Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England in the late 1960s from the British mod scene as a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound. The recordings most prized by enthusiasts of the genre are usually by lesser-known artists, released only in limited numbers, often by small regional American labels such as Ric-Tic and Golden World Records (Detroit), Mirwood (Los Angeles) and Shout and Okeh (New York/Chicago).