Electronica is a blanket term that describes electronic music, but it mainly references a style in which the use of electronic technology (drum machines, synthesizers, samplers) takes a role in the creative process. Experiments by such pioneers as Russian physicist Leon Theremin and later Robert Moog and Don Buchla brought electronic sounds and keyboard synthesizers to the public arena. Early electronic composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, ambient pioneer Brian Eno, experimentalist John Cage, and the German electro group Kraftwerk utilized technology to make innovative music. As technology became more affordable and widely available in the late '70s and early '80s, the analog synthesizer birthed a variety of new sounds and subgenres. Innovation around the development of these devices gave way to the beginnings of Detroit techno and Chicago house, with hats tipped to the early '70s disco-funk influence, a breath of fresh air to American and British music. In the mid '90s, drum 'n' bass, trip-hop, techno, big-beat, and garage were sired by British DJs, and though each took a dramatically different set of chromosomes from its mother, all were born from disco hips.

Notable Artists: Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Fatboy Slim