Purple sound
| Wonky | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 2000s–early 2010s, United Kingdom and United States |
| Typical instruments | |
| Regional scenes | |
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Wonky (also known as street bass, aquacrunk, lazer hip hop or purple sound) is an often-debated and unique/experimental genre of electronic music that uses mid-range unstable synths as well as complex and unusual time signatures. It appeared before summer 2008, among a range of musical genres, including hip hop (particularly glitch hop), grime, chiptune, dubstep, 90's G-funk, crunk, electro and broken beat.
The "wet and unstable" sound of wonky is achieved by producing mid-range basses using pitch bending, LFOs on lowpassing and highpassing, phasing, and delaying. The resonance parameters of the synth's LFOs are often high. These effects give the synth and bass unique "wonky" sounds, hence the name of the genre.
Wonky first developed when hip hop producers, influenced by J Dilla and Madlib (such as Flying Lotus, Starkey and Dabrye), began experimenting with dubstep & IDM elements. Around the same time, dubstep producers (notably those on Hyperdub and those associated with the purple sound) began adding said hip hop influences to their own productions. These two loose strands of early wonky would fuse together, resulting in the development of a fully-fledged genre during 2009. The Scandinavian genre of skweee is also quite similar in sound, but has separate roots.
In 2002, American producer Rodney Jerkins preceded wonky with the R&B song "What About Us", written for American singer-songwriter Brandy. In 1997, Brooklyn-based MC Sensational included the first wonky beat. In February 2004, American artist Jneiro Jarel released "Get Yuh Own" and "N.A.S.A" on Kindred Spirits/Label Who. Jneiro Jarel could be considered one of the pioneers of the wonky rhythm aesthetic. A few years later, wonky developed in various places around the world simultaneously. Starkey is one of the main proponents of the wonky sound. The American wonky sound has also been dubbed "street bass".
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