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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Back on the road with the Dismemberment Plan
Wednesday 13 November @ 10:30:18 |
 by PJ Morel
All right, I admit it. I just wanted to interview the Dismemberment Plan. They have a new album in the works, but it’s a ways away from being done. Their last album came out a year ago, and they’ve already been to town twice. But I did get the chance to pick singer Trevor Morrison’s brain on a number of topics, and hear about an intriguing new project for the band. Besides—if you missed the Plan before, that’s all the more reason to go now. Go now! The material on Change and their previous effort Emergency and I still sounds fresh and forward-thinking, and the Plan puts on a fantastic live show. And who knows?—maybe you’ll be inspired to make your own contribution to the band’s oeuvre, because the Plan has a fan-produced remix CD in the works.
That’s right: you could play producer for the Dismemberment Plan. The band has offered fans the opportunity to do remixes for a while via their Web site (www.dismembermentplan.com), where they’ve posted basic tracks for a number of songs from their last two albums in MP3 format. This is, as far as I know, a unique proposition from a major indie recording artist. You can download Joe Easley’s swirling and propulsive drum part for “The City,” Morrison’s vocal, maybe a guitar line, and piece them together in a new way using standard recording software like Cakewalk or ProTools. If the band likes what they hear, they may put you on a compilation. “It’s something we’ve always thought about doing,” Morrison explains. “We have eight really great tracks right now, and we’re looking for two or three more.”
One Minneapolitan, who has already made the cut, is Ev from 12Rods. “I have never heard the original song,” Ev admits. “I took their tracks and I just did something whack. I didn’t know what went where. I just kind of assumed.” Ev’s overhaul sees “The City” transformed into a sweeping and airy dance track—but one that stutters and hesitates at odd moments, adding an element of confusion to the original. The remix disc is a fitting project for the Plan, a band that has staked their reputation on dismembering forms and genres. “A remix is about the art of un-assembling, not just adding a hip-hop beat,” Ev concurs. The band is currently looking for a new label on which to release the remix comp, since their previous label, DeSoto, packed up in August.
On the road, the band is working over six or seven new songs for a future full-length. Asked about the tone of the new material, Morrison says, “It’s more energetic than we’ve been in a long time. The new stuff’s got a lot of electronic noises. This may be our most hip-hop record. It may also be the most synthetic. And fun.” He quips: “Fun is the new sad, you know.”
He quips, but he makes an interesting point: the Plan made their name kicking an intense pop-emo-hip-hop hybrid well suited to partying, but it was only with the more melancholy-feeling Emergency and I that the band received widespread attention. Change was even more brooding (as much as anything with an Joe Easley drum beat can be called “brooding”), and cemented the band’s reputation. But being tragic has always been a safe route to praise, and the band is eager to prove its upbeat material is just as affecting.
The Dismemberment Plan plays the First Avenue Mainroom along with the French Kicks and The Reputation on Mon., Nov. 18. 5:30 p.m. $10/$12. All-ages. 701 First Ave. N., Mpls. 612-338-8388.
To check out some D-Plan remixes, check out www.geocities.com/respectisdue.
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