The Dismemberment Plan--Emergency & I

This is an easy one for me. This one is maybe too easy for me. I would feel bad about how easy this one was, except that I think more people in the world should know about it. I think George was made aware of my Dismemberment Plan obsession after I posted about Todd's Maritime pick (a band which includes members of D-Plan). It turns out we have both seen the band a bunch of times, and were probably at a number of the same shows, unaware that we would one day be co-managing a fantasy baseball team together. If you are unaware of who they are this wikipedia post sums it up pretty good, and dismembermentplan.com lets you know what they are all doing now.

I first saw The Dismemberment Plan when I was (a sophmore?) in high school at the Small Intestine in Baltimore. This pretty much changed my life. They blew up the tiny, Ben Valis-owned club on Bel Air road with one of the most energetic performances I have ever seen or heard anywhere ever. I was hooked. My brother bought their debut album "!" at this show and I have loved them ever since. Nick Prevas and I became obsessed further in our early college years, right around the time Emergency & I was released. We went to a bunch of shows together from 2000-2002 at the Black Cat and 9:30 Club (they were born and raised outside of DC). One of my favorite shows was the "Death and Dismemberment Tour" (with Death Cab For Cutie) stop at 9:30 Club. I am a fan of Death Cab, but man did Dismemberment Plan slay them at this show. Death Cab played a (good) set of angsty, emotional, softish, mellow music, and then D-Plan came on and blew the place up again. It was amazing. I remember their playing at that show not being great compared to their other shows, but they got the audience worked up like crazy. Nobody could make a crowd dance like them. Wikipedia claims that they were often referred to as dance-punk, which I don't remember but I find it appropriate.

All of their albums deserve a place in anyone's music collection, but Emergency & I is their for-sure masterpiece. It is one of the most underrated albums in all of indie music in my opinion, and George and I would both put it on a top-10 all-time desert island music list. I listened to it for months straight when it first came out, and still listen to it, though not as often, and I am listening to it now (Gyroscope!) and I never get tired of it. I will admit that I have recommened it to some friends (Huff) and expected them to love it as much as I do. They never love it as much as I do and I can't help but feel like there is probably a strong feeling of nostalgia tied in with this album for me. The Plan was really the first local band I ever got into and I have seen them live more than any other band, so it might be a little unfair of me to recommend it so strongly having these memories tied in with the music. So, a disclaimer. You might not love this album as much as I do, or as much as George does, or any of us who grew up listening to this band, but the music stands strong on its own. Really strong, and put all the live shows aside and this record still rules. It is solid from start to finish, but What Do You Want Me To Say, Spider In the Snow, You Are Invited, Gyroscope, The City, and Back and Forth are all standout. If you interested in checking out the band this is the album to get. If you like it you will probably like Change, and if you still need more then go back to "!" and take it from there.

The Dismemberment Plan broke up on January 19, 2003. It was a sad day indeed, but a sadder day was when they re-united in 2007 and I couldn't get tickets to either of the Black Cat shows that sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale. Anyway, here is the album cut of Spider In the Snow from Emergency. There are also a ton of great live clips of the band on youtube.



Whenever they played Ice of Boston live (they always played it) fans would flock the stage and dance. George claims to have done this twice. I never did it. It is one of the major regrets of my life thus far. This clip is from the first day of the 2007 re-union, and is the biggest Ice of Boston gathering I have ever seen. It makes me happy and sad simultaneously: