Holy shit, you guys are the best! Thanks for the friendly vibes and all these suggestions! It’s going to take me time I don’t have, but I will check out every one of these. Safe to say my phone will be loaded with new music on my trip.
wish I had a $500 itunes gift card 
In no particular order…
Underground Resistance - Jupiter Jazz / Hi Tech Jazz:
Move D - Tribute to Mr. Fingers
Carl Craig - At Les
Manuel Göttsching - E2E4
Maurizio
Moritz von Oswald remixing Tony Allen
Nightmares on Wax - Stars
Jovonn - The Deep End
I too come from a guitar background and I think you’ll enjoy listening to Tycho. Blend of guitar and synth textures done very well.
Here is the band playing live.
monolake
jan jelinek (+farben and gramm)
amon tobin
luke vibert
oval
microstoria
gas
vladislav delay
throbbing gristle
fluxion
atom tm
andrew pekler
taylor deupree (and basically everything on his 12k label - it is an endless music mine)
pete namlook
deadbeat
pole (and his now obsolete ~scape label to check out entirely)
frank bretschneider (+ komet)
alva noto
biosphere
aoki takamasa
fila brazillia
the future sound of london
pan sonic
[url=“http://www.lastfm.pl/music/Senking”]senking
pan american
thomas fehlmann
snd
kangding ray
drome
mountains
mikkel metal
scuba
mika vainio
dntel
donnacha costello
spacetime continuum
gusgus
that should get you going
Also a guitarist of some 22 years, I would recommend the following:
Bonobo - Cirrus
(anything by Bonobo is awesome, very musical)
Amon Tobin - 4 Ton Mantis
Boards of Canada - Come to dust
(Tomorrow’s Harvest is an awesome album)
Four Tet - Hands
Wagon Christ - Shadows
Underwolves - 68 Moves
Apex Twin - On
(Old one but I like it, video directed by Jarvis Cocker?)
Unless I missed someone mention it, I’m a bit surprised that Portishead hasn’t been brought up yet. Lots of synth stuff mixed with live band work and samples. All three records are quite different and tickle different itches. I would also recommend anything by Bjork and Beck for electronics in a experimental pop setting.
For something more contemporary check out both Todd Terje’s LP and the last Pretty Lights record. Simian Mobile Disco’s latest “whorl” is great too. I’ve never been able to get into them despite trying but something about that record just does it for me. Three of my faves from the last year.
More stuff I like:
Also check out
Bochum Welt (has done some great albums).
And if you have never heard it you should really hear the Polygon Window album that Aphex did using that alias.
A lost classic; Psyence Fiction by UNKLE.
try this…
bogdan raczynski
https://soundcloud.com/bogdan-raczynski
[quote=““Hans Olo””]
In no particular order…
Underground Resistance - Jupiter Jazz / Hi Tech Jazz:
[/quote]
Great call.
It’s important to remember that “electronic music” is a broad church - there’s basically no connection in my mind between big room EDM and people like Underground Resistance or Larry Heard, who have a lineage going back through jazz, funk, disco, soul and blues.
A lot of people have suggested kinda rock acts with electronic elements, or electronic acts who - to my ears - follow through from rock and psychedelic, which makes sense given OP’s background. But you might also consider looking at the roots of house and techno, even just to understand where this music came from.
So, proto-house/techno: Kraftwerk, Parliament-Funkadelic, Prince, Moroder, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Depeche Mode, New Order, new wave / post-punk / disco-not-disco (e.g. [url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL45YOtbuy0”]Liquid Liquid - Cavern), Italo disco ([url=“https://soundcloud.com/ed612313/if-mixed-up-in-the-hague-vol-1”]I-F’s Mixed Up In The Hague is still the best introduction imo)…
Early house: to pick just one producer, Larry Heard aka. Mr. Fingers aka Fingers Inc (aka The It, Blakk Society, etc, etc.) This comp is a good start, but even just check out [url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmz3SVuHPhs”]Washing Machine, [url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeiH9Mm0E5Y”]Can You Feel It, [url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFI23fu8baI”]Bring Down The Walls … Larry Heard is to Aphex Twin as Chuck Berry was to The Beatles.
Early techno, the Belleville Three: Juan Atkins aka Model 500 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNz01ty-kTQ)
Not to forget the DJs who defined the sound, developed some of the techniques, and particularly showed how repetition could define dance floor dynamics could work through edits and cutting up records live.
Two particular examples - Electrifying Mojo defined the early Detroit Sound, you can find some of his mixes online, like this one on soundcloud and this: [url=“http://www.jeffersonave.com/the-electrifying-mojo-the-mixerdome-part-1/”]part 1, [url=“http://www.jeffersonave.com/the-electrifying-mojo-the-mixerdome-part-2/”]part two. As a bonus, here’s [url=“https://soundcloud.com/cremeorganization/the-wizard-mixes-jeff-mills”]Jeff Mills guesting on Mojo’s show in the mid '80s.
Ron Hardy took disco music, funk and soul and melded it with early house into a hypnotic, repetitive sound that basically established modern dance/electronic music. His tape edits - looping, extending, and rebuilding tracks for his dance floor - laid the ground work for the sequencer / Ableton loop based workflow that we’re all familiar with today. Some of his mixes are on [soundcloud, [url=“http://www.deephousepage.com/search_results.php?searchString=ron+hardy”]Deep House Page](\ results on SoundCloud - Listen to music"ron hardy) is another good source.
I’m a house guy and I love all this stuff - it may not be to your taste, but it’s interesting to think about how this music came to be and hear how influences merged and mutated, while techniques emerged and developed. You could do a similar exercise with hip hop and electro’s roots, influences and pioneers, but that’s for another post.
Couple of essential documentaries on the Detroit sound:
And mainly Chicago:
Wow, thanks again everyone! I’ve been listening to a bunch of these at random and I can already tell I’ve got months worth of discoveries to make from this thread. Why didn’t I ask earlier ???
I was a little stressed out because I don’t have much time before my trip to figure out what I want to pursue in terms of buying music, but then I remembered the spotify introductory offer for 3 months of premium for $.99. Perfect application for this situation!!!
+1
Can’t wait for the new Fear Ratio
I can relate, I’m also more of a rock music guy approaching 40, though I have been taking wild stabs at making electronic music for just over ten years since the rock bands have faded away.
Check out Black Moth Super Rainbow, and Tobacco who is part of BMSR:
If you like Radiohead, for sure check out Thom Yorke’s solo stuff (which is excellent) and Flying Lotus:
Also for electro-curious rock fans at or near 40, obviously DJ Shadow is a classic staple:
For electronic stuff with rock sensibility, check out Syclops (and lots of other DFA artists)
And Cut Copy:
And Ladytron:
That’s all that comes to mind right now…
Bach
Jimmy Hendrix
Felacutti
Philip Glass
IsaoTomita
Barry White
Maria Callas
Ennio Morricone
Henry Manchini
and all sounds from nature - Birds - Wind - Rain - Insects - etc…
I know it’s most no electronicam music - but to me there’s no difference.
And don’t forget Brian Eno
and all GOOD PSYTRANCE !!! YEAH 
And I forgot Trentemuller 
OOOOH! And one of the best and FUNNYEST eletronic freaks group ( actually just 2 suiss freaks ) YELLOW !!! Hardly rememberd these days but Absolutly Unique. And they have humor - wich is pretty rare in electronic music.