Nederbeat (NL Garage/Mod/Psych) | Evolution Of Genré

The Netherlands always has been a country I never completely understood. Of course, their successful drug politics are outstanding and the fact that the record store concentration feels like paradise as does the world's biggest Record fair on its own already, held for years in Utrecht. The artistic collective "The Fool" speak for the colourful expedition a whole generation in NL took. Here in Germany, we had communes and all this too, but rath rarely, with a completely different notation and timely massively delayed. Getting on the track of "Nederbeat" it needs to be said, that the definition umbrellas - more than I first thought. It all started way before the first Nederbeat singles appeared around 1963. Similar to the US history of music, the Netherlands had a massive Instro & Surf Rock phenomenon. Differently to the US it were Indonesian immigrants that developed a unique sound mixing Surf, Instro & Hotrod music with their Indonesian musical background. (The Netherlands had a colony in Indonesia for hundreds of years and used to run tradelines until 1949). These circumstances apparently caused a similar sonic evolution as it happened at the same time in the Staates. Out of the Surf & R'n'R mixture, a Garage Rock sound crystallised. Besides, the British Invasion happened in NL too but had been present before a well. I'm guessing the short distance and overseas trading connection to the UK explains the fast and solid transfusion of Mod to the Netherlands. Since the strong native construction of a Garage attitude, Beat was adapted and included. This led to a sound that reminds me of the Rolling Stones. Still Beat, but quite garagy. What was very welcome in the Netherbeat, was the wilder UK R&B Mod like we know it from Van Morrison's "Them". However there are also straight Merseybeat sounding bands to be found in Nederbeat, but they are not the majority. Considering the Freakbeat movement that Nederbeat also umbrellas, the UK influences were much bigger than one might conclude when hearing the Garage Rock. I don't think it can be expressed in percentage, but to me, it appears quite balanced regarding these ... Read more
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