I had seen this forum pop up recently, and thought i would share my thoughts with you on what this movement which is currently labeled as 'wonky' represents. I am not doing this in a reactionary way, but to share my own thoughts on what this thing is all about, and perhaps see if other's views collate, maybe it might feed your own creative ideas, any which way i hope you find this inspiring.
Firstly, who am I? - Just a producer and DJ like you probably, my history lies in the fields of Beat making/production, Turntablism and DJing.
Back in 2001/2002 it became clear to me that there was a need for a fresh idea in production, and at the time where hiphop was once again becoming stale and formulaic, certain artists where beginning to gain recognition, born out of their commitment to their art. In my eyes these people were most definitely the Stones Throw records/805 crew family, people like kankick, madlib, oh no, kazi etc.. who thanks to Stones Throw and Peanut Butter Wolf, got their music in the hands of people around the world.
Simultaneously, you had artists working in the field of the soulful side of underground hiphop/soul music, producers like J Dilla (or Jay Dee), Hi Tek, amp fiddler, Geology, Kev Brown, Ta Raach, and many others..
The one thing has been prevalent all this time, the use of a human feel returning to the music.
In 2004, i began to really hear it, you ever have that feeling that you have an idea and its not out yet, but you know people have the same feeling or mood and are trying to create it? for me it really started to land around that time.. tunes such as oh no's 'disrupt massacre' definitely captured it for me..
then it really landed hard, its funny, i heard this stuff we have right now in my mind back then but didn't know how to articulate it myself, and am grateful for those that are doing it now, to me it is living proof that there are no knew ideas, only social consciousness patterns, and movements of people who are working to realize it for the greater good and to of course make their mark.
What made hip hop fresh when it 1st came out to me, was the way that something could be loose, cobbled together and still funky as hell, done wrong for the right reasons, sampled boogie loops with loose scratching and swaggered party lyrics, those records still sound fresh today...
see - "the treacherous three - heartbeat"
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXcoj92yY88
What we have seen a resurgence in the need for something more unstructured, it's a shake up, a return to the "fonk" (see George Clinton's parliament, funkadelic etc..)
So what's the point? We'll to me, 'the funk', which is really what all this new beat music is trying to point to is a re-iteration of the human value in an electronic world. Those aforementioned producers that we all know and love all know about it, they know and love the music which inspired hip hop in the 1st place, but more so understand what it means.
The unquantized groove to me, inspires a deeper level of conscious involvement with music, when a rhythm steps out of a straight grid form and into a more organic structure it will engage the listener in a more subjective way. that is too say the goal posts shift constantly, and it shakes your awareness into a less technical but deeper level of understanding of rhythm. (see Afro Cuban music for example) - what makes it subjective is that effectively it becomes your own choice of how you see the music, It is less easy to gauge bpm and it can even be difficult to gauge where the 1,2,3,4 is.
all this can only be healthy for us.
my personal experience with this music is that 'wonky' beats are nothing new, but a repackaging of the spiritual idea that rhythm can be used to elevate you..
(see - fatback - 'let the drums speak' from 1975)
"let the rhythm free your body and your mind"!!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wVqtzFi0Wgw
Dilla knew this, George Clinton knew this, Sun Ra knew this!
I will say this though, check out the history of where these ideas come from, it will surely enrich you as a producer and as a listener
so anyway i leave you with something from what seems like 'back in the day', one of the sickest beats of the modern era.. this never fails to uplift me.
Madlib feat. Dudley Perkins - Fallin' (Instrumental)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UkR1pyVSRlM
and if you want something bang up to date download this album its a great example of a beat tape can be fully realised in 2009..
http://www.amazon.com/Aftathoughts-Vol-1/dp/B001A3CCUW
may the fonk set you free
