You Must Hear 7

microtonal

Last updated: Tue Oct 28 2025 08:41:45 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Description

Microtonal music uses intervals smaller than the standard half-steps found on a piano, dividing octaves into more than twelve notes to explore unusual scales and tunings. This approach creates otherworldly, sometimes dissonant sounds that can range from subtly exotic to dramatically alien, challenging Western ears accustomed to conventional pitch relationships. Found across experimental classical, avant-garde metal, and electronic music, it represents both ancient non-Western traditions and modern sonic exploration.

100 chronological releases

Place	Cover	Date	Artist	Album	Tags	Other places
63		1964	Charles Ives	Quarter-Tone Pieces	microtonal
69		1966	Alois Hába	Organ Works	microtonal pipe organ	pipe organ # 31
71		1968	Emil Richards And The Microtonal Blues Band	Journey to Bliss	microtonal
93		1976	Alvin Lucier	Bird And Person Dyning	microsound microtonal minimalism spoken word	microsound # 89
86		1980	Alois Hába	Chamber Music	classical microtonal czech czech classical	chamber # 48 czech classical # 73 classical composer # 80
97		1986	Wendy Carlos	Beauty in the Beast	microtonal
44		1987	Various Artists	Crack My Pitch Up
17		1988	Richard Sanderson	Steady States	ambient drone field recordings improvisation london microtonal
45		1990	Giacinto Scelsi	Music for High Winds	clarinet microtonal oboe	oboe # 22
47		1993	Alois Hába	Centenary	czech classical microtonal
22		1994	Easley Blackwood	Microtonal Compositions by Easley Blackwood	contemporary classical electronic microtonal
62		1994	Ivor Darreg	Detwelvulate!	classical contemporary classical electronic microtonal neoclassical
67		1995	Jon Catler	Jon Catler	microtonal
15		1996	Löis Lancaster	Malva	microtonal
98		1998	Harry Partch	Delusion of the Fury	microtonal
55		1999	Giacinto Scelsi	Œuvre intégrale pour chœur et orchestre symphonique	microtonal orchestral
61		1999-09-06	Joe Maneri, Barre Phillips, Mat Maneri	Tales Of Rohnlief
77		2000	Dumb Type	Memorandum	electronic microtonal
2		2002	Tyrone Miller	Batman&Tyrone	ambient avant-rock drone experimental rock microtonal minimalism post-rock spoken word
12		2002	Folly	Oubliette	black metal microtonal
20		2002-12	Bhob Rainey	6 Standing Desert	eai improvisation microtonal noise	eai # 55
34		2004	Ashtray Navigations	Who's Been Rocking My Dream-Boat?	drone microtonal noise post-industrial
78		2004-09-01	Nim	Editorial ep	belgium electronica microsound microtonal	microsound # 72
24		2005-07-31	Coeval	[mn005] distante	ambient drone field recordings live recording microsound microtonal musique concrete spain spanish	microsound # 13
14		2005-10-13	Tony	Itinerance	france french microsound microtonal	microsound # 7
19		2006	Cousin Silas	Memories Of A Journey	ambient ambient rock drone microtonal minimalism soundscape	ambient rock # 14
36		2006	Alois Hába	String Quartets Vol.2 (Stamic Quartet)	classical microtonal string quartet
76		2006-02-01	Letna	Morning Sun - EKO001	ambient microtonal organic electronica serbian soundscape	serbian # 49 organic electronica # 67
39		2006-02-20	D'incise	Variations sur Dublin	electroacoustic experimental electronic glitch microtonal switzerland
84		2007	Giacinto Scelsi	The Works for Double Bass	double bass harp microtonal	double bass # 84
60		2007-05-29	Tim Doyle	Micro-Brew (microtonal music from Tim Doyle)	ambient baroque chillout drone electronic gamelan meditation microtonal new age soundscape	gamelan # 56
29		2007-12	Luigi Archetti	Fragments on Speed, Slowless and Tedium		microsound # 16
27		2008	auger shell	The Narrows	ambient avant-rock drone drone rock experimental rock microtonal minimalism
81		2008-02-25	Ryoji Ikeda	See You At Regis Debray	ambient electronic microtonal
35		2008-02	Giorgos Stefanou	Internal Sonic Pathway	electroacoustic europe european glitch greece greek microsound microtonal musique concrete one man band one man project	microsound # 20 one man project # 29
83		2008-02	Giacinto Scelsi	The Orchestral Works 2	choral microtonal orchestral
73		2009-05-07	Jgrzinich	time's arrow landing	ambient america american american underground drone microsound microtonal minimalism musique concrete usa	american underground # 6 microsound # 70
41		2009-05-25	Tickles	Freirausch [IPOLY003]	microtonal
59		2009-10-27	Marc Broude	Rites of Zen	ambient noise america american american underground dark ambient illbient microsound microtonal ritual ambient soundscape usa	ambient noise # 21 microsound # 45
40		2010-01-01	Aboombong	Agnosis	ambient contemporary classical drone electronic krautrock microtonal world fusion
90		2010-01-04	Sevish	Golden Hour	electronic microtonal
25		2010-04-05	MiaMia	Nani Nani	ambient electronic microtonal
88		2010-09-08	knowsur	NANA WODORI	dance electronic electronica house japanese microtonal vocaloid
3		2010-10-14	Caustic Reverie	Splinter	ambient noise dark ambient drone illbient microtonal post-industrial
16		2010-11-13	Tsone	[at035] a sea beyond reckoning	ambient ambient noise drone electronica europe finland finnish microsound microtonal minimalism	microsound # 8
92		2010-11-15	Sevish	Human Astronomy	ambient breakbeat breaks british drum and bass electronic electronica english microtonal
64		2010-12-15	Tony Dubshot	Dub Experryments	dub electronic microtonal
26		2011	Katerina Stamatelos	Album No.1	microtonal
53		2011-02-05	Carlo Serafini	Gammatar	electronic folk instrumental microtonal
23		2011-03-15	Marco Lucchi	Mater Natura	ambient contemporary classical microtonal minimalism
33		2011-05-31	Vincent Royer	Giacinto Scelsi Edition 9: The Works for Viola	microtonal viola	viola # 38
58		2011-07-01	Derek Piotr	AGORA	ambient electroacoustic glitch microsound microtonal organic electronica spoken word	microsound # 44 organic electronica # 45
42		2011-09-18	Jurica Jelic	Electroacoustic layers	microtonal
56		2011-12-05	Derek Piotr	AGORA Regathered	broken beat chiptune dance dark ambient electroacoustic electronic electronica finnish glitch house microsound microtonal musique concrete noise organic electronica polish power electronics sound collage spoken word	microsound # 38 organic electronica # 44
46		2011-12-29	Big City Orchestra	Nereids	drone electronic industrial microtonal minimalism musique concrete spoken word
82		2012	David Fiuczynski	Flam! Blam! Pan-Asian MicroJam!	funk jazz microtonal
50		2012-06-02	Sean Archibald	Sean but not Heard	drum and bass electronic electronica microtonal
94		2012-07-28	Brendan Byrnes	Micropangaea	electronica microtonal pop
89		2013	Last Sacrament	Enantiodromia	death metal microtonal
6		2013-04-08	Vladimír Hirsch	Epidemic Mind	dark ambient
51		2013-04-17	Nils Quak	Und unsere Häuser sind Särge	ambient dark ambient drone ambient europe european experimental electronic german germany microsound microtonal noise one man band one man project post-rock soundscape	one man band # 15 microsound # 32 one man project # 47
49		2013-07-21	Indifferent Magma	Intrusion	technical death metal mathcore
70		2013-08-19	Aurastore	Untapped Horizons	ambient america american american underground california drone ambient microsound microtonal one man band one man project soundscape usa	one man band # 43 one man project # 65 microsound # 67
31		2013-11-12	Anarchestra	Oreph	instrumental microtonal
37		2014-02-12	Cinchel	Reign Water	ambient drone electronic microtonal minimalism
48		2014-08-28	Anarchestra	Bathtub Music	instrumental microtonal
4		2014-08-29	Anarchestra	4/04+	instrumental microtonal
13		2014-10-01	Anarchestra	Batur	instrumental microtonal
99		2015-05-10	Sevish	Rhythm and Xen	drum and bass electronic microtonal
68		2016-01-31	EUS	Reviraje	ambient dark ambient drone drone ambient electroacoustic electronic microsound microtonal musique concrete neoclassical one man band one man project organic electronica soundscape	one man band # 38 organic electronica # 58 microsound # 62 one man project # 62
54		2017-07-01	Haarvöl	Bombinate	ambient drone electronic microsound microtonal minimalism musique concrete post-industrial	microsound # 36
21		2017-10-04	Marco Lucchi	Kosmische	ambient drone electronic microtonal minimalism
95		2017-12-06	King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard	Flying Microtonal Banana	psychedelic rock	psychedelic rock # 53
18		2018-09-14	Gallo'84	Shimano	ambient drone electronic microtonal
72		2018-09-28	Jock Tears	bad boys	microtonal
85		2018-10-03	Pulse Emitter	Xenharmonic Passages	microtonal
66		2020-01-10	Fani Konstantinidou	Winter Trilogy / The Big Fall	drone microsound microtonal minimalism	microsound # 57
74		2020-09-11	Orphax	En de stilstaande tijd	drone microtonal
79		2020-11-06	Richard Chartier	Continue	drone microsound microtonal	microsound # 74
100		2020-11-20	King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard	L.W.	microtonal progressive rock psychedelic rock	psychedelic rock # 36
10		2021-03-15	Scott Lawlor	The Absence of Light Contains the Shadow of Loss	ambient dark ambient drone drone ambient illbient microtonal minimalism neoclassical one man band one man project soundscape	one man project # 17
11		2021-03-26	Micah Pick	Frameworks	ambient electronica glitch microtonal piano
96		2021-05-07	Jute Gyte	Mitrealität	ambient ambient black metal avant-garde black metal avant-garde metal black metal dark ambient experimental black metal microtonal noise progressive black metal	ambient black metal # 13 avant-garde black metal # 49 experimental black metal # 76
5		2021-08-03	j.-p. caron	ST	ambient ambient noise brazil brazilian dark ambient drone latin america microsound microtonal one man band one man project soundscape	one man project # 11
91		2022	Larry Goldings	Earthshine	microtonal
8			diecidicembre	diecidicembre	ambient drone electronic europe improvisation italian italy microsound microtonal new age progressive rock soundscape	microsound # 3
9			Keith Rudolph	Transylvanian Chilean	brooklyn dance electronic gamelan idm lo-fi microtonal noise	gamelan # 19
38			Deister Orchestra	Waltz in 10edo	microtonal waltz	waltz # 45
87			Basil's Kite	Shooting Tsars	jazzcore microtonal	jazzcore # 58
1			Keith Rudolph	King Arthur Hop	brooklyn dance drone electronic idm lo-fi microtonal noise
7			Keith Rudolph	HellaVeez	brooklyn dance drone idm lo-fi microtonal noise
28			Valery Levacher	Demo	electroacoustic microtonal
30			skiks	compulse	drone electroacoustic electronic electronica improvisation instrumental microtonal noise techno
32			STAFFCIRC	STAFFcirc vol. 7 - Terra Octava	microtonal
43			Cuchufleta	2011	alternative folk art rock chile cumbia folk freak folk indie rock latin microtonal new weird america piano rock chileno rock en espanol singer-songwriter spanish
52			Zhea Erose	Eurybia	microtonal
57			City of the Asleep	Transcendissonance	electronic electronica glitch lo-fi microtonal post-rock techno
65			Trauma Triad	A North Facing Window	downtempo idm microtonal nu jazz
75			Hear Between The Lines	Radical Tenderness	microtonal
80			Tomoko Sauvage and Gilles Aubry	Apam Napat	microtonal

Related genres

• drone
• electronic
• ambient
• microsound
• minimalism
• noise
• dark ambient
• soundscape
• electroacoustic
• musique concrete