mid-2000s dubstep and jazz to the music.

By the late 2000s, the genre changed a lot. As dubstep became popular in the United States, many glitch hop producers started using its strong bass sounds and elements from the drum and bass subgenre called neurofunk. Artists like The Glitch Mob, GRiZ, KOAN Sound, and Pretty Lights became known for this more EDM-style version of glitch hop, which kept the name but moved away from its hip hop roots. MusicRadar has noted that glitch techniques are now used in many modern electronic music styles, including pop, techno, and neo-classical music.

The Glitch Mob, a group from Los Angeles made up of edIT (Edward Ma), Boreta (Justin Boreta), and Ooah (Josh Mayer), released the album Drink the Sea in 2010. They helped bring glitch hop to a wider audience through remixes in movie trailers and TV ads. New Zealand producer Opiuo (Oscar Davey-Wright) is known for adding funk and psychedelic sounds to glitch hop and performing his electronic music with live bands. The English duo KOAN Sound, consisting of Will Weeks and Jim Bastow, started as dubstep producers before moving into glitch hop and neurohop. They have remixed songs by artists like Ed Sheeran and Skrillex. Other artists linked to glitch hop include David Tipper, Pretty Lights (Derek Vincent Smith), GRiZ, and Flying Lotus.

Related genres

Microhouse is a type of music that combines glitch and house music, using clicks and noise sounds within a steady beat pattern. The term was created by music journalist Philip Sherburne in a July 2001 article for The Wire. He described the style as "mysterious and trance-like sounds inspired by Chicago house music" found on labels such as Kompakt, Perlon, Playhouse, and the Mille Plateaux family of record labels. German producer Jan Jelinek, who recorded as Farben, was one of the artists Sherburne mentioned when creating the term. Jelinek's label, Faitiche, later confirmed that Sherburne named this style Microhouse. Other important artists in the genre include Finnish producer Luomo, whose 2000 album Vocalcity is considered a key example of the style, and Canadian producer Akufen.

Glitch sounds became part of indie and popular music through styles like glitch pop and folktronica, where artists used digital error sounds and IDM production techniques alongside acoustic instruments and traditional song structures. An example of this is Björk sampling Oval's Systemisch on her 2001 album Vespertine. The influence of glitch production methods in experimental and ambient music has led artists outside the original scene to continue using these techniques as part of their musical style.

Landmark albums

These albums are often mentioned by music critics as important in creating and defining the glitch music style.

• Oval – Systemisch (1994, Mille Plateaux): one of the earliest albums to use broken CDs as a source for creating glitch sounds; inspired artists such as Autechre and Björk.
• Oval – 94 Diskont (1995, Mille Plateaux): described as a key reference for understanding the glitch movement in the mid-1990s; listed in The Wire’s 1998 collection of 100 essential records.
• Various Artists – Clicks & Cuts (2000, Mille Plateaux): the first album in the Clicks & Cuts series; called the starting point of the glitch genre by AllMusic and ranked number 21 on Pitchfork’s 2017 list of the best IDM albums.
• Fennesz – Endless Summer (2001, Mego): ranked number 22 on Pitchfork’s 2017 list of the best ambient albums; named the best album of the decade by Pitchfork, Fact, and Resident Advisor.