Glitch — a genre of electronic music that grew out of digital errors and glitches. The history, key artists, and the modern influence of Glitch on music and visual art.
In the world of electronic music, the boundaries between noise and melody have long since disappeared. What was considered a “faulty sound” in the early 1990s has now become a full-fledged genre. This is about Glitch — a musical style that turned digital errors and distortions into an artistic tool.
How Glitch appeared
The name of the genre comes from the English word glitch — “malfunction”, “error.” Musicians of the experimental scene first turned to this approach in the early 1990s, inspired by computer artifacts, CD player clicks, damaged cassette noise, and digital malfunctions of early software synthesizers.
One of the first labels to shape the genre was the German Mille Plateaux. In 1999, they released the compilation Clicks & Cuts, where clicks, dropouts, and “broken” fragments became the basis of musical compositions. This release became the manifesto of Glitch.
Sound characteristics
The main feature of Glitch is the use of “erroneous” sounds:
- digital clicks and dropouts;
- stuttering samples (stutter effect);
- distorted audio files;
- noises and digital overloads.
Musicians deliberately deform material: slow it down, tear it apart, layer noise, turning randomness into aesthetics. At the same time, Glitch can be combined with IDM, ambient, and even techno, while maintaining its main trait — unpredictability.
Pioneers and key names
- Oval — the German group whose early albums became the foundation of the genre.
- Alva Noto — master of minimalism and digital noise, one of the leaders of Raster-Noton.
- Autechre and Aphex Twin — IDM representatives who actively used glitch elements.
- Fennesz and Ryoji Ikeda — researchers of sound structures at the intersection of music and contemporary art.
Glitch today
Today, Glitch is used not only in experimental electronic music but also in pop. Elements of the genre can be heard in Radiohead (album Kid A), in the works of Flying Lotus, and even in video game soundtracks.
Visually, Glitch culture is associated with “glitch art” — distorted graphics, digital malfunctions, and image breakdowns, which perfectly complement the sound aesthetics.
Interestingly, many glitch musicians use the technique of databending — opening audio files in graphic editors like Photoshop and then “saving” them back as sound, creating unpredictable noise structures.
Glitch is not just the music of errors. It’s proof that even a malfunction can turn into art if you can hear rhythm and aesthetics in it.
