Can you recommend contemporary music artists without lyrics?

I don't think all these are contemporary but as someone who loves post rock and instrumental music here are some artists that make it into my playlist pretty regularly. Hope this is helpful! The ones near the top I probably listen to more regularly right now but it tends to rotate.
Sleepmakeswaves
We Lost the Sea
Explosions in the Sky
Codes in the Clouds
Ef
Russian Circles
Collapse Under the Empire
Mogwai
Secret Gardens
Red Sparowes
Moonlit Sailor
Maybeshewill
65daysofstatic
Caspian
Sleep Dealer
If These Trees Could Talk
Balmorhea
God is an Astronaut
The Evpatoria Report
Sigur Ros
False Horizon
This Will Destroy You
pg.lost
There's A Light
Oh Hiroshima
Tides from Nebula
EDIT: got around to checking my library and have a few more.
Distant Dream
Saor
Those Who Ride With Giants
For Giants
U1327
The Best Pessimist
Saxon Shore
Dorena
The End of the Ocean
Random Forest
Joy Wants Eternity
Paint the Sky Red
Eldamar
we.own.the.sky
Eleventh Vibration
Shadow of Io
Jake Eves
The Last Sighs of the Wind
In hindsight I don't know if a giant list is the most useful thing but it's here if you want it.
- This is quite a list, you have good taste.
- Saving your list. I really like Oh Hiroshima. “Drone” is on my steady rotation.
- Thank you! I like some post rock, I know some of these and some not, I'll be checking them out. Cheers!

Godspeed you! Black Emperor
Edit: I’m not old, but old enough that I only really remember their first round of albums. No idea what the newer ones are like, sadly. Just never got around to listening.
- "God is an astronaut" "Boards of Canada"
  Along with Godspeed, those 3 were like my university study mix.
  
  God is an astronaut always reminded me of Explosions in the sky (or vice versa?)
  Idk the last one
  I would mix in some chill shit like John Fahey, some heavy shit like early Earth, or lighter post rock too. Depended on my mood

Tycho, UTAH, Attom, lots more in my instrumental playlist. These are mostly chilled or electronic type genre songs, but I also have a "djentstrumental" playlist if that's your jam, with artists like For Giants, Andromida, Returning We Hear the Larks (a personal favorite), and more.
- Love Tycho!
  I feel Boards of Canada is similar, but they do pretty frequent vocal samples.
- Thank you! A lot of good suggestions there, I'll have fun going down the rabbithole. First time I hear about most artists on those lists.

Ratatat

A lot of post-rock bands might be good for you. Usually atmospheric/instrumental music played with typical rock instruments and little to no vocals.
Some of my favorites are Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, El Ten Eleven, and Sigur Rós.
(although Sigur Rós technically features vocals but it’s a language of nonsense sounds the lead singer Jónsi made up called Hopelandic, so it’s instrumental-voice I guess??)
- Mogwai is fantastic, will check out your other suggestions.
  
  Awesome, yeah I'd say Sigur Rós is the most similar to Mogwai on that list (especially Kveikur which is a pretty dark album). The other two usually do more shimmery, pretty guitar tracks rather than the more hard rock/metal/noise influence you get with Mogwai. But check them all out, hope you enjoy!

Explosions in the Sky
Space Knife
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/channel/UChxZk3PmZ-GandLa791xCOw?si=zUMNqxFM65o28yB4
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Definitely check out Khruangbin! Great music, very few vocals. They are awesome live and recorded. Hope you enjoy.

Aphex Twin & Godspeed You! Black Emperor
- There's a mashup I didn't know I wanted.
- I've seen Goodspeed You recommended a few times here but not Aphex Twin. I didn't know either. I think GY!BE is good, but not for me. Aphex Twin though, that's right up my alley. Thanks for the recommendations!

Polyphia is great as was already suggested. If you want to go heavier, try Animals as Leaders. If you want to go jazzier, try Snarky Puppy.
- I've heard of polyphia but never listened to them. The fact you recommended them next to Snarky Puppy was what got me to look them up, and WOW!

LORN
- I second lorn

Some metal and metal-adjacent instrumental bands I listen to a lot:
Sunn O)))
Russian Circles
Pelican
Lethe
Explosions in the Sky
- This guy knows what he's taking about.
  That Lethe album was the biggest surprise of last year, what an amazing debut

Post rock post rock post rock post rock
Explosions in the Sky
Mogwai
Sigur Ros
The Album Leaf
This Will Destroy You
try these on for size and see if the genre takes you like it took me. I tried to include some stuff that is more traditional rock in form and instrumentation and some that is a bit more experimental in that regard.
- God is an astronaut
  If these trees could talk
  Maybeshewill
  Collapse under the empire
  Long distance calling
  Russian circles
  
  Damn I am digging these ones! The only I don't from this list is Maybeshewill. I think I liked Long Distance Calling and God is an Astronaut the most. Thanks for the suggestions :)
- Hello! Thanks for the recommendations. These are nice and I've seen others suggesting them as well. I appreciate the diversity in style too.
  Out of these, Explosions in The Sky has made it to my playlist. I can't say I dislike the others but they also don't hook me when I listen. Not my vibe I guess?
  So far out of the recommended postrock over this thread I've really liked Plini. I still got a lot of recommendations to check out though...
  
  Wild, I would've expected Mogwai to hit a little closer because they have a bit more of a radio friendly structure and you said you wantwd to keep away from more orchestral stuff.
  Still, glad you dig it and thanks for creating a great thread. This is the first lemmy thread I saved

Have you heard of Khruangbin?
- No, I haven't. Definitely some good tracks there and a lot of diversity even if many do have lyrics. Thanks for the suggestion

In no particular order:
Ryuichi Sakamoto (particularly Async, and his albums with Alva Noto)
Aphex Twin
Apparat (though he does also feat singers on some albums)
Four Tet
Squarepusher
Ørdrop Wolkenscheidt
MGMT
Sevish
Matt Elliott (very few sung bits)
Paco de Lucía
Guilhem Desq
Jordi Savall
Ledetraad
Bremer & McCoy
Athletic Progression
Psykovsky
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Kettel
Secede
R mccarthy
Sungazer
999999999
Susumu Yokota
Caravan Palace
These do fall into the vg category but it's more edm / retro than "epic orchestral":
Scattle
Chris Christodoulou
Toby Fox
The Toxic Avenger
Jake Kaufman

Apocalyptica. Metal on the cello. They sometimes have s guest vocalist. I like their self-titled album.
Phamie Gow. Pianist and harpist. Maybe too orchestral. I turn to the Beyond the Milky Way album oftenwhen working out studying.
Mary Lattimore. Experimental harpist. I've been enjoying her latest album, West Kensington, with guitarist Paul Sukeena.
Kelly Moran. Experimental pianist Can't recommend her album Ultraviolet enough.
Burial. For some chilled, glitchy dubstep.
The Comet is Coming. For some psych jazz.
Moderat. For some house electronica.
Uboa. For some droney, noisy, doomy metal.
George Clanton. For some synthpop vapourwave. His latest album is great.
- Omg after all those years.... 35 seconds into a new error and my brain thinks I took MDMA and starts to make funny stuff to my mind and body 🥹🥴
- If you like Apocolyptica, may I suggest checking out Judgement Day? It's another string metal group.

The term for this would be 'instrumental', which I only mention because it might help you find what you want. If you search streaming platforms for '[some genre] instrumental' it might turn up a playlist.
Here's some favourite albums of mine, which are 'ambient' so you might find them terribly boring, but they certainly are instrumental:
1 2 3 - Pole
And Their Refinement of the Decline - Stars of the Lid
Plume - Loscil
The Sound of Lights When Dim - Slow Dancing Society
- Thanks for the suggestions, I do like ambient sometimes, though when I do it's more on the psychedelic side. Of your list Pole caught my ear.
  "Instrumental" is so broad and often leaves out a lot of electronica which I like. Hence why I'm asking for artists as opposed to genre.
  
  Yeah, Pole is really different, and so good!
  And what I was getting at with 'instrumental' is that it can just be added onto any genre/mood/activity and that can help you narrow it down and find stuff you want at that moment. So if you want instrumental electronica, you can find playlists for that, e.g. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EIe2aICIo80hb As for moods and activities, examples would be 'Chill Instrumental Beats' https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX0khTY3HFA4M and 'Instrumental Study' https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX9sIqqvKsjG8

Polyphia
- Came here to suggest this.
- That's a good suggestion. Thanks!

Plini.
- Sungazer rules as well.

miles davis esp like bitches brew type era

Herbie Hancock, Snarky Puppy
- +1 for Snarky Puppy. Saw them live a few months back and they're incredible. Somehow they still had the audience singing along, even without lyrics.

I'm a metal head, so these will be in a similar vein, though there is techno and more relaxed stuff at the end. Might add links if I remember later:
Chon, Animals as leaders, Polyphia, Plini, Syncatto, Intervals, Meganeko, Broke For Free

I enjoy listening to The HU. They are a Mongolian Metal/rock band. Most of their songs have lyrics, but it’s all in Mongolian so I just treat the vocals as another instrument and it may as well be instrumental to me.
- obligatory mentions for tengger cavalry, nine treasures and SULD

I listen to Ghost Data and Porter Robinson lots. Both are electronic music, but I like them more than Zedd or Madeon because they sound more unique.
Ghost Data's chord progressions are unique but repetitive (I don't know many other artists that have a chord progression or vocal idea like that of "Queen of Knives", so it's unique, but the main chord progression of "Queen of Knives" doesn't change all that much throughout the song, so it's repetitive). I like that there's sonic variety while exploring singular ideas fully, like how the main melody of "Thy Flesh Undone" repeats through different instrumentations.
Porter Robinson stuff is pretty great because it sounds more emotional than most EDM I hear. It can sometimes have words, sometimes not. The Worlds album is more of an ambient and emotional/inspiring twist on EDM; specifically I'm thinking of "Goodbye to a World" and "Lionhearted" as uniquely happy songs.
I give an honorary mention to "Antirrhinum" by MALO because its rhythms are pretty cool and confused me a lot at first. It was entertaining trying to figure them out.

Polyphia, Casiopea (Mint Jams album)

how recent is contemporary? how tolerable is EDM? Cuz the first thing that comes to mind is Deadmau5
- Haha great questions. My main objective was to avoid getting classical music recommended, which is not what I'm looking for (although I like a lot of it too).
  I like some Deadmau5, though I'm not a great fan. I do love EDM, Eric Prydz is probably my favourite artist in that very large umbrella of music, and I follow Defected Records if that tells you anything. I tend to prefer house over other subgenres and dubstep is probably my least liked subgenre. If you got any other suggestions, go ahead!

The following can be classed as instrumental, post-rock or post-metal:
Russian Circles
Caspian
ISIS (the band)
Sigur Ros
Mogwai
God Speed You! Black Emperor
Blanket
Vaudlow
- Good list. Adding Ryuichi Sakamoto and Mono.
  
  How could I forget Mono.
  The album (ep?) For your parents is amazing.
  I will give Ryuichi Sakamoto a listen now.
- I went on about post rock in a different comment and I'm kicking myself for forgetting about gybe. Thank you.

I can recommend Solar Fields, although they did the Soundtrack to Mirror's Edge, their albums are pretty nice.
Also (but not really contemporary): Casiopea - Japanese Fusion Jazz. Sounds like the soundtrack to Gran Turismo, but still.
- Solar Fields (and Carbon Based Lifeforms) are among my favorites already. Will check out your other suggestion though, thanks!
  
  What about the forrests?

Ever heard of a crab rave?
- I've heard Crab Rave (and Sandstorm too), but didn't know there was an artist with that name. Any favourite tracks?
  
  Favorite track is probably what you listened to. Much more fun visually but it's still good on its own.

Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Keith Jarrett.

The Omnific
Polyphia

A few I can think of while going through my music library:
Ochre
Makeup And Vanity Set
Blanck Mass
Carpenter Brut
Danger
Magic Sword
Ratatat
MASTER BOOT RECORD
Their capitalization, not mine :)
Some are relaxing and others are loud and fast.

Is Rock okay? If so: And So I Watch You From Afar

Polyphia, The Omnific, Animals as Leaders
- Plini
  Sithu aye
  Jakub Zutecki
  Intervals
- If you dig Polyphia let me also recommend Brontide

Badbadnotgood

And so I watch you from afar
Toe

I saw you said you like some electronic music, so I'll throw in Prefuse 73 (or really, any of Scott Heren's pseudonyms) and Infected Mushroom. Prefuse 73 has some voice samples but is largely electronic/trip-hop, while Infected Mushroom has a decent split between songs with lyrics and songs without, so I recommend just grabbing an album and picking out what works for you.
- Nice, I'm liking these. Thank you!

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)

Gidge, Bonobo, Nicolas Jaar, Nils Frahm
- Bonobo is already one of my top favourites. I'll be checking out the rest, they weren't on my radar. Thanks

Jon Hopkins
Carpenter Brut
Black Lung
Dance with the Dead
DEADLIFE
Soma
Perturbator
Com Truise
- My man

Guts Pie Earshot are one of my favorite bands - just Cello & Drums (except in their first years), for example Butterfly
The Comet Is Coming - for some psychedelic/jazz/rock, Tiny Desk Concert
Space Rock - An Interstellar Traveller's Guide is one of my favorite compilation albums (so not really an artist but a bunch of artists)
Some more space rock: Yuri Gagarin
Die Wilde Jagd have some lyrics, but also many instrumental tracks, like Austerlitz.
When it comes to techno, there is obviously a lot of choice, I like e.g. Ellen Alien Lism for a more ambient vibe
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=dPYzRGQnbzA
  https://piped.video/watch?v=gpfpYTmohAk
  https://piped.video/watch?v=_EXMCib4G6A&
  https://piped.video/watch?v=boa96c7uOSM
  https://piped.video/watch?v=AiqfhFWZZW8
  https://piped.video/watch?v=VcZYiUMZZ8k
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
- Thank you for the recommendations! I'll be looking into these

Com Truise

I feel like this describes most electronica, but since you're looking for an artist: Blank Mass.
- That's why I like electronica the most
  I'm liking this btw. I never heard of this artist before, there are some good tracks but the Animated Violence Mild album is going from start to finish into my playlist. Cheers

I like to listen to synthwave when driving and I can recommend 'Rivera Rivera' and 'Inexdra' as well as 'Cartridge 1987'.
The latter has some great songs that tell a story without any words.
- Don't forget about timecop

RATATAT has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Love almost every single song of theirs.
- Thanks for the suggestion!

First two that sprung to mind were -
Meute
And
Chinese Man
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/channel/UCj3EGbLsBI-vYeB9ZJm3RRw?si=omf2lB96Is8_Y00w
  https://piped.video/channel/UCS9e4yiGw0r_pWfvzQ4uMxQ?si=JF6eKK3kHv3VaTUd
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

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 These Trees Could Talk. Polyphia. Those are two I like quite a bit. Explosions In the Sky. This Will Destroy You.

I like Yosi Horikawa.
Here are a few examples:
Bubbles
Stars
Crossing (don't play this one when you're near traffic and wearing headphones)
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/4CuJqtNdcJU
  https://piped.video/7oh4tPsfa40
  https://piped.video/Q03MIrwzf4Y
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

The American Dollar

Listened to these two albums today, both fantastic
https://youtu.be/5w6_D-jrt6s
https://youtu.be/2GhWimO54YE
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/5w6_D-jrt6s
  https://piped.video/2GhWimO54YE
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

plini, an addition to all the rock/metal listed
- Love me some Plini and he was absolutely excellent live.

Maybe not quite contemporary, but
YYZ by Rush
Slabo Day by Peter Green
- A bit more recent: Five Hours by Deorro

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
- Thanks for the recommendations. I'm usually into edm, just not a huge fan of the chill/hop chill/trap sounds. I'm digging Brock Berrigan though, I have a soft spot for vintage and lounge sounds. Nice, cheers!
  
  I get that and if you like Brock try geek x vrv you'll probably dig there stuff too

If you like solar fields, try Asura (also on ultimae records)! Also, hinkstep is pretty nice but has vocals some of the time.
- Thanks (yes I'm still going through the recommendations on this thread). I didn't know about hinkstep, some nice stuff there. Cheers

Check out DJ Ugly Katz!
Disclaimer: That's one of my own projects...
- Finally I made it here. I like the Chesire! Cheers