Influence(s)?

[megamanx]

depeche mode
kraftwerk
M83
suede (the london suede)
smiths
blur
NIN
Brian Eno
David Bowie
T-Rex
Joy Division
New Order

[CS_TBL]

My main influences are a wee bit different compared to the previous lists..

Late Romanticism (Tchaikovsky)
Impressionism (Debussy, Ravel)
Film music (John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and a whole slew o' others, including Broadway musicals here and there)
Instrumental/synth (Vangelis, Jarre, Oldfield, Alan Parsons Project (until they broke up))

[GuyaGuy]

Synthy:
Fever Ray
Bjork
Radiohead
Boards of Canada
Kraftwerk
Harmonia
Air
United States of America
Broadcast
Portishead
Amon Tobin


Not so synthy:
Sonic Youth
Low
Nick Drake
Velvet Underground
Philip Glass

[cornutt]

For me it started out with the unlikely duo of Wendy Carlos and Edgar Winter. I heard Switched-On Bach when it was first released, although I was only 9 at the time and I didn't really appreciate it. Edgar Winter's Frankenstein got me paying attention to synths. At about that same time, a radio station where we lived switched to a progressive-rock format and I started listening to that. From there, you get a lot of the usual '70s suspects: Richard Wright, Tony Banks, Emerson, Wakeman, et al. A few years later I found Larry Fast, JMJ, and Tangerine Dream (I heard "Stratosfear" at a party when it first came out in, I think it was, 1976. I went out and bought a copy the next day and I listened to almost nothing else for the next two months.) Then there was Rush's dramatic addition of synths and turning towards progressive rock, and I really got into listening to Geddy Lee's stuff. And throughout the '70s, in TV and movie music, there was Mike Post (who never seems to get the mentions he deserves). I still think Post's theme for "The Rockford Files" is one of the coolest TV theme songs ever.

The '80s came along and I resisted it at first, but the very under-appreciated Yes album "Drama", with Geoff Downes on keyboards, changed my mind on that. I started getting into the more stripped down style of the New Wave bands. The Fixx's Rupert Greenall is the guy I usually point at first; there was also Greg Hawkes (The Cars), David Ball (Soft Cell), the original Human League, and Billy Currie (Ultravox). There was also that '80s anomaly, Saga, with their trio of keyboard players -- Jim Gilmour, Jim Crichton, and Michael Sadler.

Early '90s pop was a big disappointment to me, so that's when I started finding electronica like Aphex Twin and Future Sound of London. Since then, I've had divided loyalties: my electronic-music listening is split between electronica styles (mostly trance), ambient, '80s synth-pop, and pre-80s styles like Berlin School and the stuff that Larry Fast, Wendy Carlos, JMJ, and Michael Garrison did. Also, the last few years, I've been making an effort to seek out pre-Moog-era stuff, like the RCA Synthesizer recordings from the '50s. I'd also like to find some recordings of mechanized music from prior to 1950, but it appears that very little of this has survived.

[factual35]

Some of you folks are listing some amazing artists as influences.

My current influences are:

Ladytron
Fading Colours
Miss Kittin and the Hacker
downLOAD
All projects associated with Front Line Assembly and Delerium
Richard H Kirk/Cabaret Voltaire

My recent discovery of Absolute Body Control will be a huge influence on future work.

In the past(2002-2004) my influences were:

Einstruezende Neubauten
Throbbing Gristle
SPK
Skinny Puppy
Nurse with Wound

Throbbing Gristle was a major influence when my friend Kate and I were making noisey jams together with my synthesizers. That was last summer up until this spring. Those were good days.

[allert]

(Partly)Electronic:

Tuxedomoon
Japan
Depeche Mode
Kraftwerk
Tangerine Dream (early works)
Front 242
The Belleville Three (Derek, Juan, Kevin)
Armando
Giorgio Moroder
New Order
Pink Industry
Mekanik Kommando (dutch, obscure)
Clock DVA

Not so electronic:
Talking Heads
Echo & the Bunnymen
The Cure
Swans
Sonic Youth
Test Dept.
Einsturzende Neubauten
Nick Cave
Cocteau Twins
The Sound (reason why I scored an RS 09 and recently completed their keyboard players live rig with a Polysix)
Lotsa obscure dutch new wave bands)
Clock DVA

[Scories]

1 - Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene
2 - Gyorgy Ligeti - Lux Aeterna/Requiem
3 - Moussorgsky/Ravel - Pictures at an Exhibition
4 - The Cure - 17 Seconds
5 - Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children

Other influences : Autechre, Young Gods, Tricky, Public Enemy, Susumu Yokota, Sly and the Family Stone...

[Virgule]

Wendy Carlos and
Soft Machine

[tekkentool]

Impressionism (Debussy)
Instrumental/synth (Oldfield)

So much love for those two. (I hope Andrew-lloyd webber was in the broadway guys).

[CS_TBL]

I hope Andrew-lloyd webber was in the broadway guys.

Yep, and LesMis, and Secret Garden (a rather unknown musical with outstanding music), and probably some others too.

[theotherleadingbrand]

I'm always on the lookout for artists to check out. Even if I look up one from each of the previous posts, I'll be busy for ages. Keep 'em coming.

[Broadwave]

John Barry
John Carpenter
David Hentschel
Magazine
Ultravox (Pre '81)
Mark Shreeve (Pre Redshift)
Space/Didier Marouani
Jean-Michel-Jarre
Simple Minds (Pre '80)
Giorgio Moroder

[Ned Bouhalassa]

NIN
Eno
Orbital
Autechre
Daft Punk
Vangelis
Soulwax
Deadmau5
Chemical Bros
Wendy Carlos
LCD Soundsystem
Kraftwerk
JMJ
Hans Zimmer

[Sir Nose]

Pralamniet-Fnukdaliec
Pnik Folyd '68-'75

I still get amazed that it is possible to read words with ease with internal letters in rodnam pisotoins.

[Gianni]

The jazz/fusion side:
Chick Corea (RTF/Elektric Band/etc)
Herbie Hancock
Tribal Tech
Esbjörn Svensson Trio
Joe Zawinul
Medeski, Martin & Wood
Hermeto Pascoal
Thelonious Monk
Bill Evans
Miles Davis
Pat Metheny

The prog rock side:
Pink Floyd
ELP
Porcupine Tree
Jordan Rudess
Dream Theater
Yes