Glitch Music Guide: Characteristics and Origins of Glitch Music

Glitch music is a subgenre of electronic music and experimental music that uses the sound of malfunctioning audio media to provide compositional structure. Any “glitchy” sound that can signify the failure of or imperfection in an analog or digital audio device has been utilized to create glitch music. These sounds include CD and vinyl skipping or stutter, distortion, circuit-bending (the noise resulting from deliberate or accidental alteration of electronic device circuits), and even software crashes.

Initially, the glitch aesthetic was used by electronica and avant-garde artists, who employed either malfunctioning technology or deliberately altered audio media to create unique and genre-bending sounds. In more recent years, producers have used production software to transform the glitch into an element of the composition, such as percussion created through glitch samples. This approach has given rise to an array of subgenres like glitch hop, which folds the glitch aesthetic into a blend of hip-hop and electronic dance music (EDM). These developments have expanded the definition of glitch music to incorporate music that employs the glitch sound.

Since its inception, glitch music has pushed musical boundaries by merging non-traditional sounds into its blend of hip-hop and EDM. Here’s a brief overview of the subgenre’s origins:

• Beginnings: The origins of glitch music trace back to the 1980s, when avant-garde and experimental electronic musicians in Japan and Germany began exploring sonic artifacts from technology as a means of adding innovation and unique sounds to their compositions.
• Pioneering artists: Among the pioneering glitch artists were the German band Oval, which replaced the synthesizers so common to electronic music of the period and replaced them with compact discs marked with felt pens. They extracted processed samples of the glitching audio and built recordings around them. Japanese composer Ryoji Ikeda, who experimented with sounds at the boundary or beyond human hearing, explored minimalism by combining soundscapes of glitches and ambient noise with hypnotic visual content. When English electronic duo Autechre’s dubbed a 1994 single “Glitch,” it helped solidify the concept of glitch as a compositional element.
• Glitch hop takes shape: Glitch hop surfaced in the early 2000s, spurred on by producers who fused the breakbeats of hip-hop with the synth-driven production technique and sound design primarily associated with intelligent dance music (IDM), another subgenre of experimental music. Now, glitch hop is an umbrella term covering a range of experimental efforts like sound collage and EDM with glitch effects.

Several characteristics define the sound of glitch music:

1. 1. The glitch: Whether by malfunction, manipulation, or software creation, the sound of a “glitch”—an auditory error, such as skipping, hardware noise, or even system crashes— anchors all glitch music. Producers apply these glitch sounds to samples of pre-recorded music or audio, creating a sort of glitch rhythm that supplants traditional percussion or even instrumental sounds. An array of software, including Reaktor and FLStudio, can be used to create the glitch sound.
2. 2. The structure: The glitch aesthetic can be applied to a diverse array of compositions. Bands like Oval replaced synths with glitches to create new and complex structures beyond typical ambient music. At the same time, Japanese composer Yasunao Tone manipulated a compact disc player reading the digital information on a CD to make powerful and intense soundscapes.
3. 3. The surprise element: In its initial form, glitch music was intended to surprise both the listener and artist alike with new, creative sounds. The deliberate or manufactured manipulation of digital technology produced unexpected results and musical innovation, such as implementing glitches into EDM and hip-hop music.

There are several defining examples of glitch music, including:

1. 1. Flying Lotus: The Los Angeles-based composer/producer/DJ Steven Ellison, known by his stage name Flying Lotus, is a longtime proponent of glitch. His recordings embrace many styles, from jazz to IDM, but weave glitch elements like off-kilter beats into their hypnotic soundscapes.
2. 2. The Glitch Mob: One of the most successful glitch-hop acts, the Los Angeles-based trio Glitch Mob helped redefine the concept of glitch-hop by adopting an approach closer to EDM than the hip-hop origins of glitch-hop. The gambit helped land their second album, Love Death Immortality, at the top of the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2014.
3. 3. Oval: German trio Oval is a foundational act in the glitch music scene of the 1990s. Now composed of a single original member, Markus Popp, Oval’s focus has expanded beyond ambient to explore pop and even club sounds from a glitch perspective.
4. 4. Tim Hecker: The acclaimed Montreal musician Tim Hecker adopted glitch elements for his early works, such as 2001’s Haunt Me, Do It Again. Inspired by the glitch music created by Achem Szepanski in Germany, Hecker wielded glitch with remarkable skill and even sonic beauty on the album.

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