The Dismemberment Plan - "!"

Genre: DC post punk/indie pop
Sounds Like: So Many Dynamos, Q and Not U

 A small timely rant:

There has been a consistent and exciting wave of indie band revivals that started last year and coming in strong for the rest of 2012. Acts like Braid, At The Drive In, Desaparecidos, Refused and countless others have sprung up on music festivals and select cities across the states. Any reasons for the sudden surge of bands coming back together? Is it due to their audience, who are now a slight older and their influence is being heard (Braid and the Midwest revival few years back) in contemporary bands? Or that they had resonated with so many people back when they were active that its an easy cash grab using nostalgia? You hear many music fans going "I'm going to cry my shit over this" or "I will do anything to see (insert important band of their adolescence). Or they just felt like touring again? I'm not knocking this recent trend whatsoever cause I am an ATDI fanboy as much as the next guy in their mid-twenties and will continue to exclaim that they are one of the most important bands of my generation. But I look at this trend very carefully. Who knows maybe we will get an Ian Williams and Damon Che reunion if the price is right.

The Dismemberment Plan was one of the first on my radar to reunite and tour again which started early last year. Touring United States and Japan and eventually performing on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. Although I didn't discover Dismemberment Until 2004 (one year after they broke up) they have stuck with me for the past 8 years. So when I saw the dates being announced, my nostalgia was being prodded deeply.

Their first album, aptly named "!" was my initial discovery of this band, and like how most young people received new music in the early 00's, it was on a scribbled, discolored CD-R and the last two tracks were ruined due to excessive scratches. At first glance its another mid 90's post punk DC indie band with dissonant guitars and punchy bass with strange melodic vocals (and the first drummer is a monster). Although true, what makes Dismemberment so different is how Smart this band is. Not in the Radiohead way, but more in the Rush sense. (I know I know stay with me here guys) they manage to have clever lyrics and hooks without sacrificing great technical song writing and great catchy riffs. The other key to the smart equation is how they don't take themselves seriously but still sound like every song was carefully crafted to perfection.

This album is in my top ten of all time, and although some people might be completely turned off by the vocals, give all their records a listen. These songs will stick to you. Fun Fact: I have an ex girlfriend who despised this band to the very end, and although that's not important at all, I feel like it should be.

The Band!