ultra

The tradition & historical record

Ultra is a Dutch post-punk movement that originated in Amsterdam in the early 1980s. The name "ultra" is a shortening of "ultramodernen". The movement had an avantgarde, experimental, and artistic aesthetic. Many of its participants were students in art schools. In contrast to other countries' post-punk movements, the Dutch experimented with, among other things, toy instruments, chainsaws and de-tuned guitars. There were four main strands involved with ultra music: ¹

Dutch Punk bands from Amsterdam that embraced experimental music: most notably The Ex and Morzelpronk, led by Dolf Planteijdt, who ran a recording studio called the Koeienverhuurbedrijf (Cow Rental Company). Amsterdam art students: most notably the Minny Pops led by Wally van Middendorp of the record label Plurex). Plurex also supported Smalts and Stephen Emmer's solo work. Other Amsterdam ultra bands included The Young Lions (1979 - 1981), Tox Modell (1980– 1982), The Tapes, and Mecano. Nijmegen: Mekanik Kommando, Bazooka, Vice, and Puber Kristus/Das Wesen. Mekanik Kommando had two bass players, and played electronic music with dreamy style. Eindhoven: Nasmak and friendly bands, who were interested in repetitive structures, but also produced music that was more fluid and danceable than the Amsterdam ultra bands. Ultra was associated with the modern music magazine Vinyl, which existed from February 1981 to February 1988, and coined the term "Ultra". ¹

It Would Be Quiet in the Woods If Only a Few Birds Sing (Torso, 1981) Dancing Elephants (EP, Torso, 1982) Snake Is Queen (Wereld Rekord, EMI, 1982) Bay the Moon (Wereld Rekord, 1984) Do (Rosebud Records, 1984)...And the Wind Died Down (Rosebud Records, 1986) Shadow of a Rose (Rosebud Records, 1986) The Castle of Fair Welcome (Rosebud Records, 1988) ¹

Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement (1979), Plurex; (re-released 2004, LTMCD 2384, LTM) Sparks in a Dark Room (1982), Factory Benelux; (re-released 2003, LTMCD 2351, LTM and 2014, FBN 15 CD, Factory Benelux) Secret Stories (2003), LTMCD 2353, LTM Standstill to Motion (2012), LTMCD 2566, LTM - CD/DVD ¹

Nasmak Plus Instruments/Instruments Plus Nasmak (Plurex, 1980) Indecent Exposure 1 & 2 (Music For Brass, Wood, Drums And Violins) (cassette, self-released, 1981) Indecent Exposure 3 & 4 (The Smell Remains) (Plurex, 1981) 4our Clicks (Plurex, 1982) Indecent Exposure 5 & 6 (Only This Day And 77 Others) (Plurex, 1982) Duel (Plurex, 1983) Silhouette (Plurex, 1983) ¹

Parkhof 11/04/1981 C30 cassette (Lebel PERIOD, Amsterdam 1981) Groote Keyser 21-3-81 C46 cassette (Lebel PERIOD, Amsterdam 1981) ¹

No News, Strange Rumours, Plurex 0013 (Amsterdam, 1980) Small World (live at Ultra, cassette), Amphibious (Amsterdam, 1983) ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ultra (music)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

ultra is music genre, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²