Carbon Based Lifeforms is a Swedish electronic music duo formed in Gothenburg in 1996 by Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Vadestrid (né Ringström and formerly Segerstad).

In 1994, they started to work with PCs and formed a music tracker trio with fellow Swedish musician and producer Mikael Lindqvist called Bassment Studios.

[5] Electronic bands The Future Sound of London and Boards of Canada were also a big influence on them; Vadestrid called them "our role models".

[4] After initial tracks were put together still under their Notch moniker, the duo wished to explore the genre further by incorporating drone and chill out elements.

[3][4][2] They named themselves after a Notch demo album, and thought it fitted "with our underlying themes of the combination of biology and technology, also it alludes to a lot of sci-fi concepts.

"[6] The band had built a following as Notch on MP3.com and Last.fm, but accumulated a bigger one as Carbon Based Lifeforms which led to increased exposure from radio airplay.

[7] Vadestrid said that the deal boosted their profile as a result, and the band started to perform at trance festivals during a time where it was uncommon for ambient acts to be on the big stage.

[4] Hedberg called the group's early years as "rough" partly due to his fear of flying which he did not conquer until 2009, which left Vadestrid to often perform abroad by himself, sometimes accompanied with a live musician.

[9] Stochastic was released in 2021, and originated when the group started to test random functions on some old synthesisers, which produced musical ideas suited for "passive listening whilst not stealing focus.