Experimental Rock

Experimental rock is a term applied to music in which artists abandon Rock conventions and opt for an exploratory approach through experimentation with song structures, uncommon time signatures, rhythm, dissonance, instrumentation, noise, electronics, and other techniques. The most extreme acts incorporate Experimental music traits, such as improvisation, non-traditional production, and studio manipulation methods.

Experimentation in rock started emerging in the mid-1960s, thanks to developing recording technology, such as mixing consoles and multitracking's popularization. The Mothers of Invention featured a mix of orchestral instrumentation, quirky, satirical humor, avant-garde influences, and styles such as Jazz-Rock, Rhythm & Blues, and Psychedelic Rock. Though initially a Blues Rock act, Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band utilized unconventional composing processes, clusters of polyrhythms, and complex interplay. The Velvet Underground blended raw production, feedback, drones, drug culture-inspired deadpan vocals, and popularized the ostrich guitar tuning, while Silver Apples and The United States of America discarded guitars and utilized oscillators, keyboards, strings, and primitive synthesizers.

In the late 1960s, German social movements developed Krautrock in revolt against foreign commercial music. Bands such as Can, Amon Düül II, Faust, and NEU! incorporated electronic instrumentation, tape manipulation, and repetitive compositions. Meanwhile, some Western European groups, like Henry Cow and Univers Zéro, adopted more sophisticated influences from Avant-Garde Jazz, Modern Classical, and Frank Zappa's work, which resulted in the creation of Avant-Prog. Also notably, Magma developed Zeuhl, a style that utilized Jazz instrumentation, choirs, expressive vocals, and featured usage of an artificial language.

In the mid-1970s, Post-Punk emerged, adopting Punk Rock's DIY ethos but quickly separating sound-wise. Many bands from the initial wave integrated influences outside of rock and experimented with complex rhythms and intricate songwriting, with groups like Public Image Ltd, The Pop Group, and This Heat incorporating Dub, Funk, Free Jazz, and Industrial influences. In the late 1970s, the No Wave scene emerged in downtown New York, where acts such as DNA, Contortions, and Glenn Branca discarded melodicism and relished in dissonance, atonality, and skronk.

In the late 1980s and the 1990s, many Japanese groups morphed rock unto their liking, integrating various influences. Ruins developed Brutal Prog using raw production and dense usage of dissonance and uncommon time signatures. Boredoms combined volatile rhythmic sections, often utilizing numerous drummers, with glitchy, psychedelic post-production, while Ground-Zero incorporated heavy sample usage, turntables, omnichords, and traditional Japanese instruments. Though no particular movements emerged in the 2000s and 2010s, swaths of individual bands pushed the envelope.musical instruments.