der plan: unkapitulierbar

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, 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.