Most of you probably listen to all types of music, as long as it has
something that grabs you. Right? Sometimes it's unexplainable, a song in a totally different genre than you would normally listen to, but there's something about it. As you become more open minded and the unrelated favorites begin to pile up, you try to figure out a common thread. That happened to me.
One of the starting points was "Borracho" by Dyna-Might. Funky 16 Corners posted it nine years ago, and even though it was different than other stuff I listened to, I couldn't stop playing it. I had soul, and harder funk stuff, and Latin, but nothing really close to "Borracho". The tempo just kind of plugged along. The title was apropos, "Borracho" is the Spanish word for drunk.
Fast forward to a few nights ago, well after a my own unexplained favorites began to pile up. I noticed the blurb about a Belgian music scene at the top of the page at Groove Addict. The scene was called Popcorn, and centered around mid-tempo records of all sorts. The article at the Guardian, linked to at Groove Addict, describes it as similar to the Northern soul scene, but instead of amping out on amphetamines, they slowed things down with beer. In a nutshell: "The world of Popcorn, likewise, is an odd mix of sensuous music and beer-sodden dancefloors." Oh hell yeah, sign me up.
One of the starting points was "Borracho" by Dyna-Might. Funky 16 Corners posted it nine years ago, and even though it was different than other stuff I listened to, I couldn't stop playing it. I had soul, and harder funk stuff, and Latin, but nothing really close to "Borracho". The tempo just kind of plugged along. The title was apropos, "Borracho" is the Spanish word for drunk.
Fast forward to a few nights ago, well after a my own unexplained favorites began to pile up. I noticed the blurb about a Belgian music scene at the top of the page at Groove Addict. The scene was called Popcorn, and centered around mid-tempo records of all sorts. The article at the Guardian, linked to at Groove Addict, describes it as similar to the Northern soul scene, but instead of amping out on amphetamines, they slowed things down with beer. In a nutshell: "The world of Popcorn, likewise, is an odd mix of sensuous music and beer-sodden dancefloors." Oh hell yeah, sign me up.
House DJ Eddy de Clercq, whoever the hell that is, said this: "It was so packed there was hardly any room to move. People were dancing on the bars, behind the bars and even on the cars parked outside. The atmosphere was so exciting, people started cheering and throwing fountains of beer once a popular tune came on. Sometimes people stage-dived into the crowd or started stripping to the music." On beer no less. Amen.
Just one look at the top 100 instrumentals at Popcorn Oldies tells me what I need to know. There's Latin (Ray Barretto, El Chicano, Poncho Sanchez), surf (the Marketts, the Surfaris, the Ventures), Hammond (Jimmy McGriff), Ethio-jazz (Mulatu Astatke), Burt Bacharach, and fucking Al Hirt! And the common thread being that they're good to dance to with a beer buzz. How right is that?
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Dyna-Might - Borracho (streaming) at YouTube
Cliff Nobles - Love Is All Right mp3 at Groove Addict Vocal version of "The Horse"
Willie Mitchell - Honey Pot mp3 at Groove Addict
Marva Whitney - It's My Thing mp3 at Groove Addict
Visit:
Belgium's 'Popcorn': the last underground music scene in Europe at The Guardian
Popcorn Oldies
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