Asklemmy

Polyphia, The Omnific, Animals as Leaders

Polyphia is a pretty incredible instrumental band.

https://youtu.be/9_gkpYORQLU?si=eiTMnGJSydj5TKQc

Little People
Rival Consoles

Rival Consoles

Check out DJ Ugly Katz!

Disclaimer: That's one of my own projects...

If the reason you want something without lyrics is so that you can focus on other stuff, you could consider songs in other languages. There's so much content out there to explore, and you might be able to find stuff in a genre that you already enjoy. I don't find it distracting, and it's fun finding new artists I otherwise would have never tried.

When I want pure instrumental, I usually go "instrumental {{genre}}" and just save the playlists.

Little People

Khruangbin

Opiuo, Ott and Griz are probably my favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJj_4ir12-w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cjxNU0S17g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMGWXAitaK8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6pJs5wPfcw

Carpenter Brut. Though I only really listen to the trilogy from them.

Listened to these two albums today, both fantastic
https://youtu.be/5w6_D-jrt6s
https://youtu.be/2GhWimO54YE

Check out ENV -- Some of my favorite lyric-less music. There are a couple of playlists on YouTube with their albums. Firefrost is a good song to start with.

Ever check out some jam bands? They all have vocals but stretch the music out in interesting ways.

moe, Umphrey’s McGee, Aqueous, Phish, etc

Onward & Upward (22:48) • Umphrey's McGee • 2017-07-23 • CEFCU Center Stage at The Landing, Peoria, Illinois https://relisten.net/umphreys/2017/07/23/onward-upward?source=67144

If you like proggy stuff I'd definitely check out Arch Echo, they're incredible. If you like acoustic stuff then Rodrigo y Gabriela are also a great listen, and so is Kaki King (though I mostly only know her older stuff)

Sure, just Odesza we were young Two feet just felt like playing the guitar and not singing Odesza kusangi Odesza koto Brock Berrigan Making Up (70s inspired music) Hippie Sabotage enlightened energy Hippie Sabotage smoke room Hippie Sabotage drifter

Not everyonea cup of tea, alternative/edm but yes let me know your thoughts

plini, an addition to all the rock/metal listed

HOME, the anthem of speedrunning is by them too.

Daliborovo Granje (Epic Croate Psychedelia)

Tommy Guerrero

Estas Tonne

If you like solar fields, try Asura (also on ultimae records)! Also, hinkstep is pretty nice but has vocals some of the time.

GoGo Penguin is a jazzy trio from the UK that makes midern jazz that is really engaging. I'm really a progmetalhead, but this band is ficking epic.

Bersarin Quartett is another band that I love. It's is a bit tough to get into, but it's really rewarding if you like slowish dreamy complex music. All song titles are in German, but luckily there's no lyrics.

Maybe not quite contemporary, but

YYZ by Rush

Slabo Day by Peter Green

If you like guitar, Tom Anello.

Infected Mushroom

Zircon

Eskimo

beastie boys have some really great instrumental tracks in their catalogue

stuff i've been listening to lately:

• andy stott
• gas
• forest swords
• boards of canada
• tortoise

Lustre

The Flying Luttenbachers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EugJRwAtWsM

I like Monster Rally a lot, they use a bunch of old tropical sounding music samples and put beats on it. Very good for relaxing and vibing.

When I'm working, I listen to Lydian Collective and Tennyson (some of his tracks don't have vocals). You might enjoy them as well!

vexento

Flamingosis

Eevee

Anamanaguchi

Chapelier Fou, but kinda went into a "symphonic direction" over the years I guess, but maybe you still like the older stuff? My personal favorite.

Covet, Chon, Scale the Summit, Caspian, Mouse on the keys, God is an astronaut, Weekend Plans, DJ Williams projekt

I like listening to foreign language music when I don't want to be distracted by vocals.

City of the Sun is some fantastic Latin-inspired instrumental post-rock. (That’s probably drivel, idk what genre they are).

Their cover of Young Folks is how I found them, but their self-titled album from 2020 is probably one of my favorites of the last several years. It’s a good balance of calming serenades and powerful melodies.

Hon. mention - The Samuel Jackson Five - Easily Misunderstood is another old favorite of mine. Angrier and edgier, but still haunting in its own way.

The Beastie Boys also have a couple fantastic instrumental jam albums - The In Sound From Way Out, and The Mix-Up.

Adam Young, the guy behind Owl City has made albums under different names, including his own. One of the bands is Port Blue; he made an almost purely instrumental (only vocals are the first few seconds of the second track) album called The Airship. It feels rather experimental, but I use it to calm down. The other works are under his own name: Apollo 11, Project Excelsior, and Voyager 1.

All are well made and they tell a story through the instrumental music. Would recommend.

If I'm looking to maximize my relaxation, then it's hard to go wrong with Sleepy Fish. Chill beats all the way.

If you want acoustic guitar playing that you probably never experienced before, then check out Alan Gogoll. Love his stuff. Always nice to listen to. His song Mulberry Mouse is a favorite of mine.

Aether also has a few instrumental albums. Eshajori is a very melancholic feeling album. Gives me a lonely, empty feeling, but I love it all the same.

In a completely different direction, but you could check out The Glitch Mob. Definitely electronic, but I wouldn't say EDM.

That's all I have on my phone at the moment. Hopefully these are good starts.

Helios - Caesura and Ochre - Lemodie for electronic music. Jizue - Bookshelf and Mouse on the Keys - An Anxious Object for jazz. Auxcide - of Atoms and Stardust for chiptune. Kplecraft - L 012 for both chiptune And jazz. Flying Saucer Attack - Distant Station for space rock. Dedalus - Dedalus.

I like to listen to the genres Synthwave and Dark Ambiance. Spotify is pretty good to find new music in that regard. Since you asked for artist recommendations and not genres:

Judge Bitch – their Album Horse Blood is pretty good.

Perturbator – sounds like you're driving on some rainy highway at night to your cyberpunk destination

There's also Instrumental Nu Metal, for example:

Andromeda – start with their song Synthesis

MASTER BOOT RECORD – it's just riffs and booms, usually no vocals

A. Yarmak – has some nice metal remixes, for example Hydrogen from the game Hotline Miami

Then there's Dubstep and Breakbeat, for example:

The Prodigy – uses samples heavily, but also has a few tracks without spoken words

Lindsey Stirling – Dubstep and violin, interesting combination.

videogame OST […] either really well known or fall into the orchestral and/or “epic music score” I’m not looking for

Well, there are tons of videogames and many of them don't have an orchestral/epic soundtrack, and even more of them are not very well known. I think you're limiting yourself here.