25 microtonal artists to listen to

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The best microtonal rock, metal, classical, jazz, and electronic musicians!

Microtonal music — often referred to as xenharmonic music — explores the “notes between the notes” of the standard 12-tone piano. This vast sonic frontier is populated by a diverse array of composers who use math, custom instruments, and retuned software to create everything from haunting classical soundscapes to heavy metal.

Contemporary Classical & Avant-Garde

Harry Partch: A pioneer who famously rejected the “standard” piano, calling it a “monstrous instrument.” He built his own orchestra of sculptural instruments (like the Cloud-Chamber Bowls) to play his 43-tone system.

Ben Johnston: Known for his incredible string quartets, Johnston pushed the limits of notation to achieve high-limit Just Intonation, requiring performers to play intervals of extreme precision.

Easley Blackwood: A professor and composer who systematically explored every equal temperament from 13 to 24. His work serves as a “travel guide” to the unique moods of different tunings.

Wendy Carlos: While famous for Switched-On Bach, her album Beauty in the Beast is a masterpiece of microtonality, using non-octave scales like Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.

Lou Harrison: A bridge-builder who integrated Western classical forms with the Indonesian Gamelan, often tuning his instruments to ancient just scales.

Kyle Gann: A composer and critic who uses Disklaviers (computer-controlled pianos) to perform textures too complex for human hands, notably in his 33-tone work Hyperchromatica.

Josh Modney: A contemporary violinist who specializes in “deep intonation,” performing works by Bach and modernists with a refined, microtonal ear.

Jazz & Fusion

Anna Webber: A saxophonist and flutist whose work Shimmer Wince explores the harmonic series, using the “out of tune” overtones as the primary melodic language.

Mike Battaglia: A virtuoso of the Lumatone (a hexagonal microtonal keyboard), Battaglia blends jazz fusion with complex tunings like 31-EDO and 22-EDO.

Jon Catler: A pioneer of “just” blues and jazz-rock, Catler uses custom-fretted guitars to play the “true” harmonic 7th and 11th intervals.

Rock, Metal & Progressive

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: The most famous modern proponents, they released a trilogy of albums using custom-fretted 24-EDO (quarter-tone) instruments.

Brendan Byrnes: A composer and guitarist focused on “Xenharmonic Pop,” proving that microtonality can be upbeat, groovy, and accessible.

Tolgahan Çoğulu: Known for inventing the Adjustable Microtonal Guitar, which allows players to move individual frets to match any Turkish Maqam or microtonal scale.

Glenn Branca: A “No Wave” icon who utilized massive orchestras of retuned electric guitars to create overwhelming harmonic resonance.

The Mercury Tree: A progressive rock band that transitioned to using 17-EDO and 34-EDO, resulting in a sound that is both catchy and harmonically “wrong” in the best way.

Jute Gyte: A one-man black metal project (Adam Kalmbach) that uses 24-tone guitars to create swirling, disorienting walls of sound that feel like “liquid” metal.

Cryptic Ruse: An artist specializing in “Doom-Microtonality,” using deep, slow-moving riffs in tunings like 22-EDO to highlight the beating of dissonant intervals.

Electronic & Digital

Sevish: A leading figure in modern electronic microtonality, Sevish blends drum and bass with scales like 22-EDO and 53-EDO to create vibrant, “unearthly” grooves.

Benyamind: An ambient and cinematic composer who utilizes various EDOs and Just Intonation to create lush, atmospheric soundscapes.

JUMBLE: A modern creator who uses microtonality to breathe new life into digital synthesis, often experimenting with how different temperaments affect the “vibe” and timbre of electronic leads.

Carlo Serafini: An expert in “non-octave” scales like Wendy Carlos’s Gamma, his work often feels like a crystalline, mathematical exploration of harmonic space.

Zhea Erose: A composer, theorist, and educator whose work explores the emotional “colors” of different temperaments, often focusing on high-fidelity sound design.

Elaine Walker: Leader of the band ZIA, she is a proponent of the Bohlen-Pierce scale — a radical system that divides the “tritave” (a 3:1 ratio) instead of the standard octave.

Merct: A highly active member of the online microtonal community, Merct is known for technical demonstrations and compositions in 31-EDO and other “meantone” temperaments.

Nat Muntz: A versatile composer who applies microtonal principles to genres like lofi and jazz-adjacent electronic music, proving that these notes can be incredibly chill and melodic.

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