Ultra
Depeche Mode 1997 synchronized
electronic trip-hop synth-pop オルタナティブ
Post-rehab Depeche Mode recalibrated through trip-hop electronics — fragile, tentative, stripped of the grandiosity, finding beauty in the simple act of still being alive.
Acoustic Profile
Production
Method: electronic-dominant
Fidelity: polished
Tim Simenon (Bomb the Bass) productiontrip-hop influenced breakbeatsambient electronic texturessubdued vocal delivery post-rehabminimalist arrangements with careful layering
Vocal
Approach: sung
Lyrical Abstraction: 5/10
Mood & Theme
vulnerability introspection numbness
Territory: Post-Crisis Fragility, Tentative Recovery, Emotional Convalescence
Emotional Arc: Cautious Emergence from Darkness
Era & Context
1997: trip-hop and electronica are the dominant electronic forms. Tim Simenon brings these textures to a band rebuilding after near-fatal collapse. Ultra proves survival is possible, if not triumphant.
Spiritual Links (14)
Mezzanine Massive Attack (1998)
7/10 late-night-atmospheretextural-explorationurban-isolation
Portishead Portishead (1997)
7/10 late-night-atmospherevulnerability-as-weapon
Untrue Burial (2007)
6/10 urban-isolationlate-night-atmospherevulnerability-as-weapon
The Fragile Nine Inch Nails (1999)
6/10 vulnerability-as-weaponpersonal-confession
Kid A Radiohead (2000)
5/10 radical-reinventionvulnerability-as-weapon
Third Portishead (2008)
5/10 vulnerability-as-weaponsonic-experimentation
Another Green World Brian Eno (1975)
5/10 textural-explorationminimalist-reduction
Disintegration The Cure (1989)
5/10 vulnerability-as-weapontextural-exploration
Low David Bowie (1977)
5/10 minimalist-reductionpersonal-confession
ANIMA Thom Yorke (2019)
5/10 late-night-atmospherepersonal-confession
Head Music Suede (1999)
5/10 textural-exploration
The Rapture Siouxsie and the Banshees (1995)
4/10 textural-explorationvulnerability-as-weapon
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned The Prodigy (2004)
4/10 studio-as-instrumentalienation-of-fanbase
Automaton Jamiroquai (2017)
4/10 textural-exploration
Influences
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1
Hesitation Marks Nine Inch Nails (2013)
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72% 8 Dummy Portishead (1994)
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71% 10 Here, My Dear Marvin Gaye (1978)
70%