Wonky techno is a techno music sub-genre. It is distinguished by the use of rhythm structures other than techno’s standard 4-4 time. It is frequently intentionally broken or interrupted in order to add more discord to the flow.
Wonky techno is influenced by three major electronic music genres: glitch, electro, and breakbeat. Despite the fact that it is not the same as any of these sub-genres, each contributes to the overall feel of wonky techno.
Glitch music is a type of techno music that is quite rhythmic. Glitch, on the other hand, is mostly made up of computer generated noises like clicks, scratches, and glitches, rather than more traditional beats. It arose from naturally occurring issues in digital music, such as songs glitching and producing sounds that some people found musically interesting. Glitch first appeared in the mid-1980s, and by the early 1990s, it had evolved into a full-fledged sub-genre. Wonky techno makes use of a lot of the same glitch sounds that glitch music does, but it’s a lot less rhythmic overall.
The use of artificial drum machines to lay down rhythmic tracks spawned electro music, which grew out of a subculture within the hip hop movement. In the 1980s, bands like Kraftwerk brought electro to the forefront. Drum machines are used in some beats in wonky techno, but they are generally more arrhythmic than in mainstream electro music.
Breakbeat is a broad term that encompasses a variety of techno sub-genres. It includes most sub-genres with irregular 4-4 patterns, as opposed to genres like trance, which have consistent 4-4 beats. DJs would string together breaks to create new beats, which became popular in hip hop in the late 1960s. A similar technique became popular in the techno scene in the 1990s, particularly in rave music and its various sub-genres. Looped breaks may be used in wonky techno, but they are frequently interspersed with pauses or glitches, making them even more irregular.
The term “wonky techno” is thought to have started as a classification system for albums in a London record store called Dragondisks. “Wonky” is a common term for things that are off-kilter or off-kilter, and it fits the few techno bands that avoid traditional beats in favor of a more divergent beat structure quite well.
Si Begg, Jason Leach, Cannibal Cooking Club, Surfin’bernard, DJ Sueme, and Cristian Vogel are all members of the wonky techno scene, despite their musical styles occasionally diverging wildly. The no skool sub-genre of wonky techno is named after the fact that it does not follow any particular beat structure like other schools of techno.
For such a small scene, wonky techno encompasses a wide range of sounds. Some wonky techno has enough rhythmic structure to be danceable, and it’s actually played in a lot of clubs. Other wonky techno is mostly arrhythmic, with a lot of glitches and distortions. This type of wonky techno is more of an experimental genre that isn’t well-suited to dance.