Der Plan

One of synth pop’s originators, Der Plan anchored Germany’s musical underground throughout the 1980s. Almost entirely in their native tongue, the group fueled countless kindred bands within the Neue Deutsche Welle movement. Drawing on Kraftwerk’s synthetic rhythms and the Residents’ eccentric approach, they fused electronics, pop structures, and surreal imagery into a singular sound.

After departing D.A.F. following that band’s debut album, Kurt “Pyrolator” Dahlke joined Frank Fenstermacher and Moritz “RRR” Reichelt to establish Der Plan. While many German underground outfits emulated Sex Pistols-style punk, the trio instead looked to Kraftwerk’s precedent and emphasized electronic textures within pop songwriting. Their 1980 debut Geri Reig showcased an off-kilter pop sensibility paired with forward-thinking electronics; although commercial chart impact remained limited, a devoted cult audience emerged. The 1980 single “Da Vorne Steht Ne Ampel” nevertheless reached the German Top 40. Their follow-up album Normalette Surprise advanced the group’s sound by weaving inventive rhythmic patterns throughout the material.

Der Plan sustained activity across the remainder of the decade and into the early 1990s. Their imprint Ata Tak documented some of Germany’s most adventurous electronic output, issuing recordings by D.A.F., Andreas Dorau, Holger Hiller, Oval, and Wirtschaftswunder. The band dissolved in 1992, yet Fenstermacher and Dahlke promptly launched A Certain Frank, whose first album appeared on Ata Tak in 1996. In 2004 Reichelt assembled a Berlin iteration of Der Plan that included Achim Treu and J.J. Jones, resulting in the album Die Verschwörung. The original core of Reichelt, Fenstermacher, and Dahlke reconvened for Andreas Dorau’s 50th-birthday celebrations in 2014 and subsequently began writing fresh material; Unkapitulierbar, released by Bureau B—the label that had already reissued the band’s first four albums—followed in 2017.