Glitch Music

Glitch music is an electronic genre built around the sounds of technological malfunction — clicks, cuts, skips, and digital artifacts transformed into rhythmic and textural elements. Pioneered by artists like Oval, Autechre, and Alva Noto in the 1990s, the genre treats errors as compositional material rather than problems to fix.

The genre has branched into several subgenres including glitch hop, glitchcore, microsound, and deconstructed club. Production techniques include granular synthesis, buffer manipulation, bit crushing, and databending audio files.

For a complete overview of the genre’s history, essential albums, key artists, and how to start producing, see our full guide to glitch music.