Browsed the comments really quickly and couldn’t see that anyone had mentioned Plini, so there’s my recommendation.

LORN

I’m a metal head, so these will be in a similar vein, though there is techno and more relaxed stuff at the end. Might add links if I remember later:

Chon, Animals as leaders, Polyphia, Plini, Syncatto, Intervals, Meganeko, Broke For Free

I enjoy listening to The HU. They are a Mongolian Metal/rock band. Most of their songs have lyrics, but it’s all in Mongolian so I just treat the vocals as another instrument and it may as well be instrumental to me.

I listen to Ghost Data and Porter Robinson lots. Both are electronic music, but I like them more than Zedd or Madeon because they sound more unique.

Ghost Data’s chord progressions are unique but repetitive (I don’t know many other artists that have a chord progression or vocal idea like that of “Queen of Knives”, so it’s unique, but the main chord progression of “Queen of Knives” doesn’t change all that much throughout the song, so it’s repetitive). I like that there’s sonic variety while exploring singular ideas fully, like how the main melody of “Thy Flesh Undone” repeats through different instrumentations.

Porter Robinson stuff is pretty great because it sounds more emotional than most EDM I hear. It can sometimes have words, sometimes not. The Worlds album is more of an ambient and emotional/inspiring twist on EDM; specifically I’m thinking of “Goodbye to a World” and “Lionhearted” as uniquely happy songs.

I give an honorary mention to “Antirrhinum” by MALO because its rhythms are pretty cool and confused me a lot at first. It was entertaining trying to figure them out.

Deadhorse! (We Can Create Our Own World specifically, they might have lyrics in other albums, can’t confirm)

Herbie Hancock, Snarky Puppy

Feint, Matt Large, and especially Gregory David are awesome.

Additionally, Bernth is really cool if you like guitar.

Look up Nox Arcana if you want something Gothic. Might be a bit too orchestral for your needs, but it’s a dark version that’s unlike anything I’ve heard.

Some metal and metal-adjacent instrumental bands I listen to a lot:

• Sunn O)))
• Russian Circles
• Pelican
• Lethe
• Explosions in the Sky

Haven’t been listening to him lately, but Estas Tonne.

Sure, just Odesza we were young Two feet just felt like playing the guitar and not singing Odesza kusangi Odesza koto Brock Berrigan Making Up (70s inspired music) Hippie Sabotage enlightened energy Hippie Sabotage smoke room Hippie Sabotage drifter

Not everyonea cup of tea, alternative/edm but yes let me know your thoughts

Maybe not quite contemporary, but

YYZ by Rush

Slabo Day by Peter Green

plini, an addition to all the rock/metal listed

Explosions in the Sky

Space Knife