Alec Empire / Atari Teenage Riot Essentials

Prolific, provocative, and antagonistic, Alec Empire built his career by smashing the divisions between avant-garde electronica, raw club music, and do-it-yourself punk. Throwing himself into the German rave scene in the early '90s, Empire went on to unleash an avalanche of solo releases and collaborations, putting his tweaked spin on brutalist techno, thundering drum 'n' bass, dark ambient, raging acid house, and much more. In addition to launching Digital Hardcore Recordings in 1994, Empire is also a founding member of Atari Teenage Riot, the infamously noisy and aggressive electronica unit.