Minny Pops

Often stern, frequently humorous, and sometimes both at once, Minny Pops are post-punk experimentalists who have combined dark wit and jagged electronics throughout their lifespan. Led and fronted by Wally van Middendorp, they crept out of Amsterdam's underground Ultra movement and released their debut 7" and album, Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement, before the end of the 1970s. Into the '80s, they became the first Dutch band to record a session for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 program, and continued to record inscrutable if engrossing material for Factory and Factory Benelux, starting with "Dolphin's Spurt," a Martin Hannett-produced single that put the group on the U.K. independent singles chart in 1981. During irregular bursts of activity following their comparatively accessible second album, Sparks in a Dark Room, they've lengthened their discography with projects ranging from the 1985 album 4th Floor to enigmatic singles issued across the late 2010s and early 2020s.