DER PLAN - Forced Exposure

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Shrouded in myth, Save Your Software is the long-lost album by Der Plan. Back in the mid-1980s, Moritz Reichelt, Kurt Dahlke (Pyrolator) and Frank Fenstermacher initiated the Fanuks project with the aim of making themselves immortal as Mensch-Maschinen or Man-Machines. "Fanuks" would produce music for all eternity, embarking on a never-ending world tour. By the end of the decade, the Fanuks, or their respective human alter egos, had crafted six pieces. These were only rediscovered in 2020 during a thorough inspection of the Ata Tak/Der Plan archives. Reichelt, Dahlke, and Fenstermacher augmented their six visionary masterpieces with three tracks based on compositions from the year 1989. In cooperation with the company "Second Life Inc", who had worked on similar ideas for George Lukas and Kraftwerk, they developed designs scratching the limits of technological possibilities. At the same time Japanese cutting-edge robot producer FANUK opened an office in Düsseldorf. The plans included not only the technical aspects of the hardware of the robot musicians, but also similarly sophisticated software. For this area of the project Der Plan asked a man with an excellent reputation of experience, the mysterious Nigelius Senada, a Bavarian philosopher and musician, who had developed a Theory of Obscurity, that fitted the ideas of Der Plan perfectly. Senada had a history of developing a non-existing band for a Californian supergroup. Senada's projections were based on the idea, that in the future man would transform into robots as much as robots would adapt characteristic human qualities. Under permanent supervision of Der Plan the first prototype under the internal name LP3 could be finished by 1988. For test purposes the robot was sold to a household in Italy, where he served as a house-keeper and loneliness companion. 12 months later conclusions could be drawn: despite great expectations and the use of expensive materials such as molybdane and carbon, LP3 turned out to be not reliable enough for the use on a stressful band tour. Meanwhile the production of robot music in the Düsseldorf studio of Der Plan continued. The ambitious goal was music made by robots -- and it was pretty successful, actually more successful than the processing of the hardware. A good half a dozen of songs were recorded, determined to be send on tour with the robots. The FANUK project was the last great concept of Der Plan before the band split up two years later. It is buried in history and memories and seemed to be bound for oblivion. This is the first time the public will hear six original tracks, plus three newly recorded ones, based on compositions from 1989.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Shrouded in myth, Save Your Software is the long-lost album by Der Plan. Back in the mid-1980s, Moritz Reichelt, Kurt Dahlke (Pyrolator) and Frank Fenstermacher initiated the Fanuks project with the aim of making themselves immortal as Mensch-Maschinen or Man-Machines. "Fanuks" would produce music for all eternity, embarking on a never-ending world tour. By the end of the decade, the Fanuks, or their respective human alter egos, had crafted six pieces. These were only rediscovered in 2020 during a thorough inspection of the Ata Tak/Der Plan archives. Reichelt, Dahlke, and Fenstermacher augmented their six visionary masterpieces with three tracks based on compositions from the year 1989. In cooperation with the company "Second Life Inc", who had worked on similar ideas for George Lukas and Kraftwerk, they developed designs scratching the limits of technological possibilities. At the same time Japanese cutting-edge robot producer FANUK opened an office in Düsseldorf. The plans included not only the technical aspects of the hardware of the robot musicians, but also similarly sophisticated software. For this area of the project Der Plan asked a man with an excellent reputation of experience, the mysterious Nigelius Senada, a Bavarian philosopher and musician, who had developed a Theory of Obscurity, that fitted the ideas of Der Plan perfectly. Senada had a history of developing a non-existing band for a Californian supergroup. Senada's projections were based on the idea, that in the future man would transform into robots as much as robots would adapt characteristic human qualities. Under permanent supervision of Der Plan the first prototype under the internal name LP3 could be finished by 1988. For test purposes the robot was sold to a household in Italy, where he served as a house-keeper and loneliness companion. 12 months later conclusions could be drawn: despite great expectations and the use of expensive materials such as molybdane and carbon, LP3 turned out to be not reliable enough for the use on a stressful band tour. Meanwhile the production of robot music in the Düsseldorf studio of Der Plan continued. The ambitious goal was music made by robots -- and it was pretty successful, actually more successful than the processing of the hardware. A good half a dozen of songs were recorded, determined to be send on tour with the robots. The FANUK project was the last great concept of Der Plan before the band split up two years later. It is buried in history and memories and seemed to be bound for oblivion. This is the first time the public will hear six original tracks, plus three newly recorded ones, based on compositions from 1989.

$17.00 IN STOCK

The final instalment (for now) in Bureau B's little series of classic Der Plan album reissues. That's Frank, Kurt, and Moritz right there on the cover, inside Harry Rosenberg's Hamburger Hafen Basar* -- the Plan's own version of the Style Council's Favourite Shop. You may not find the cool mods attire that graced the Weller and Talbot emporium, but Harry's was a treasure trove of exotica: fetishes, amulets, masks, handicrafts from the South Seas, even shrunken heads. The kind of things seafarers brought back with them from distant voyages. It would cost you two Deutschmarks to see the miniature skulls of the unfortunates. Harry himself had a long, white bushy beard, proper sea dog material. The basis of the harbor bazar's collection can be traced back to the eccentric Cap'n Haase, self-proclaimed "professor of undiscovered science", who died in 1934. Not a bad title for the next Plan album or box: these Professors of Undiscovered Science have forever been on a musical mission to seek out and shine a light on undiscovered phenomena. It is no surprise that this perfectly chosen photograph reminiscent of a certain Dr Henry Walton Jones Jr. Moritz R, a keen collectors of artifacts from the Makonde province of Mozambique, was a frequent visitor to the bazar, whilst Pyrolator was particularly in awe of the Africa room: "Voodoo dolls hanging from the ceiling, needles sticking out of them, flecked with blood. Scary stuff. Bundles of seedy St.Pauli-Nachrichten papers and other porn magazines on the floor. When I asked Harry about this bizarre combination of wares, his answer was short and to the point: '... it banishes the spells.'" Why are there so many cigars on the table and what about the song El Cigarro? Moritz R looks back: "That's how we rolled in those days. You could put it down to juvenile obsession, smoking cigars, drinking whisky, snorting coke (not me!) --that's just how it was, partying hard." Eleven years had passed since the release of Geri Reig, their debut album. Tiki and electronica, noise and schlager, psychedelia and industrial, Kurt Martin and jerry-rigging, Cargo Cult and Ata Tak, Wuppertal and Düsseldorf, Hans-Albers-Platz and West-Berlin, Emulator I and Emulator II, old pizzas and new masks, making the most out of the least and living in the gallery, abstraction and pop, Japan and Japlan. A lot going on in those eleven years!

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. The final instalment (for now) in Bureau B's little series of classic Der Plan album reissues. That's Frank, Kurt, and Moritz right there on the cover, inside Harry Rosenberg's Hamburger Hafen Basar* -- the Plan's own version of the Style Council's Favourite Shop. You may not find the cool mods attire that graced the Weller and Talbot emporium, but Harry's was a treasure trove of exotica: fetishes, amulets, masks, handicrafts from the South Seas, even shrunken heads. The kind of things seafarers brought back with them from distant voyages. It would cost you two Deutschmarks to see the miniature skulls of the unfortunates. Harry himself had a long, white bushy beard, proper sea dog material. The basis of the harbor bazar's collection can be traced back to the eccentric Cap'n Haase, self-proclaimed "professor of undiscovered science", who died in 1934. Not a bad title for the next Plan album or box: these Professors of Undiscovered Science have forever been on a musical mission to seek out and shine a light on undiscovered phenomena. It is no surprise that this perfectly chosen photograph reminiscent of a certain Dr Henry Walton Jones Jr. Moritz R, a keen collectors of artifacts from the Makonde province of Mozambique, was a frequent visitor to the bazar, whilst Pyrolator was particularly in awe of the Africa room: "Voodoo dolls hanging from the ceiling, needles sticking out of them, flecked with blood. Scary stuff. Bundles of seedy St.Pauli-Nachrichten papers and other porn magazines on the floor. When I asked Harry about this bizarre combination of wares, his answer was short and to the point: '... it banishes the spells.'" Why are there so many cigars on the table and what about the song El Cigarro? Moritz R looks back: "That's how we rolled in those days. You could put it down to juvenile obsession, smoking cigars, drinking whisky, snorting coke (not me!) --that's just how it was, partying hard." Eleven years had passed since the release of Geri Reig, their debut album. Tiki and electronica, noise and schlager, psychedelia and industrial, Kurt Martin and jerry-rigging, Cargo Cult and Ata Tak, Wuppertal and Düsseldorf, Hans-Albers-Platz and West-Berlin, Emulator I and Emulator II, old pizzas and new masks, making the most out of the least and living in the gallery, abstraction and pop, Japan and Japlan. A lot going on in those eleven years!

$17.00 IN STOCK

Bureau B present a reissue of Der Plan's Es Ist Eine Fremde Und Seltsame Welt, originally released in 1987. A cynic might propound the notion that to reissue an album entitled Es Ist Eine Fremde Und Seltsame Welt at this particular moment would be to hit the nail on the head with painful exactitude. No cynics here, however, only music lovers. Bureau B have already re-released four classic albums by Der Plan: Geri Reig (BB 104CD/LP), Normalette Surprise (BB 105CD/LP), Die letzte Rache (BB 129CD/LP), and Japlan (BB 130CD/LP).

Moritz R: I made the cover. My idea was for everything in the photo to be black, we even used embossed type so the entire cover was black. (editor's note: no embossed type on the reissue due to the cost, but our album price is undeniably attractive).

Pyrolator: The name of the album is simultaneously the concept. Numerous diverse pieces which illuminate the world in all its absurdity. The album title is lifted from the David Lynch movie Blue Velvet ("It's A Strange World"). The songs on the album were, for the most part, composed in a legendary session, improvisations really. We decided to play each piece in a different key and use irregular time signatures: for example, "Frisch Verliebt" is in 9/8, "Ein Moment Sind Zwei Sekunden" shifts between 6/8, 3/4 and 4/4, whilst "Ich Hab Den Jordan Gesehen" is in 6/8.

Moritz R: Der Plan was often seen as a fun, colorful, NDW (Neue Deutsche Welle) band and we wanted to counter that image by bringing our obscure roots to the fore.

What influences, musical or otherwise, shaped the production of EIEFUSW?

Moritz R: I couldn't name any influences at all. The record was very much of our own making. Obscure in the best sense of the word.

What were your expectations and how was the album ultimately received?

Moritz R: No expectations. We were still a band of obscure outsiders. But we knew full well what we were getting into with our weird music. Listening habits have come a long way since then and I hope that people will better understand or appreciate the record today.

$22.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Bureau B present a reissue of Der Plan's Es Ist Eine Fremde Und Seltsame Welt, originally released in 1987. A cynic might propound the notion that to reissue an album entitled Es Ist Eine Fremde Und Seltsame Welt at this particular moment would be to hit the nail on the head with painful exactitude. No cynics here, however, only music lovers. Bureau B have already re-released four classic albums by Der Plan: Geri Reig (BB 104CD/LP), Normalette Surprise (BB 105CD/LP), Die letzte Rache (BB 129CD/LP), and Japlan (BB 130CD/LP).

Moritz R: I made the cover. My idea was for everything in the photo to be black, we even used embossed type so the entire cover was black. (editor's note: no embossed type on the reissue due to the cost, but our album price is undeniably attractive).

Pyrolator: The name of the album is simultaneously the concept. Numerous diverse pieces which illuminate the world in all its absurdity. The album title is lifted from the David Lynch movie Blue Velvet ("It's A Strange World"). The songs on the album were, for the most part, composed in a legendary session, improvisations really. We decided to play each piece in a different key and use irregular time signatures: for example, "Frisch Verliebt" is in 9/8, "Ein Moment Sind Zwei Sekunden" shifts between 6/8, 3/4 and 4/4, whilst "Ich Hab Den Jordan Gesehen" is in 6/8.

Moritz R: Der Plan was often seen as a fun, colorful, NDW (Neue Deutsche Welle) band and we wanted to counter that image by bringing our obscure roots to the fore.

What influences, musical or otherwise, shaped the production of EIEFUSW?

Moritz R: I couldn't name any influences at all. The record was very much of our own making. Obscure in the best sense of the word.

What were your expectations and how was the album ultimately received?

Moritz R: No expectations. We were still a band of obscure outsiders. But we knew full well what we were getting into with our weird music. Listening habits have come a long way since then and I hope that people will better understand or appreciate the record today.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Moritz R®, Kurt Dahlke aka Pyrolator, and Frank Fenstermacher have met in the studio after 25 years and recorded a new album. One can claim that Der Plan was one of the most powerful German bands during the time of musical departure at the beginning of the 1980s. Der Plan was always more than a band: a kind of three-headed Renaissance man, for whom visual art was just as important as music. The Ata Tak label, founded by the three members, was one of the first continental European indie labels and released albums by DAF, Andreas Dorau, Holger Hiller, and Element Of Crime. Reichelt designed covers for Depeche Mode and decisively initiated the tiki/lounge revival at the beginning of the 1990s. Fenstermacher played on the legendary Monarchie Und Alltag by Fehlfarben (1980) and released a number of solo albums. Kurt Dahlke has remained active as a producer and programmer, most recently for Edgar Froese. Der Plan was not merely a cerebral band concept, but they were pop in the best sense: playful, fearless, and curious, they always wanted to "work with the current state of technology and express ourselves," says Dahlke. And if the current state of technology wasn't sufficient, they simply plugged in the soldering iron. The Geri Reig principle, conceived by Der Plan (BB 104CD/LP), was an invented term that anticipated the idea of the "Geniale Dillettanten". The title of the album translates to "Uncapitulable!" and signalizes both continuity and unbrokenness. That's hardly a given when three musicians have gone their own separate ways for a quarter of a century. As is often the case, an external occasion provided the spark for the idea of a comeback: as the birthday band at Andreas Dorau's 50th. So the band collected sketches, fragments, and ideas that had accumulated over the years and produced Unkapitulierbar in three weeks at Pyrolator's Ata Tak Studio Berlin. "This time the music was created on the basis of ideas and lyrics. Earlier, we often played improvised sessions and later added lyrics to it. One could say that in the meantime we have become something like songwriters," explains Reichelt. And "Der Plan 2017 is no longer so angular and swings better." But the music still sounds psychedelic: mild and sunny, as in "Es Heisst Die Sonne", "Come Fly With Me", or "Was Kostet Der Austritt", or dark and eerie on "Ich Kann Die Stille Hören" and "Gesicht Ohne Buch". There is a kind of electronic shanty -- "Wie Der Wind Weht" -- and a pop song with "Lass Die Katze Stehn". On "Man Leidet Herrlich" -- and not for the first time -- reggae and dub references are apparent. Unkapitulierbar is a melodic, electronic, brightly colored kaleidoscope of an album.

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes CD. Moritz R®, Kurt Dahlke aka Pyrolator, and Frank Fenstermacher have met in the studio after 25 years and recorded a new album. One can claim that Der Plan was one of the most powerful German bands during the time of musical departure at the beginning of the 1980s. Der Plan was always more than a band: a kind of three-headed Renaissance man, for whom visual art was just as important as music. The Ata Tak label, founded by the three members, was one of the first continental European indie labels and released albums by DAF, Andreas Dorau, Holger Hiller, and Element Of Crime. Reichelt designed covers for Depeche Mode and decisively initiated the tiki/lounge revival at the beginning of the 1990s. Fenstermacher played on the legendary Monarchie Und Alltag by Fehlfarben (1980) and released a number of solo albums. Kurt Dahlke has remained active as a producer and programmer, most recently for Edgar Froese. Der Plan was not merely a cerebral band concept, but they were pop in the best sense: playful, fearless, and curious, they always wanted to "work with the current state of technology and express ourselves," says Dahlke. And if the current state of technology wasn't sufficient, they simply plugged in the soldering iron. The Geri Reig principle, conceived by Der Plan (BB 104CD/LP), was an invented term that anticipated the idea of the "Geniale Dillettanten". The title of the album translates to "Uncapitulable!" and signalizes both continuity and unbrokenness. That's hardly a given when three musicians have gone their own separate ways for a quarter of a century. As is often the case, an external occasion provided the spark for the idea of a comeback: as the birthday band at Andreas Dorau's 50th. So the band collected sketches, fragments, and ideas that had accumulated over the years and produced Unkapitulierbar in three weeks at Pyrolator's Ata Tak Studio Berlin. "This time the music was created on the basis of ideas and lyrics. Earlier, we often played improvised sessions and later added lyrics to it. One could say that in the meantime we have become something like songwriters," explains Reichelt. And "Der Plan 2017 is no longer so angular and swings better." But the music still sounds psychedelic: mild and sunny, as in "Es Heisst Die Sonne", "Come Fly With Me", or "Was Kostet Der Austritt", or dark and eerie on "Ich Kann Die Stille Hören" and "Gesicht Ohne Buch". There is a kind of electronic shanty -- "Wie Der Wind Weht" -- and a pop song with "Lass Die Katze Stehn". On "Man Leidet Herrlich" -- and not for the first time -- reggae and dub references are apparent. Unkapitulierbar is a melodic, electronic, brightly colored kaleidoscope of an album.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Retrospectively, it makes perfect sense that Der Plan created a soundtrack. For one thing, visuals were almost as important to Der Plan as their music. And if every self-respecting pop band pays attention to wearing the right clothes at the right time (or the completely wrong ones at the right time) and designing pretty album covers, Der Plan went further -- with scenery, masks and album covers designed by Moritz R® they invented their own universe. Indeed, the sounds of everyday life woven into Der Plan's music contributed to the filmic quality of their sound. Thus Frank Fenstermacher, Moritz R® and Pyrolator were not slow in responding to their old friend Rainer Kirberg's request to work on his latest film Die letzte Rache. The director Kirberg, born in 1954, studied film in Düsseldorf. They all knew each other from shared lodgings, political meetings and the local hangout Ratinger Hof. As well as playing his part in the music, Moritz R® also came up with the sets, while Frank Fenstermacher secured a minor role as the inspector's sidekick. But back to the music: Letzte Rache (1983) was a kind of revue with silent film qualities, so the soundtrack was a decisive factor. With the aid of the Emulator 1, Der Plan succeeded in recording something which could also work as a diverting radio drama without moving images. In contrast to the two previous albums Geri Reig and Normalette Surprise (BB 105CD/LP), which defined the Plan sound and virtually did without any musical quotations, echoes of jazz can be heard on Die letzte Rache and, of course, film music. Andreas Dorau weighs in with a bona fide pop hit in the guise of a "Junger Mann." Ah yes, the film itself, what is it actually about? Following the aesthetic tradition of 1920s German Expressionist cinema, Die letzte Rache -- "the last revenge" -- tells the hair-raising tale of a ruler who charges "the worldly" with the task of finding him a successor. The problem is: idiots abound. The worldly's search is fruitless and -- sometimes the most obvious solutions are the most practical -- he decides to seize power himself. At the end of the day: the ruler's empire in ruins, the Worldly goes mad, the inspector goes to jail (arrested by his own assistant!), and the ruler is badly injured yet immortal, suffering terrible agonies. Bonus tracks include the six pieces from the film Der Grottenolm.

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl. Retrospectively, it makes perfect sense that Der Plan created a soundtrack. For one thing, visuals were almost as important to Der Plan as their music. And if every self-respecting pop band pays attention to wearing the right clothes at the right time (or the completely wrong ones at the right time) and designing pretty album covers, Der Plan went further -- with scenery, masks and album covers designed by Moritz R® they invented their own universe. Indeed, the sounds of everyday life woven into Der Plan's music contributed to the filmic quality of their sound. Thus Frank Fenstermacher, Moritz R® and Pyrolator were not slow in responding to their old friend Rainer Kirberg's request to work on his latest film Die letzte Rache. The director Kirberg, born in 1954, studied film in Düsseldorf. They all knew each other from shared lodgings, political meetings and the local hangout Ratinger Hof. As well as playing his part in the music, Moritz R® also came up with the sets, while Frank Fenstermacher secured a minor role as the inspector's sidekick. But back to the music: Letzte Rache (1983) was a kind of revue with silent film qualities, so the soundtrack was a decisive factor. With the aid of the Emulator 1, Der Plan succeeded in recording something which could also work as a diverting radio drama without moving images. In contrast to the two previous albums Geri Reig and Normalette Surprise (BB 105CD/LP), which defined the Plan sound and virtually did without any musical quotations, echoes of jazz can be heard on Die letzte Rache and, of course, film music. Andreas Dorau weighs in with a bona fide pop hit in the guise of a "Junger Mann." Ah yes, the film itself, what is it actually about? Following the aesthetic tradition of 1920s German Expressionist cinema, Die letzte Rache -- "the last revenge" -- tells the hair-raising tale of a ruler who charges "the worldly" with the task of finding him a successor. The problem is: idiots abound. The worldly's search is fruitless and -- sometimes the most obvious solutions are the most practical -- he decides to seize power himself. At the end of the day: the ruler's empire in ruins, the Worldly goes mad, the inspector goes to jail (arrested by his own assistant!), and the ruler is badly injured yet immortal, suffering terrible agonies. Bonus tracks include the six pieces from the film Der Grottenolm.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Der Plan were invited to Tokyo in 1984 to play six concerts for Seibu, a Japanese department store chain. Seibu were staging a "German Week." But how did they come to choose Der Plan, of all bands? Why not an Oktoberfest combo or the Scorpions? Moritz Reichelt explains: "German New Wave was really popular in Japan. They knew more about it than people here at home. Catalogs and magazines detailed every obscure record and depicted the covers. This particular department store chain was linked to Wave, a record shop and distributor -- and they really knew their stuff." JaPlan documents the set list from these Tokyo shows. Featuring previously-released songs from the Normalette Surprise (BB 105CD/LP) album, the Die letzte Rache soundtrack, and the double single Golden Cheapos, JaPlan also includes rare instrumentals produced for these very concerts, and one of the most famous songs by Der Plan: "Gummitwist." Der Plan and Japan -- a good match, not only phonetically. Reichelt: "Japan had always been one of our strongest territories. Our records were exported there from the very beginning. When I arrived, I understood why. Japanese pop culture is really 'planesque' in a way. Artificiality with a twinkle in the eye. We stepped inside our hotel in 1984 and switched on the television. The first thing we saw was an advert with three dinosaurs singing a song. Pretty much like one of our shows." The reissue is graced with new artwork due to the fact that the Japanese simply adopted the cover of the existing Golden Cheapos EP. The relationship of form and content was thus absent and one significant change was made: the image of a faint square covering the exposed lower body of a lady in the hay was replaced by an opaque black square. A joke at the expense of the censors fell victim to actual censorship. This re-release could be said to correct an optical error in the band's discography. Includes four bonus tracks.

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version on 180 gram vinyl. Der Plan were invited to Tokyo in 1984 to play six concerts for Seibu, a Japanese department store chain. Seibu were staging a "German Week." But how did they come to choose Der Plan, of all bands? Why not an Oktoberfest combo or the Scorpions? Moritz Reichelt explains: "German New Wave was really popular in Japan. They knew more about it than people here at home. Catalogs and magazines detailed every obscure record and depicted the covers. This particular department store chain was linked to Wave, a record shop and distributor -- and they really knew their stuff." JaPlan documents the set list from these Tokyo shows. Featuring previously-released songs from the Normalette Surprise (BB 105CD/LP) album, the Die letzte Rache soundtrack, and the double single Golden Cheapos, JaPlan also includes rare instrumentals produced for these very concerts, and one of the most famous songs by Der Plan: "Gummitwist." Der Plan and Japan -- a good match, not only phonetically. Reichelt: "Japan had always been one of our strongest territories. Our records were exported there from the very beginning. When I arrived, I understood why. Japanese pop culture is really 'planesque' in a way. Artificiality with a twinkle in the eye. We stepped inside our hotel in 1984 and switched on the television. The first thing we saw was an advert with three dinosaurs singing a song. Pretty much like one of our shows." The reissue is graced with new artwork due to the fact that the Japanese simply adopted the cover of the existing Golden Cheapos EP. The relationship of form and content was thus absent and one significant change was made: the image of a faint square covering the exposed lower body of a lady in the hay was replaced by an opaque black square. A joke at the expense of the censors fell victim to actual censorship. This re-release could be said to correct an optical error in the band's discography. Includes four bonus tracks.

$17.00 IN STOCK

Geri Reig is Der Plan's debut album (originally released in 1980), but not their first release. An EP, recorded with the aid of an Electric Memo dictation preceded Geri Reig. But the band is not very keen on reissuing this early work. Why did they call themselves "Der Plan," actually? "A concept which has something to do with the capacity of people to think and shape their future" as Plan member Moritz Reichelt, alias Moritz R®, once explained. Der Plan at that time comprised Moritz Reichelt, Frank Fenstermacher, Robert Görl and Chrislo Haas. Their music was menacing, fragmented noise rock, still with guitar and drums, but far removed from the typical (rock) music of the period. When Görl and Haas departed (to form DAF), guitars and drums also disappeared from Der Plan. New on the team: Kurt Dahlke alias Pyrolator. This was the line-up which recorded Geri Reig in Reichelt's Düsseldorf office with a two-channel tape machine. Geri Reig is a punk album in the truest and best sense. New, threatening and, at the same time, humoros. While other bands of the era stamped with the seal of "punk" played a faster and harder version of 1950s rock and roll or 1960s garage rock, Der Plan, like a handful of contemporaries such as The Residents or Throbbing Gristle, not only rejected traditional song structures but jettisoned the whole instrument list. That's punk for you! Allied to a deep aversion to rock music and the cliché that goes with it, was the wish to create something of their own. And Geri Reig is certainly idiosyncratic: fragments and songs, raspy and fragile, melodies and interference, ambient sounds up front in the mix. Fine in theory and -- rare though it may be -- excellent in practice. And it just gets better: the album was well-received. Moritz R®: "As if everyone had been waiting for it."

$26.00 IN STOCK

180 gram LP version. Geri Reig is Der Plan's debut album (originally released in 1980), but not their first release. An EP, recorded with the aid of an Electric Memo dictation preceded Geri Reig. But the band is not very keen on reissuing this early work. Why did they call themselves "Der Plan," actually? "A concept which has something to do with the capacity of people to think and shape their future" as Plan member Moritz Reichelt, alias Moritz R®, once explained. Der Plan at that time comprised Moritz Reichelt, Frank Fenstermacher, Robert Görl and Chrislo Haas. Their music was menacing, fragmented noise rock, still with guitar and drums, but far removed from the typical (rock) music of the period. When Görl and Haas departed (to form DAF), guitars and drums also disappeared from Der Plan. New on the team: Kurt Dahlke alias Pyrolator. This was the line-up which recorded Geri Reig in Reichelt's Düsseldorf office with a two-channel tape machine. Geri Reig is a punk album in the truest and best sense. New, threatening and, at the same time, humoros. While other bands of the era stamped with the seal of "punk" played a faster and harder version of 1950s rock and roll or 1960s garage rock, Der Plan, like a handful of contemporaries such as The Residents or Throbbing Gristle, not only rejected traditional song structures but jettisoned the whole instrument list. That's punk for you! Allied to a deep aversion to rock music and the cliché that goes with it, was the wish to create something of their own. And Geri Reig is certainly idiosyncratic: fragments and songs, raspy and fragile, melodies and interference, ambient sounds up front in the mix. Fine in theory and -- rare though it may be -- excellent in practice. And it just gets better: the album was well-received. Moritz R®: "As if everyone had been waiting for it."

$17.00 IN STOCK

1980 the zeitgeist played into the right hands. And who held the aces? In Bureau B's game, Moritz R®, Frank Fenstermacher and Pyrolator aka Der Plan. Tired of convention and full of enthusiasm, they encountered an audience who felt just the same. And with record companies too ponderous to sign up Der Plan, the wonderful Ata Tak label was born of necessity. Normalette Surprise is the second album by Der Plan, released in 1981, a good year after their Geri Reig debut. It is immediately recognizable as a Plan album, yet Normalette Surprise does contain a few, well, surprises. The first number, "Leb doch," is a brilliant pop song. One can say many (good) things about Geri Reig, but it does not contain any pop songs. "Leb doch" is built on a captivatingly taut rhythm, sub-cooled vocals and German lyrics. Hang on a minute, taut rhythm, sub-cooled vocals, German lyrics? Yes exactly -- Der Plan drew up the blueprint for what would soon become known as "Neue Deutsche Welle" -- the German New Wave. Although, "blueprint" sounds a little too benign. It was more like a big bang. Moreover, there was something new about it. Or rather, something old. Bizarrely, Der Plan were introduced by their American artist friends, including the controversial elocutionist Boyd Rice, into the amazing world of the German Schlager, a colorful universe of the absurd awaited exploration. "Kleine Schlager-Revue" and "Sie hat mich verlassen" are the clearest indications of this newfound passion on Normalette Surprise. Hence, Normalette Surprise presents the full range of attributes which would define Der Plan and the Ata Tak label: electronics and Schlager, noise and pop. And Der Plan's protagonists succeeded -- unlike so many -- in their mission of creating something original, something of their own.

$26.00 IN STOCK

2023 repress; 180 gram LP version. 1980 the zeitgeist played into the right hands. And who held the aces? In Bureau B's game, Moritz R®, Frank Fenstermacher and Pyrolator aka Der Plan. Tired of convention and full of enthusiasm, they encountered an audience who felt just the same. And with record companies too ponderous to sign up Der Plan, the wonderful Ata Tak label was born of necessity. Normalette Surprise is the second album by Der Plan, released in 1981, a good year after their Geri Reig debut. It is immediately recognizable as a Plan album, yet Normalette Surprise does contain a few, well, surprises. The first number, "Leb doch," is a brilliant pop song. One can say many (good) things about Geri Reig, but it does not contain any pop songs. "Leb doch" is built on a captivatingly taut rhythm, sub-cooled vocals and German lyrics. Hang on a minute, taut rhythm, sub-cooled vocals, German lyrics? Yes exactly -- Der Plan drew up the blueprint for what would soon become known as "Neue Deutsche Welle" -- the German New Wave. Although, "blueprint" sounds a little too benign. It was more like a big bang. Moreover, there was something new about it. Or rather, something old. Bizarrely, Der Plan were introduced by their American artist friends, including the controversial elocutionist Boyd Rice, into the amazing world of the German Schlager, a colorful universe of the absurd awaited exploration. "Kleine Schlager-Revue" and "Sie hat mich verlassen" are the clearest indications of this newfound passion on Normalette Surprise. Hence, Normalette Surprise presents the full range of attributes which would define Der Plan and the Ata Tak label: electronics and Schlager, noise and pop. And Der Plan's protagonists succeeded -- unlike so many -- in their mission of creating something original, something of their own.

$15.50 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Originally released in 2004, this was Berlin-based Der Plan's triumphant return after 15 years in hiatus. Der Plan is one of the most influential German bands, and pioneers of German '80s electronica/avant garde pop. Their legendary debut album Geri Reig from 1980 paved the way for a whole new musical style and movement -- the "Neue Deutsche Welle" (New German Wave) -- which brought the world D.A.F. and Einstuerzende Neubauten. Der Plan had also been very influential on the international music scene: obviously some of Britain's more daring synthie pop bands of the '80s were inspired by them, but also electronica acts like Mouse On Mars and To Rococo Rot. Die Verschwörung (The Conspiracy) features 15 tracks including a stunning electro interpretation of the famous German children's poem "Dunkel Wars." Other highlights include "Hohe Kante," and the catchy "Copyright Slavery," recorded with a full children's choir. The album continues their distinctive electronica sound with simple and catchy melodies often showcasing a unique child-like quality, radical humor and wit. The album was recorded with vintage analog keyboards and sequencers, continuing the original Plan sound of the early '80s.

$16.00 IN STOCK

Japanese-only CD reissue of what was originally a Japanese-only LP in the 80s, issued in support of a Der Plan tour. "Der Plan is a German music art group who is running an independent label Ata Tak. The original LP was released only in Japan in 1985. Including 12" EP track, 2 unreleased tracks. Japan only."