walking upstream…
Grimes
sourcesWikipedia
Claire Boucher started releasing music as Grimes in 2007, a McGill dropout in Montreal layering four-track vocals over homemade synth loops until the sound curdled into something stranger than dream pop and warmer than IDM. Her 2012 breakout 'Visions' — largely self-produced during an intense, sleep-deprived stretch — turned that bedroom oddness into a genuine phenomenon, with the single 'Oblivion' later named one of the decade's best songs by critics. 'Art Angels' (2015) sharpened the songcraft into maximalist, structurally ambitious pop without losing the weirdness, and 'Miss Anthropocene' (2020) swerved toward heavier, industrial-tinged textures. Across every era, Boucher has stayed a producer-auteur, writing, singing, and building nearly every sound herself, chasing her own stated fantasy of a music that fuses pop's biggest voices with electronic music's strangest edges.
the sound in question
2012
OblivionGrimes
walk the tributaries ↓
Aphex Twin1990s-2000s · IDM / Ambient / Acid techno / Electronic / Experimental
Boucher has repeatedly named Aphex Twin among her deepest influences, telling Loud And Quiet she imagines that "if Mariah Carey and Aphex Twin came together, that would be the greatest band ever" — a fantasy she says Grimes is built to chase, "bringing IDM and industrial... together with, like, pop." She's said she's drawn to "the texture of a lot of his beats and how sharp they are," citing his IDM/glitch vocabulary directly among the genres she named as inspiration for 'Visions.'
listen: upstream & heresource: Loud And Quiet ↗
1999
WindowlickerAphex Twin
2012
NightmusicGrimes
listen forCompare 'Windowlicker' with 'Nightmusic' — both run a percussive, glassy synth pattern through tight, almost machine-precise edits, laying a chilly, alien sheen over the beat rather than smoothing it into anything conventionally pop.
Mariah Carey1990s · R&B / Pop / Soul
In that same interview, Boucher frames Mariah Carey as the other half of her ideal band, marveling that pop's biggest voice never crossed over into the electronic genres she loves — "Why didn't Mariah Carey do that?" Rather than covering Carey's material, Grimes borrows the vocal instinct: stacking her own voice into dense, high-flying harmony textures, treating the human voice less as a single lead line than as another layer of the mix.
listen: upstream & heresource: Loud And Quiet ↗
1991
EmotionsMariah Carey
2012
GenesisGrimes
listen forSet 'Emotions,' built on Carey's soaring, multi-tracked upper register, next to 'Genesis' — both pile breathy, high harmonies on top of one another until the vocal becomes a shimmering wash rather than one discernible melody.
Nine Inch Nails1990s · Industrial rock / Alternative rock / Electronic rock
Boucher has said industrial rock "was a staple diet for any self-respecting rebellious teen" growing up in Vancouver, naming Nine Inch Nails alongside Marilyn Manson and Tool and adding, "I liked the aggression and I liked the aesthetic of it." That aesthetic resurfaces directly on 'Miss Anthropocene,' an album described as leaning into ethereal nu-metal territory, where distorted guitar, industrial clang, and a more confrontational delivery replace her earlier dream-pop softness.
listen: upstream & here
1989
Head Like a HoleNine Inch Nails
2018
We Appreciate PowerGrimes
listen forPlay 'Head Like a Hole' against 'We Appreciate Power' — both open with a blunt, distorted riff and a vocal pitched somewhere between seduction and threat, treating aggression itself as the hook.