Icarus, the duo of Sam Britton and Ollie Bown, represents the vanguard of British experimental electronic music. Formed in 1997, they emerged from the post-jungle landscape to create a sound that fused the rhythmic intensity of drum and bass with the formal complexity of IDM and free jazz.
Their work is characterized by a deep engagement with music technology, often developing their own software to facilitate generative and parametric composition. This culminated in the 2012 project 'Fake Fish Distribution', an album released in 1,000 unique software-generated variations. Their label, Not Applicable, serves as a hub for improvisational and electronic crossover. Critically, they are positioned as 'musician's musicians', famously commissioned by Aphex Twin to assist with his Remote Orchestra project. Their influence is felt in the bridge between academic computer music and the underground club scene, maintaining a reputation for 'beautiful and evil' sonic textures that challenge the boundaries of electronic structure.
Shares digital_clarity, layered_dense, noise_textured (production style); mysterious, contemplative, restless (moods)
Shares drum and bass, idm, glitch (subgenres); mysterious, restless, contemplative (moods)
Shares drum and bass, idm, glitch (subgenres); digital_clarity, layered_dense, noise_textured (production style)
Shares drum and bass, idm, glitch (subgenres); absent, processed, instrumental_only (vocal style)
Shares mysterious, contemplative, restless (moods); digital_clarity, layered_dense, noise_textured (production style)
Shares drum and bass, idm, glitch (subgenres); absent, processed, instrumental_only (vocal style)
Shares drum and bass, idm, glitch (subgenres); mysterious, restless, contemplative (moods)
Shares mysterious, contemplative, restless (moods); digital_clarity, layered_dense, sample_based (production style)
Shares digital_clarity, layered_dense, noise_textured (production style); absent, processed, instrumental_only (vocal style)
Shares drum and bass, idm, glitch (subgenres); digital_clarity, layered_dense, noise_textured (production style)
Shares idm, drum and bass, glitch, instrumental_only (signature)
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