Ultra (music)


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, led by Dolf Planteijdt, who ran a recording studio called the Koeienverhuurbedrijf.
  2. Amsterdam art students: most notably the Minny Pops led by Wally van Middendorp of the record label ). Plurex also supported Smalts and Stephen Emmer's solo work. Other Amsterdam ultra bands included The Young Lions,,, and .
  3. Nijmegen: Mekanik Kommando,,, and /Das Wesen. Mekanik Kommando had two bass players, and played electronic music with dreamy style.
  4. 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". Stephen Emmer and Arjen Schrama were the founders of this magazine. André Bach and Mark Tegefoss were involved and Harold Schellinx served as an editor. The magazine's ambition was to create a new journalism that reflected the new music. Vinyl not only acted as a voice for the movement, but also released the music of ultra bands on flexidisc, with every issue of the magazine accompanied by a free record. The most representative compilation of the ultra movement was the C-90 cassette , released in 1981 on the Amsterdam label, a Dutch record label associated with Tox Modell, and run by Marc Tegefoss and Det Wiehl. Most of the tracks on this album are untitled.
The band The Young Lions played a central role in defining the ultra movement and distinguished it as an abstract and conceptual musical direction. The Young Lions was active from mid-1979 to early 1981. The band consisted of the art students Rob Scholte, Ronald Heiloo, Tim Benjamin, and Harold Schellinx. The group began practicing in the basement of the Rietveld art school. The eleven songs on their cassette Small World were composed in sequence during one uninterrupted, almost 24-hour studio session; these songs were performed live only once. Scholte described the band's objective as "to show punk where it had messed up". The goal was not to produce punk music, but to take a different, more artistic approach to punk. Their rare performances often inspired violence and aggression from the audience, who did not understand their objectives. Scholte has discussed how the audience would throw beer, climb onstage, and try to break their equipment.
The most successful and internationally recognized ultra band was the Minny Pops, founded in 1978 by Wally van Middendorp. The band consisted of van Middendorp, Frans Hagenaars, Peter Mertens. The Minny Pops toured internationally and opened for Joy Division.
Weekly ultra nights were organized at the Oktopus club in Amsterdam between September 1980 and March 1981. Organizers were Wally van Middendorp, Rob Scholte, and Harold Schellinx.

Discography

Mekanik Kommando

It Would Be Quiet in the Woods If Only a Few Birds Sing Dancing Elephants Snake Is Queen Bay the Moon Do ...And the Wind Died Down Shadow of a Rose
  • ''The Castle of Fair Welcome''

Minny Pops

Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement, Plurex; Sparks in a Dark Room, Factory Benelux; Secret Stories, LTMCD 2353, LTMStandstill to Motion, LTMCD 2566, LTM - CD/DVD

Nasmak

Nasmak Plus Instruments/Instruments Plus Nasmak Indecent Exposure 1 & 2 Indecent Exposure 3 & 4 4our Clicks Indecent Exposure 5 & 6 Duel
  • ''Silhouette''

Tox Modell

  • Parkhof 11/04/1981 C30 cassette
  • Groote Keyser 21-3-81 C46 cassette

The Young Lions

No News, Strange Rumours, Plurex 0013 Small World, Amphibious

Compilations

Ultra - Octopus Amsterdam, C90 cassette

Literature

  • Harold Schellinx, ULTRA. Opkomst en ondergang van de Ultramodernen, een unieke Nederlandse muziekstroming , Lebowski Publishers, Amsterdam, 2012. ISBN 9789048812400.
  • Dirk Polak. Mecano: een muzikaal egodocument. Lebowski Publishers, Amsterdam, 2011. ISBN 978-9048851751
  • Oscar Smit. De Paradiso Punk Jaren Deel 4: 1979-1981 Nederpunk En Ultra.Black Olive Press, Amstelveen, 2021. ISBN 9789072811271.
  • Foster, R., Mapping Subcultures from Scratch: Moving Beyond the Mythology of Dutch Post-Punk.
In: van der Steen, B., Verburgh, T. Researching Subcultures, Myth and Memory. Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • Richard Foster, studenttheses Universiteit Leiden