Wonky!

crowleyhead · Post by **crowleyhead** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:00 am

nate_day wrote:i love the idea and the music is dope, BUT wonky could be the worst genre name ive ever heard.

I know. I told my friend that the stuff we listen to and love is called wonky, he basically said "Look, I'm hanging up. Because that name just PISSED me the fuck off.""Does the name 'Aqua-crunk' work any better?""... NO!!! *Click*"

nomad · Post by **nomad** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:52 am

Here we go the fucking n a z i forum brigade are gonna start coming into hiphop, give it a new classification and before long start crying about who's allowed to make it ad nauseum.

"mummyit'snotfairhe'smakingwonkybutitsnotwonkybutpeoplearegonnathinkitisandI'mgonnacry"

when I'm suffering from low blood pressure I log onto the Heat magazine of the music world that is Dubstep forum and find a thread that'll raise it again suitably. Here lie throngs of little rich boys that are the antithesis of who they want to be.

PAR

Hold tight Beatnik, your comments are on point.

laurent · Post by **laurent** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 10:49 am

damn is it cos its the end of the year or something but this whole wonky thing is poppin up everywhere I look.

Thank you Martin for posting that link, I appreciate it. Like I said then your column back in April (i think it was) was definitely a nice inspiration. It's just a shame that the term wonky ended up with a bit of a life of its own. Like I said to you when I saw you in August at FWD, your comment was v. timely and to me it showed that this was definitely something that was becoming more prominent in 2008, and so more people were discussing it both in and outside of hip hop. And as others have said in the thread this has been going on in hip hop for ages, starting with Madlib and Jaydee, but also El P, Prefuse, Dabrye, and others. This is nothing new, just 2008 is the year it 'blew up' properly.

Same with Sasha Frere Jones' use of Lazer Bass. It's tongue in cheek.

When i interviewed edIT he was quite clear on the fact that glitch hop (which only one person seems to have mentioned so far, thank fuck) was a rubbish term. But that didnt stop it from being thrown about for a while around 03/04 to talk about his work and plenty of other forward thinking hip hop producers.

The LuckyMe guys made the same remarks when we spoke. I dont knw if anyone remembers but they had the 'there is no glitch hop' picture on their myspace for a while. That kinda summed it up for me. And then Dom was quite clear on the wonky thing too when we spoke back in June saying another term wasnt needed, that it was just hip hop. Sorry to hear you're accepting it now bro

(or maybe you need a 'there is no wonky' picture

)

Before all of this there was also trip hop when shadow, krush, mo wax et al were blowin up in the late 90s. And fuck if i havent seen trip hop rear its ugly head in quite a few articles recently about Fly Lo and other LA people.

Shook Magazine referred to it as the beat, and i think that's pretty spot on, similar to what I was trying to get to. I think someone on Lower End Spasm used 'the awkward squad' which i thought was funny. In Holland Juha at audiocultures.org used the bleep generation.

It's all part of the game ultimately, some of it is tongue in cheek, some is an attempt at discussing something that is definitely different to what most people know as hip hop but still is and comes from hip hop. And like Mr Beatnick said it's not just limited to hip hop either, it goes back.

It's a natural process, history repeats itself but with some changes.

Quite a few people hit it on the head in this thread so i wont repeat. For me it was definitely always, and still is, about hip hop. That's why i coined the 'return of the boom bap' in my feature to try and discuss this. it's cheesy maybe but to me it was important to try and show that this was all just another mutation/evolution of hip hop, one that is maybe more far reaching than previous ones, as Martin picked up on it by referring to the synths and mid range in the work of people like Joker, gemmy, zomby etc... and it's also seen in how Kode has collaborated with Fly Lo and other LA heads or in how the music a lot of these producers play crosses over into various 'genres' and scenes.

here's a link to the article i wrote
http://www.lo-la.co.uk/2008/09/07/the-r ... ie-b-2008/
The LuckyMe interview
http://www.lo-la.co.uk/2008/09/07/lucky ... ie-b-2008/
The edIT interview
http://www.lo-la.co.uk/2008/09/07/edit- ... ie-b-2008/

its saturday i should be out.

laurent · Post by **laurent** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 10:54 am

oh yeah and because music is better than words, here's a mix 2tall did for Samurai FM and for us back in the summer.

http://www.rhythm-incursions.com/2008/1 ... -the-beat/

Tracklist:
Pursuit Grooves - The Crying Herd 1 (with added excerpt from Sun Ra’s “A Joyful Noise”)
Floatingpoints - I’ll wait for you (CDR)
2tall - Grazing on Empty (King Knut Remix) (Content)
Bullion - Rude Effort (One Handed Music)
I-Sa - Drumloop 27 (wah-waah demo CDR)
Flying Lotus - Interference (Warp)
Mr Beatnick (feat. Ahu) - I know all the Bitches (Simbad Remix) (Altered Vibes)
Lone - Cali Drought (Deal Maker)
Samiyam - It’s Important (CDR)
Ras G - Hella Grimey - (Ghetto Sci-Fi)
Dert - Down the Line (CDR)
00genesis - Lightning Bug (CDR)
I-Sa - Drumloop 22 (Beat Tape CDR)
Dabrye - Temper (Adult Swim)
Uncle Lew - Desrunay (CDR)
Fulgeance - Revenge of the Nerd (All City Records)
Rednose Distrikt - Sunshine (Rushhour)
Wajeed - Tron (Fat City)
Jay Scarlett - You Can Fade v2 (CDR)
Josip Klobucar - 2 and half spoons of sugar please (CDR)
Mono/Poly - Oil Fields (CDR)
Mr Beatnick - Falling (”Hubert Daviz” beat tape - CDR)

luckyme · Post by **luckyme** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:52 pm

word to laurent. word to beatnick.
we really have no say in what people deem to call this shit huh?

we grew up on hip hop, electro and techno and we've been influenced by everything else. we are the 4th generation of black dance music as a popular subculture and it now sounds so different and envelops so many different other influences people are making names. we can't care too much.

i'm glad people are trying to make a unique name for this shit cause if we're not a DEFINITE genre, then I guess, honestly, we're just fusion. And as much as I'm listening to Mahavishnu Orchestra right now, I know fusion is generally looked upon as a corny, middle-music that arguably killed jazz. and we didn't mean to kill nothing.

little boh peep · Post by **little boh peep** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 10:45 pm

luckyme wrote:we really have no say in what people deem to call this shit huh?

Keep doing your thing, guys, it's groundbreaking music no matter what it's called. Having wide and varied influences can only be good for one's production, and there are worse fates than being pioneers.

cosmic revenge · Post by **cosmic revenge** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:23 am

dub-hop

mechabot 01 · Post by **mechabot 01** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 4:41 am

I can;t be bothered to read all 4736592658724 pages, but here goes...

From what I can fathom, you guys are talking about glitch hop (for want of a better term), there are a trillion different names for it (lazer bass,acid crunk, crunk step, hyphy blah blah blah, it's been around for a fair while, predominantly from the west coast, mainly LA and SF.

Check out -

Edit
Kraddy
Ooah
Boretta
Glitch Mob (the collective crew name for the above)
Vibe Squad
Eprom
Lazer Swords
Bassnectar
Jay Wikkid
Jantsen
Heyoka
Ana Sia

Addictech.com usually has a great selection

I usually play a bunch of it on my bfm show as well as other midtempo styles. I loves it!

laurent · Post by **laurent** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:03 pm

Mechabot 01 wrote:I can;t be bothered to read all 4736592658724 pages, but here goes...

From what I can fathom, you guys are talking about glitch hop (for want of a better term)

cosmic revenge · Post by **cosmic revenge** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:14 pm

Mechabot 01 wrote:I can;t be bothered to read all 4736592658724 pages, but here goes...

From what I can fathom, you guys are talking about glitch hop (for want of a better term), there are a trillion different names for it (lazer bass,acid crunk, crunk step, hyphy blah blah blah, it's been around for a fair while, predominantly from the west coast, mainly LA and SF.

you should have read the first page at least, we're talking about a very different sound than glitch hop

mechabot 01 · Post by **mechabot 01** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:23 pm

Am I in an alternate universe, I have just got back from upstate nyc so it is very possible...

I saw edit,ras etc referenced in the posts who all make glitch hop (for want of a better term).

My bad if i got the wrong end of the stick..

efa · Post by **efa** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:46 am

I prefer Glitch-Hop to Wonky myself but thats not the point really, its gonna get named something that I'm gonna feel a prk saying to other people just the same as when I say Dubstep to people that dont know about the sound.

To me its just gonna be Electronic or Instrumental Hip-Hop.

Littlefoot · Post by **Littlefoot** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:10 pm

is it me or does most of this stuff sound like J Dilla played thru a blender

coz that stuff is ok

diss04 · Post by **diss04** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 2:08 pm

Joe C wrote:is it me or does most of this stuff sound like J Dilla played thru a blender

coz that stuff is ok

i dunno why everyone was jumping on this 'j dilla' sound that wonky supposedly has. i haven't heard many records by jay dee that sounded anything like the "wonky" stuff...

efa · Post by **efa** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:19 pm

Basically Dilla & Madlib (see also the colab project Jaylib = big (Pillz = WTF?)) have both dabbled in Sampling and Beat structuring techniques that has some unquantized hence wonky sounding results - IE the beat almost falls over itself - also this stuff has been referred to as "Post Dilla beat music"

Littlefoot · Post by **Littlefoot** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:25 pm

EFA wrote:Basically Dilla & Madlib (see also the colab project Jaylib = big (Pillz = WTF?)) have both dabbled in Sampling and Beat structuring techniques that has some unquantized hence wonky sounding results - IE the beat almost falls over itself - also this stuff has been referred to as "Post Dilla beat music"

yeah as far as I am aware (or atleast to my ears) this stuff is very much the music of the instrumental hip hop generation post Dilla and Madlib, who are(were

) incredibly talented programmers!

badga tek · Post by **badga tek** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:38 pm

rekorder wrote:In all honesty I believe the use of the term "Wonky" to describe this strain of Hip-Hop has caught on mainly with commentators who have previously been somewhat removed from the development of Hip-Hop, and thus use such terms to try to make sense of what they're hearing.

I think this could be true to an extent.

I dunno if its due to the ever-rapid splicing of sounds and influences and subsequent reconfigurations or because I'm getting older but genre classifications seem more and more absurb to me. I understand that certain commentators feel the need to label things for the sake of brevity and clarity but 'wonky' as a genre title is pretty awful (although as a word to try and highlight perceived similarities across a host of different producers - as Blackdown first coined it - its not as bad).

As an aside though, its encouraging to see a relatively intelligent discussion on the forum again though. Especially since it doesn't revolve solely around someone or something 'ruining' something else. Its almost like the good old days before all the kids came along and ruined everything (

Only joking)

diss04 · Post by **diss04** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:54 pm

does what joker, gemmy et al produce constitute 'wonky'?

rekordah · Post by **rekordah** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:17 pm

EFA wrote:Basically Dilla & Madlib (see also the colab project Jaylib = big (Pillz = WTF?)) have both dabbled in Sampling and Beat structuring techniques that has some unquantized hence wonky sounding results - IE the beat almost falls over itself - also this stuff has been referred to as "Post Dilla beat music"

In terms of influence and comparision, I wouldn't emphasize too much on the off-beat programming with Dilla to be honest. I feel it's more the fact that he brought a certain vibe and substance to Hip-Hop in an instrumental context. Also, there's no escaping that his death and subsequent rise in popularity has alot to do with the growth and progression of this stuff.

diss04 · Post by **diss04** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:20 pm

rekorder wrote:
EFA wrote:Basically Dilla & Madlib (see also the colab project Jaylib = big (Pillz = WTF?)) have both dabbled in Sampling and Beat structuring techniques that has some unquantized hence wonky sounding results - IE the beat almost falls over itself - also this stuff has been referred to as "Post Dilla beat music"
In terms of influence and comparision, I wouldn't emphasize too much on the off-beat programming with to be honest I feel it's more the fact that he brought a certain vibe and substance to Hip-Hop in an instrumental context. Also, there's no escaping that his death and subsequent rise in popularity has alot to do with the growth and progression of this stuff.

i dunno i still think it doesn't have much to do with dilla. you ever listened to most of his stuff? 99% of it doesnt even bare the slighest resemblance to 'wonky'

Wonky!

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