Soca

Take the so from soul and the ca from calypso, put 'em together under the Trinidadian sun, and BAM! you've got a musical — no, make that a chemical — reaction that just can't be stopped. (And after hearing it, why on Earth would you want to?) We kick off our soca sojourn with Arrow, the music's self-appointed king (despite the fact that he wasn't even born in Trinidad), cranking up the heat — and the beat — in the original version of "Hot, Hot, Hot," later made famous by Buster Poindexter. Rupee breaks out the synths and Auto-Tune to infuse a little hip-hop flavor into the sultry "Tempted to Touch." And no soca set would be complete without the man who gave the music its name, Lord Shorty, in the James-Brown-meets-Harry-Belafonte groove of "Endless Vibrations."

In Next Steps, we'll meet another legend of soca, get a little religion, and party down carnival style.

Like every great form of pop music, from the blues to rock 'n' roll, soca can turn on a dime from sacred to saucy, and we'll hear both in our Next Steps. If Lord Shorty gave the music its name, the legendary Lord Kitchener gave the music its taste in a magical concoction of sweetness and spice (and, coincidentally, his biggest international hit), "Sugar Bum Bum." Calypsonian master Austin Lyons, a.k.a. Super Blue, likens his full-body plunge into soca's hip-swiveling danceability to a religious experience in "Soca Baptiste," seeking to make converts of us all. And nothing quite captures the round-the-clock, dig-it-'til-you-drop joy of a Carnival-giddy big band as Robert "Lord" Nelson, The Len Cumming's & 'D Wailers Kaiso Band do in the set-closing ecstasy of "Meh Lover."

In Deep Cuts, we'll get sexy, get saved, and get political.

In Next Steps, we had a little religion and a little lovin', but in Deep Cuts, we're taking it to the limit . . . and maybe a bit beyond. Spice & Co fuse equal parts of Saturday night sin and Sunday morning services in the gospel-choir-collides-with-dance-band jubilation of "Take Ya Clothes Off." Oscar B, on the other hand, whips himself up into a frenzy — but one of reverence, rather than revelry — in his psalm of Jah-inspired joy, "Praise Him." And while soca often speaks its mind about the state of island politics, Alston Becket Cyrus sings his mind about politics in the States — setting them to a nearly manic pit-a-pat rhythm — in his props-proffering portrait of "President Obama."

If you think Jamaica's reggae and Cuba's son are the Caribbean's sole musical delights, think again. Even better, come along with us down Trinidad way, where calypso's steamy beat meets soul's cool groove in something they — and we, for that matter — like to call soca. Born on the beach and best played L-O-U-D, it blends the best of Afro-pop, reggae, disco, and salsa, shaken (not stirred) into a frothy, addictive tropical tonic. From international legends like the Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener to artists whose names you've probably never heard, like Red Plastic Bag and Xtatik, soca's racked up five decades' worth of party-propelling perfection, and we've got the best of it right here, daring you to get up and dance.