Algorave inherits a lineage of algorithmic dance music running from Eno's generative practices through 1990s rave/techno

Algorithmic approaches have long been applied in electronic dance music: from the 1970s Brian Eno established randomised practices that evolved into generative music, which in turn influenced 1990s rave and techno through artists like Farmers Manual, Autechre, and Aphex Twin. Autechre’s Anti EP was an explicit response to the UK Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 - the track ‘Flutter’ generated ‘non-repetitive beats’ to evade the Act’s definition of an illegal rave - and the snare rush on the 1996 Girl/Boy EP is cited as an earlier form of digital algorithmic coding that later fed into glitch. Algorave inherits all these threads, situating it within electronic-music history rather than as a sudden invention.

Examples

Brian Eno: 1970s generative practices. Aphex Twin/Autechre: Anti EP (1994) ‘Flutter’ as non-repetitive-beat legislative protest. Girl/Boy EP (1996) snare rush -> glitch. Algorave (2012): live-coded dance music.

Assessment

Name three artists or works in the pre-algorave algorithmic lineage and explain each one’s contribution to the thread that leads to algorave.