Oval

German experimental act Oval were largely responsible for establishing glitch as a distinct style of electronic music. While the sounds of skipping compact discs and malfunctioning equipment had previously been utilized by avant-garde composers, Oval incorporated them into ambient and downtempo pieces on releases such as the 1995 landmark 94diskont., setting the pace for the "clicks and cuts" aesthetic. Initially a group, Oval later became synonymous with founding member Markus Popp, who continued releasing solo material in addition to providing remixes for artists including Tortoise and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The project gradually evolved from its original sound, incorporating live instruments on the more electro-acoustic O (2010), and making a surprising move toward maximalist club music on 2016's Popp and 2020's Scis. Romantiq, based on an audio-visual project created for the opening of the German Romantic Museum in Frankfurt, appeared in 2023.