Wonky
Wonky ( . English , roughly translated loosely ) is a style or a trend in the electronic music that to 2008 in Grime - and Dubstep originated scene and in subsequent years, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States became popular.
Wonky is based on a composition and playing technique in which synthesizer riffs with complex, irregular rhythms in medium pitches shape the music and create a chaotic atmosphere. Unlike many other styles, Wonky is not limited to a typical drum beat or a certain tempo in beats per minute , so that both slow, hip-hop- like and faster dubstep beats are used.
Alternative names are Aquacrunk , which is mainly used for the Scottish variant of the style, and Glitch-Hop and Street Bass for the North American variant.
Concept history
The word wonky as a designation for the style was introduced by the music journalist Martin Clark in a column in the online magazine Pitchfork Media in 2008, who initially understood the trend not as a music style, but as a motif or trend within the dubstep and grime scene. Wonky , which is also used as a synonym for ketamine in England , is a controversial style name and is rejected by some musicians. One of the most vehement supporters, however, is the English music critic and blogger Alex Williams , who defended the term in several articles, but emphasized that it was less a music style than a cross-genre, mutating stylistic device ( trans-generic mutational agent ), which as Process that exists in several styles can be understood, which he calls wonkification .
The naming is inconsistent in the music scene. On the website of the Sónar Festival, both Wonky and Aquacrunk are named as names for the music of Hudson Mohawke , Rustie and Flying Lotus .
description
In 2009, Adam Harper described the following basic characteristics according to which pieces of music are classified in the Wonky genre : Synthesizers with simple waveforms as sound material, riffs in the middle pitch range, sliding pitches and pitch bending effects, relationship to hip-hop or dubstep, use of 8-bit sounds not quantized or unconventional, complex rhythms and pitch settings ( pitch ), arpeggiator texture maps and references to certain clubs and labels in texts and titles.
The foundation of the wonky is a drum rhythm played by a drum computer or samples, which is usually based on funk or breakbeats in the broadest sense . Sometimes there are rapped vocals, but most of the tracks are purely instrumental.
The main feature of the Wonky, however, are the fast, chaotic-looking, often polyrhythmic synthesizer riffs that generate a psychedelic atmosphere. Often duoles and triplets are juxtaposed with each other in rhythm, and the quantization typical of modern electronically produced music is usually missing , so the riffs are not subsequently adapted to a fixed rhythmic grid after being played. The importance of the bass takes a back seat to the riffs in medium pitches, which are superimposed several times and thus form dense, polyphonic textures. The sounds, typically simple waveforms such as sine or sawtooth, were influenced by early electro and so-called chiptune , in which sounds from 8-bit sound processors are used as source material, as are typical for arcade machines and game consoles of the 1970s and 1980s .
In harmony, according to Harper, there are often dissonances and atonal passages.
Sub-genres
A distinction is usually made between the sound from Scotland and England on the one hand, which is called aquacrunk according to a suggestion by pioneer Rustie , and the North American sound on the other.
Aquacrunk
The Wonky from Great Britain and especially Glasgow is called Aquacrunk . The term was introduced by the producer Rustie , the main representative of the style, and is derived from crunk , a sub-genre of hip-hop originating from the southern states of the USA, whose rhythm often forms the basis for the aquacrunk tracks, as well as from the fact that the sounds and beats used seem like they were drowned in water , as the music magazine Spinner wrote. Besides Glasgow, Bristol is another center of the aquacrunk scene. In addition to Rustie Hudson , representatives of Aquacrunk are Mohawke , Ikonika , Zomby , Darkstar and Joker .
US wonky / street bass
The American variant of wonky originated in the American grime / dubstep scene. The term Street Bass was proposed for the sound , which comes from the music collective Seclusiasis , which publishes a compilation series called Street Bass Anthems . The main representatives of the American wonky are Flying Lotus and Starkey , to which seclusiasis belongs. As a difference to the British scene, Starkey stated in an interview that the American sound was " more eclectic " and also included styles that were not familiar to the UK garage scene, such as the electro or Baltimore club .
Individual evidence
- ^ A Transgeneric Mutational Agent , K-Punk, February 18, 2009
- ↑ a b c d Loving Wonky , Rogues Foam, June 2009
- ↑ Grime / Dubstep , Pitchfork.com, April 30, 2008
- ↑ a b Wonky: Tenemos sonido nuevo en la ciudad , Spinner.com, May 13, 2009
- ↑ Feeling wonKy: is it ketamine's turn to drive club culture? , The Guardian , Aug. 8, 2011
- ↑ Alex Williams: Wonky as transversal rave , Splintering Boneashes, February 2009
- ↑ Invention or Discovery - or, when is a genre not a genre? , Splintering Boneashes, April 30, 2009
- ↑ Hudson Mohawke ( memento June 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Sonar Festival 2010, accessed May 30, 2010
- ^ Scene and heard: Get ready for aquacrunk , The Guardian , October 20, 2008
- ↑ Starkey Interview - Dubstep, Grime, Street Bass ( October 30, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive ), Nerdbanite.com, June 7, 2009