These three artists were ahead of their time when they first emerged. In a lot of ways, they remain out of time, tapping into eccentricities, aesthetics, and art movements that informed their overall sound and style for years.
They even dabbled in music scenes that didn’t exist yet. Were they time travelers? Or simply innovators?
Björk
Björk has been a favorite of the eccentric crowd for decades, and her overall eclecticism is based on genuine, exhilarating talent. Since the ’80s, she’s been way ahead of her time, experimenting with genre, sound, vocal style, and aesthetics.
In her early years, she formed multiple bands around Iceland with poets and other musicians. Through mastering her signature vocal howls, shrieks, and chaotic noise, she became an ever-present figure not only in music but in the art world and beyond.
Björk has always been an artist who lets herself evolve and transform, never limiting herself to one style or genre. Her vocals are distinct to the point where it’s often possible to recognize a Björk track. But the familiarity of her voice only makes it more interesting to hear what she’s playing around with next.
Cromagnon
Cromagnon was easily one of the first industrial, noise rock, and nu-wave bands. They released one album in 1969, but their sound was so experimental that the late-60s listening public just wasn’t ready for them. Essentially, they were the dictionary definition of “ahead of their time.”
The track “Caledonia”, for example, opens with a sample of fanfare backed by squiggly radio wave noise. Then, it builds into thrumming bagpipes accompanying vocals that one YouTube comment described as “the least 1960s thing ever recorded in the ’60s.” Which describes the entire band pretty well, actually.
“Caledonia” is an orgy of instrumental noise, screaming that may or may not be human, and vocals that sound like they time-traveled back from the ’80s heavy metal scene. All the Free Love in the entire decade couldn’t prepare the ’60s for what Cromagnon was cooking.
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk has since gotten their props for basically inventing techno several decades before it would actually emerge as a genre. In a way, they’re on a similar level to Cromagnon, in that they sound like they may have time-traveled from a future music scene.
Since Kraftwerk’s formation in 1970, they’ve been lightyears ahead of their time, breaking out from the Krautrock formula of the era. Their early albums dealt in freeform acid jazz, musique concrète, and experimental improvisation. Then, they began bringing synthesizers into the forefront.
Founders Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider had the funds to afford some of the first monophonic synthesizers. As such, they were innovating with brand new technology, essentially creating electronic dance music as early as 1973. Kraftwerk’s approach to synth became so entwined in the history of electronic music that it’s often difficult to find an aspect of the genre they didn’t influence.