Bristol's Purple sound (2008) fused dubstep with 1980s synth-funk and G-funk, seeding future bass

Purple sound emerged in Bristol in late 2008 from producers Joker, Gemmy, and Guido, who named their own music without intending to create a genre. It incorporates synth-funk from the 1980s and G-funk production elements from the 1990s into a dubstep framework, alongside grime and 8-bit video game music influences. The ‘purple’ name evokes vivid, colourful, bright textures — the opposite of classic dubstep’s dark minimalism. Purple sound is sometimes considered part of ‘wonky’ and later contributed to the development of future bass. It represents a moment when dubstep’s structural half-time framework became a container for wildly eclectic sonic choices.

Examples

Joker’s productions: bright video-game-influenced synths, G-funk melodic bounce, over dubstep half-time drums. Gemmy’s ‘Skanka’ (2010). The aesthetic: colorful, playful, video-game referential rather than dark and minimal.

Assessment

List two source genres Purple sound drew from beyond dubstep and explain how they manifest sonically. Trace the stylistic lineage from Purple sound to future bass, naming one distinguishing feature that survived into future bass.