Artist
The Master Plan
United States
The Master Plan is a music group from United States. Their discography on Gatefold includes 1 record.
1
Albums tracked
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In collections
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Since
Biography
The Master Plan (not to be confused with the German power metal outfit, Masterplan)is a garage rock supergroup that includes Andy Shernoff of the Dictators, Keith Streng and Bill Milhizer of the Fleshtones and Paul Johnson of the Waxing Poetics. Dashes of doo wop, a trace of surf and overwhelming lashings of goodtime rockin' infiltrate the music of The Master Plan.
The Arc of The Master Plan
The pivots — what forced The Master Plan to reinvent.
The Hardware Purge
By 2004, the shift to digital workstations was gutting the soul out of the Midwest scene, forcing Johnson to strip back his process to the bare essentials for this session. He ditched the high-gloss production of his late-90s house hits to focus on the mechanical interplay between the 303 and 909. You can hear the physical limits of the gear on Colossus of Destiny, where every filter sweep feels like he’s fighting the machine in real time. It was a violent rejection of the laptop-DJ era that was just beginning to take over the booths.
Influences
- Ron Hardy — Hardy was the king of the Music Box who taught every Chicago kid that energy and EQ-shredding mattered more than a clean mix. The Master Plan’s relentless, punishing repetition is a direct descendant of the edits Hardy used to play to a packed room at 4 AM. It’s that same 'play it until they break' philosophy.
- Adonis — Johnson has explicitly cited 'No Way Back' as the blueprint for how a simple bassline can carry an entire record. You hear that skeletal, stripped-down structure all over the Colossus sessions. It’s the art of doing the most with the absolute least.
- Lil' Louis — Before the 'French Kiss' fame, Louis was the master of the long-form, hypnotic build-up in the Chicago clubs. The Master Plan takes that same patience and applies it to a much harsher, more industrial palette. It’s the sound of the 'Diamond Girl' energy being dragged through a gravel pit.
- Marshall Jefferson — As the guy who practically wrote the book on the Roland TB-303's potential, Jefferson's early Trax Records output is the DNA of this project. The way Johnson tweaks the resonance on his acid lines mirrors the erratic, bubbling textures Jefferson pioneered on 'Acid Tracks.' It's a tribute to the hardware's capacity for chaos.
- Phuture — There is no Master Plan without the blueprint laid down by DJ Pierre and Spanky. The aggressive, squelching 303 lines on Colossus of Destiny are a direct escalation of the sound Phuture birthed in 1987. It’s not just a nod to the past; it’s a continuation of the same mechanical lineage.
Discography
Their records — most-collected first.
Around the web
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