One of the most renowned electronic music composer in the world, Isao Tomita (born 1932) was born in Tokyo and spent early childhood with his father in China. After returning to Japan, he took private lessons in orchestration and composition while being an art history student at Keio University, Tokyo. He graduated in 1955 and became a full-time composer for television, film and theatre. He composed the theme music for the Japanese Olympic gymnastics team for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Australia. In the late 1960s, he turned his attention to electronic music. He acquired a Moog III synth...

Formed in the seaside town of Scamps-on-Sea, Essex, England in 1980, Depeche Mode met as neighboring friends with a sense for the punk rock and new wave scene. Within a year of their formation they began touring local clubs and after only 6 months they received a visit from Mute Records executive, Daniel Miller and signed to the independent label. The debut release of Dreaming Of Me in 1981 sparked attention in both the UK and in America. Vince Clark left the band shortly after to form Yazoo, and synthesizer player Alan Wilder filled the vacancy. While gaining prominence on the Ameri...

Initially viewed as a quirky band of German nerds propounding the values of a mechanized state through systematic electronic pop music, Kraftwerk have gone on to influence countless genres and musicians, including the driving techno of Aphex Twin and Juan Atkins, the surreal ambient of the Orb and the rumbling hip-hop of Afrika Bambaataa and Public Enemy. Formed by music conservatory students Ralf Hutter and Florian Schnieder in 1970, the pair went on to form permutations with various other artists (who in turn formed Neu! and Doldinger), releasing albums such as Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2, and...

Brian Eno was a founder member of Roxy Music, manipulating sounds on their debut album and the legendary For Your Pleasure. Leaving Roxy Music in 1973, he began his solo career with the album Here Come The Warm Jets. Eno has released a string of critically acclaimed records, and over the years his work has been compiled on two Best Ofs and three Boxed Sets. As well as Eno's own albums, he has collaborated with the likes of John Cale, Nico, Robert Fripp and the band James. His co-writing and playing on David Bowie's Low, Heroes and Lodger helped define the sound of this classic trilogy. Af...

Turning out epic prog-rock symphony suites as well as less lengthy radio-friendly offerings, Yes music has morphed with each incarnation of band member lineup. The core of the Yes sound is defined by the lead vocals of Jon Anderson, vocals with a piercing lilt usually reserved for English school-boy choir soloists; intricate, rollicking bass lines and layered harmonic vocal arrangements from Chris Squire deliver tuneful segues between movements, and jaw droppingly other-worldly guitar work from Steve Howe give us the signature Yes product of precise and daring musicality. Their wiggly logo ...

'Growing up in the American midwest, New York seemed like a promised land to Laurie Anderson: "It was always an hour later, darker, and somehow more alive. Things were always coming to you Live From New York." She reached the city at the end of the 60s to study at Columbia University, graduating in 1972 with an MFA in sculpture, and an involvement in the so-called Downtown scene in SoHo, where she numbered Philip Glass among her associates. Anderson had been engaged in various performance artworks while at college, and, remaining in New York, embarked on a new series of creations: a self-pl...

Fluke are one of the pioneering 1990's era electronic bands to make a beachhead in America during the time when electronic music was just starting to make inroads. This UK trio (Jon Fugler, Mike Tournier, and Mike Bryant) who had been sharing living and studio space originally started out as a poppy house style act then switching to trip hop before finally hitting on their most successful formula of big-beat infused techno. It was the buzz from Fluke's white label 12" of "Thumper! that brought the band to the attention of the electronic dance community with Creation eventually signing them ...

Michael Trent Reznor was born May 17, 1965, in the small town of Mercer, PA; he went by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father Michael. At age five, Reznor's parents divorced and he wound up being raised mostly by his maternal grandparents; even so, Reznor stated repeatedly that his childhood was mostly happy. He began playing the piano at age five, studying classical music, and later learned tenor sax and tuba in the school band; he also acted in musicals and became an avid Kiss fan. Reznor spent a year studying music and computers at Allegheny College, but dropped out after a yea...