Songs We Love: Raymond Scott, 'A Rhythm Ballet'

"Experimental" is a pretty broad term when used to describe music, but it's rarely meant in the scientific sense. You don't often imagine an experimental band sitting in an actual laboratory, building machines and tinkering with gadgetry from 9 to led, which is why he's considered a pioneer of electronic experimentalism. Holed up in a Long Island warehouse called Willow Park Center, Scott spent the 1950s and '60s creating futuristic pieces that presaged many later developments in electronic music.