The blurry electronic pop project of an initially anonymous composer from Brooklyn and video artist from Austin, TX, Neon Indian was conceived as a multimedia experience combining their music and video into short films, teasers, and straight-up pop songs. Though Neon Indian released the No Way Down EP in 2008, the buzz around the pair didn't really start until spring 2009, when the songs "Should've Taken Acid with You" and "6699 (I Don't Know if You Know)" were posted and praised by indie blogs. A few months later, the songs "Deadbeat Summer" and "Terminally Chill" received similar treatment, and that summer, the identities of Neon Indian's members were revealed: Alan Palomo, formerly of the band Ghosthustler and also of the one-man electro project VEGA, was behind the music, while video artist Alicia Scardetta provided visuals. The pair's collaboration dated back to Palomo and Scardetta's time on their high school literary magazine, and Palomo wrote "Should've Taken Acid with You" about their friendship. Their EP Psychic Chasms was released in fall 2009.

Prefuse 73 is the alias of Scott Herren, an experimental hip-hop producer whose material often features MCs buried in the mix to become more a part of the sonic texture than a focal point. Herren began his career working in commercial studios in Atlanta, but later went on to more experimental work. His first record under the Prefuse name, Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives, not only buried but cut up and spliced raps as well as allowing some more straightforward vocals from several MCs. The 2003 follow-up, One Word Extinguisher, carried on in a similar vein. That same year, Warp released Extinguished: Outtakes -- a fascinating EP of beats and samples that ran through 23 tracks in about 35 minutes.

Surrounded by Silence, the proper successor to One Word Extinguisher, was released in March of 2005, featuring collaborations with rappers Ghostface and Aesop Rock, plus Blonde Redhead and EL-P. Three months later, an EP of recordings made with the band the Books appeared, titled Reads the Books. The next Prefuse record, 2006's Security Screenings, was relatively collaboration-free; it featured only two guests, Four Tet's Kieran Hebden and Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio. Preparations, featuring Battles drummer John Stanier on one track, followed in 2007, and Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian appeared in early 2009. Herren has also worked under his own name and that of Savath + Savalas and Delarosa & Asora.