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retro soul

Retro Soul

United States · 2000s
SentimentalRomanticDancingHappySad
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Description

Retro soul is a 21st‑century revival of 1960s–1970s American soul and R&B aesthetics. It emphasizes live rhythm sections, punchy horn and string arrangements, call‑and‑response vocals, and vintage recording techniques that evoke classic Motown, Stax, and deep Southern soul.

Compared with neo‑soul, retro soul tends to avoid contemporary hip‑hop production, opting instead for period‑correct tones: analogue tape saturation, ribbon mics, plate/spring reverbs, and tightly arranged songs built on strong hooks and groove. The movement coalesced around independent labels and studios (notably Daptone Records) and later crossed over via artists who blended the sound with contemporary pop sensibilities.

History
Origins and Early Seeds

Retro soul grew from renewed fascination with mid‑20th‑century American soul in crate‑digging and DJ cultures of the 1990s. Collectors, mod/northern soul scenes, and deep‑soul aficionados nurtured an audience primed for new music that sounded authentically vintage.

2000s: The Daptone Era

In the 2000s, Brooklyn’s Daptone Records (with the Dap‑Kings house band) established a sonic template: live‑to‑tape sessions, minimal overdubs, and arrangements modeled on Stax/Atlantic and Motown. Sharon Jones & The Dap‑Kings became flagship artists, while related projects (Menahan Street Band, Lee Fields) expanded the roster. Meanwhile in the UK, Amy Winehouse’s "Back to Black" (2006), produced by Mark Ronson with the Dap‑Kings, brought the aesthetic to global pop audiences.

2010s: Mainstream and Indie Bloom

The 2010s saw a wider revival: Charles Bradley’s late‑career rise, Leon Bridges’ smooth Sam Cooke‑inspired sound, and indie acts like Durand Jones & The Indications and Mayer Hawthorne. Retro soul diversified—some artists leaned toward psychedelic soul textures (e.g., Michael Kiwanuka), others toward gospel‑tinged deep soul or uptempo northern‑soul dance grooves.

2020s: Globalization and Continuity

A new generation (e.g., Thee Sacred Souls, Monophonics) continued the tradition with meticulous vintage production and songwriting, while contemporary pop occasionally borrowed retro soul’s color (horns, girl‑group backing vocals, plate reverb) for chart singles. Boutique studios, analogue engineers, and revivalist labels worldwide sustained the sound’s craft ethos.

Aesthetics and Legacy

Retro soul’s legacy lies in its craft focus—economical arrangements, human groove, and timeless songwriting. It reintroduced classic engineering practices to modern audiences and influenced indie/alternative R&B and retro‑flavored pop to value feel and space over maximal digital polish.

How to make a track in this genre
Core Instrumentation and Groove
•   Use a live band: drums, electric bass, electric guitar, Hammond/Rhodes/Wurlitzer keys, a small horn section (trumpet/tenor sax/trombone), and optional strings. •   Target mid‑tempo pockets (≈84–108 BPM) for most tunes, 6/8 or 12/8 for ballads (≈60–72 BPM), and faster northern‑soul dancers (≈115–125 BPM). •   Drums should be dry, punchy, and economical: crisp snare on 2 and 4, light ghost notes, tight hi‑hat, and minimal cymbals. Prioritize pocket over fills. •   Bass is melodic and driving but supportive—use Motown‑style walking figures, chromatic approaches, and classic I–vi–IV–V or ii–V turnarounds.
Harmony, Melody, and Form
•   Favor diatonic progressions with classic soul moves: I–vi–IV–V, I–IV–V, ii–V–I, and borrowed iv or bVII for color. Use secondary dominants for lift into pre‑choruses/bridges. •   Write concise verses and a strong, repeatable chorus; add an 8‑bar bridge or key change for the final lift. •   Melodies should be singable and blues‑tinged (major/minor pentatonic, blue notes). Employ call‑and‑response between lead vocal and horns or backing vocals.
Arrangement and Orchestration
•   Horns: triad‑based stabs, unison lines, and simple counter‑melodies. Use falls, doits, and swells for punctuation. •   Backing vocals: tight, girl‑group‑inspired parts (oohs/ahhs, “yeah‑yeahs”), answering phrases, and stacked harmonies on the chorus. •   Guitar: clean, lightly overdriven amp tones; chanks on the backbeat, short double‑stops, and tasteful tremolo. •   Keys: Hammond pads/comping, Rhodes/Wurlitzer for warmth; occasional piano hooks and gospel‑style voicings.
Lyrics and Vocal Delivery
•   Themes: love, heartbreak, resilience, community uplift, and everyday storytelling. Keep imagery concrete and emotive. •   Vocal tone: expressive, slightly gritty or breathy; tasteful vibrato; dynamic swells; ad‑libs near the outro for intensity.
Recording and Mixing Aesthetics
•   Track to tape or emulate it with gentle saturation; use ribbon/dynamic mics and simple mic setups. •   Mono or narrow stereo image; conservative compression; high‑passed reverb returns. •   Use plate/spring reverb and short slapback delays; avoid bright, hyped top‑end—aim for warm mids and a controlled low‑end. •   Leave space: commit to performances, minimal editing, and keep arrangements uncluttered.
Main artists
Influenced by
Soul
Soul is a genre of popular music that blends the spiritual fervor and vocal techniques of African‑American gospel with the grooves and song forms of rhythm & blues and the harmonic palette of jazz and blues. It is defined by impassioned, melismatic lead vocals; call‑and‑response with backing singers; handclaps and a strong backbeat; syncopated bass lines; and memorable horn or string riffs. Typical instrumentation includes drum kit, electric bass, electric guitar, piano or Hammond organ, horns (trumpet, saxophone, trombone), and sometimes orchestral strings. Lyrically, soul ranges from love and heartbreak to pride, social commentary, and spiritual yearning. Regionally distinct scenes—such as Detroit’s Motown, Memphis/Stax, Muscle Shoals, Chicago, New Orleans, and Philadelphia—shaped different flavors of soul, while the style’s emotional directness and rhythmic drive made it a cornerstone of later funk, disco, contemporary R&B, and hip hop.
Motown
Motown (often called the "Motown Sound" or Detroit soul) is a sleek, hook-driven form of soul that fused Black gospel fervor and rhythm & blues groove with pop songwriting craft and radio-friendly production. Born out of Berry Gordy Jr.’s Motown Records in Detroit, the sound emphasized strong melodies, tight vocal harmonies, and a driving backbeat designed for broad crossover appeal. Hallmarks include tambourine on the backbeat, handclaps, punchy horns and strings, shimmering glockenspiel or vibraphone accents, and highly melodic bass lines. Lead vocals often deliver heartfelt, universal stories of love and heartbreak, answered by responsive background harmonies. Songs typically use concise verse–chorus forms, bridges, and modulations to keep energy rising. Behind many hits was the Motown house band, the Funk Brothers, whose danceable grooves powered an assembly-line approach to songwriting and production—resulting in an unmatched run of chart-topping records that reshaped the sound of American pop.
Southern Soul
Southern soul is a regional style of 1960s soul music rooted in the U.S. South, centered on Memphis, Tennessee, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It blends the sanctified fervor of Black gospel with the grit of Southern rhythm & blues, blues, and the storytelling sensibility of country. Compared with the smoother, pop-oriented Motown sound, Southern soul is rawer and more church-inflected: impassioned lead vocals, call-and-response backing, handclaps, Hammond organ swells, tight horn stabs, and a deep pocket rhythm section. Classic recordings were cut largely live in the studio by house bands like Booker T. & the M.G.'s and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, capturing a warm, unvarnished groove.
Deep Soul
Deep soul is a raw, gospel-drenched strain of soul music that crystallized in the American South in the mid-1960s. It is defined by impassioned, church-influenced vocals; earthy rhythm sections; warm, live horn arrangements; and a focus on emotional immediacy over studio polish. Typically recorded at studios such as Stax (Memphis), FAME (Muscle Shoals), and Hi Records (Memphis), deep soul blends blues grit, rhythm & blues structures, and gospel’s call-and-response into slow-burning 12/8 ballads and fervent mid-tempo stompers. Lyrically it centers on heartbreak, devotion, betrayal, resilience, and everyday struggle, delivered with fervor that borders on testimonial.
Northern Soul
Northern soul is a British dance and record‑collecting movement that champions fast, dramatic, and often obscure American soul singles from the mid‑1960s. Rooted in the mod scene, it favors Motown‑influenced 4/4 "stompers" with driving backbeats, tambourine, handclaps, punchy horns, and soaring vocals. Rather than a studio-born genre, northern soul is a club culture defined by DJs, dancers, and rare 7-inch singles. Its identity centers on high-tempo soul songs (typically 120–135 BPM), euphoric choruses, and romantic or inspirational themes that keep dancefloors moving through all‑night sessions.
Funk
Funk is a groove-centered African American popular music that prioritizes rhythm, syncopation, and collective interplay over harmonic complexity. It typically features a strong emphasis on “the One” (the first beat of the bar), interlocking drum, bass, guitar, keys, and horn parts, and short vamp-based harmonic cycles built from dominant and extended chords. Signature sounds include tight drum grooves with 16th‑note syncopation, syncopated ostinato bass lines, percussive "chicken‑scratch" guitar, clavinet riffs, punchy horn stabs, and call‑and‑response vocals. Emerging in the mid‑to‑late 1960s from soul, R&B, jazz, and gospel traditions—especially the rhythmic innovations of James Brown—funk became a foundational source for disco, hip hop, boogie, electro, house, and many modern pop and dance styles.
Gospel
Gospel is a family of Christian sacred music that emerged from African‑American church traditions in the United States. It centers the voice, communal participation, and a message of faith, hope, and testimony. Musically, gospel is characterized by call‑and‑response, powerful lead vocals answered by choirs, rich harmonies, handclaps, and a propulsive backbeat or 12/8 shuffle. Typical ensembles include voice, piano or Hammond organ, drums, bass, and guitar, with occasional horns. Harmonically it blends simple I–IV–V frameworks with blues inflections and sophisticated chord extensions, turnarounds, and modulations that heighten emotional intensity. The genre encompasses several streams, notably traditional Black gospel, Southern (white) gospel rooted in shape‑note singing, and contemporary/urban gospel that integrates R&B, soul, and hip‑hop. Its sound and spirit have profoundly influenced American popular music—from soul and R&B to rock and roll.
Doo-Wop
Doo-wop is a vocal harmony–driven style of rhythm and blues that blossomed in mid-century urban America. Built around lead-tenor melodies, lush background harmonies, and playful nonsense syllables (the source of its name), the genre blends church-bred gospel techniques with street-corner spontaneity. Musically, doo-wop favors simple, singable chord cycles—especially the “’50s progression” (I–vi–IV–V)—a steady 4/4 or lilting 12/8 feel, and call-and-response between lead and backing parts. Arrangements range from a cappella to small combos with guitar, piano, bass, light drums, and occasional saxophone. Lyrically, the songs are often teen-centered: romance, longing, heartbreak, and devotion. The sound emerged in the late 1940s within African-American communities and soon resonated across ethnic lines, inspiring groups in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Its polished harmonies, sweet ballads, and hooky refrains helped shape early rock and roll and later pop harmony traditions.
Blue-Eyed Soul
Blue‑eyed soul is a style of soul music performed primarily by white artists who adopt the vocal inflections, rhythmic feel, and arranging language of classic R&B and gospel. Emerging in the 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom, it bridges Motown polish and Southern soul grit with pop‑oriented songwriting. Typical recordings feature impassioned lead vocals, stacked harmonies, backbeat‑driven rhythm sections, Hammond organ or electric piano, punchy horn lines, and occasionally lush strings. The result is radio‑friendly soul that retains emotional intensity while appealing to mainstream pop audiences. The label “blue‑eyed soul” has been used descriptively and sometimes controversially; it points to a sound rather than identity. Historically, however, it referred to white performers making music in a soul idiom.
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