Der Plan – ca. 1980, live

As if the photograph of the band above didn’t make it abundantly clear, Der Plan are a trio of artists who are clearly influenced by Dadaism within a context of pop music. They offered a colorful, kitschy playfulness on their presentation and performance that almost effectively undermined how serious they took their roles as artists and musicians. You may remember that Kurt Dahlke [Pyrolator] was not only a solo artist under the name Pyrolator, but also a member of the early D.A.F. lineup. When he left D.A.F., he joined Moritz Reichelt and Frank Fanstermacher in a lineup of Der Plan that remained stable for the better part of a decade.

I first heard the band on 198o’s “From Brussels With Love” cassette with the fantastic song “Meine Freunde.” For years that was all I had ever heard of the band, until in 1990, a friend sent me the first Mari Wilson CD [“Marigold”], which had been issued by a department store [“Wave”] in Japan! When I viewed the booklet and obi, there were other albums that I was interested in, so I wrote the gentlemen whose name appeared in the notes [Mr. Mason Akashi] and he kindly sent me a listing of the releases the label had made. I ordered several directly, including the first release I’d ever seen by Der Plan, a compilation CD called “Perlen.”

Wave | JPN | CD | 1990 | EVA 2007

Der Plan: “Perlen” JPN CD [1990]

1. Roppongi Blues
2. Gefährliche Clowns
3. Alte Pizza
4. Glitzergleiter
5. Hans Und Gabi
6. Frisch Verliebt
7. Da Vorne Steht Ne Ampel
8. Gummitwist
9. Wenn Der Sonne Ist Verblüht…
10. Fackle Ser Sehnsucht
11. Bleib Gold!
12. Olm 1
13. Komm Zurück!
14. Europa-Hymne
15. Die Welt Ist Schlecht
16. Bye-Bye
17. Kennen Sie Köln?
18. Du Du Bist
19. Die Geschichte Des Schwarzen Goldes
20. Alle Sieben Jahre
21. Space Bob
22. Wenn Du Nicht Zuhause Bist
23. 1 Mann, 1 Ball
24. Zurück In Die Atmosphere

The songs are heavy on synthesizers used for some times deliberately kitschy effect. I just heard the Pyrolator [Kurt Dahlke] debut from 1979 and I was shocked at the enormous disparity in the sound of each. Pyrolator’s “Inland” was an avant-garde album of synthetic noise and mood that occasionally coalesced into what one would recognize as music. This was all the more shocking to me since I had been listening to his album of material by Der Plan dating from 1979 to 1988 and I had become used to hearing his cheerfully berserk synths in the service of songs that were unflinchingly jaunty and melodic and only only dallied occasionally with atonality.

Hugo Ball at Cabaret Voltaire

That’s not to say that Der Plan were buffoons. They employed an almost child-like theatricality and artistry in a fashion similar to techniques used earlier by The Residents [or DEVO] and descended from pioneers of Dada like Hugo Ball [left] who confronted the horror of World War One with an artistic abandonment of reason, which had led to this technological slaughter. Not having a full grasp of German probably works against me in listening to Der Plan but fortunately, the winsome melodies of the largely music the band dubbed “synthi-pop”  overcomes any shortcomings that missing much of the lyrics engenders. Still, I get the feeling that I’m missing out on the NDW equivalent of Altered Images with bouncy music paired with intellectually incongruous lyrical content. The persistent left field nature of many of the songs, in spite of their exuberant catchiness, suggests that this may be so.

Der Plan split up in 1993 but reformed in a largely different configuration [Der Plan 4.0] containing only Moritz Reichelt with two new members in 2003 for a further album that was released a year later. After this… silence. As we began on Montag with the relentless sounds of D.A.F., we’ve made an arc to more approachable music that still fits within the serious at its core container of the Neue Deutsche Welle of bands re-examining German culture in a Post-Punk context. Der Plan can be downright sunny and cheerful [“Europa Hymne”] even as the odd track like “Hans Und Gabi” can reveal the influence of The Residents at their least compromising. Tomorrow we will wrap up with an act that is so approachable and literally fresh-faced, one might find fault with his inclusion in NDW week.

Next: Die Doreaus Und Die Marinas