Emergency And

This is the most subtly crazy album I've ever heard. For the most part, the album is simply pop rock, indie rock, funk and punk kinda mish mashed together with incredibly catchy melodies. However, even in the poppiest songs there are things that sneak in there and are very unnerving. Throwing chords in the middle of songs that intentionally sound wrong, some beautiful but abbrasive synth tones, and some of the most peculiar time signatures I've ever heard. As soon as you start to get adjusted to one of the things they throw at you, you get hit with another. The first time I listened to it, I was paying close attention to it as I'd heard a buncha hype and I ended up with a migraine, and I mean that in the best way possible. Tons and tons of small things that sound like they were never supposed to happen that way, but did, and somehow it worked. Then of course there's the 2 faster, kinda spaztic songs on there that are incredible, and catch you so off guard that after them you're just in a state of "bwah...?". Even once you listen to it a few times and get used to all the weirdness to it, it's still an amazingly catchy and fun album to listen to. The lyrics are great, melodies are great, the voice...I love, I don't see why other people don't but that's their problem. He sounds really friendly and inviting and honest. The drums are great, the bassist is really good and has some strangely charming but lazy sounding basslines in some of the songs as well as some crazy funky stuff in others. The guitars are great, sometimes fluttery and pretty sometimes tougher and more rock sounding. So yeah, all and all this is a great album, definitely worth adding to any collection.

Yes, I like Neutral Milk Hotel, Sigur Ros, the Rapture, Modest Mouse, and Radiohead is my favorite band (by far), but there is nothing as wonderfully unique in my collection as this album. The Plan's earlier works, (! and Is Terrified) are fun to listen to in their own spastic ways, and their 2001 album Change shows a completely different and, as everyone who's heard it has said, mature side, but none measure up to this album. This is an absolute masterpiece. Unlike the radio fodder that a previous reviewer compared the Plan to, these guys make statements with their music and don't back down for until the disc ends. But the beautiful thing about it is that they absolutely do NOT think that their rock is saving the world. I get awfully weary of bands and musicians who get so preachy that you can't listen to the music without cringing. That's not to say that singer Travis Morrison hasn't issued some wack opinions on his or the Plan's website, but we're talking about the music here. So on to it.
A Life of Possibilities is a second-person narrative about and to a friend who's trying to avoid reality and those who care about him. Pretty regular stuff; we all have friends who we worry about. Musically, the keyboard in lieu of bass is fantastic. Guitars harmonize modestly and Morrison's straightfoward, unabashedly simple singing. One thing to notice is his playful use of "yeah, yeah, yeah" at the end. Yes, pretty un-genious i know, but it's intoxicating and it's something that you'll notice throughout the album: Morrison sings like he's reciting epic poetry written by Andy Kauffman.
I won't go through every song, but high points are Memory Machine for it's crazy ideas and the way it just fucking MOVES, Gyroscope for the cool way of saying someone is absolutely full of shit and the sick guitar intro, The City for Morrison's wail at the end and the stuttering beat, Back and Forth for the super-quick singing, tight lyrical work, AND perhaps the best final line of any album that I own (excluding Radiohead's Kid A). All the songs are great and there is a tremendous diversity of style among them, but those are the easiest to encapsulate in one sentence. Jesus, i forgot Spider in the Snow, the best song on the album for the simple yet heart-breaking guitar accompaniment to the refrain and the weird, '50's film score strings that open and show up throughout the song.
There are so many things I could say about this album. The way the bass doesn't just follow suit, but makes a point of giving every single song multiple dimensions. How Morrison's voice is so clear on most tracks that you can decipher almost every word. Its utter danceability. There isn't a single three-chord Blink 182 song on this disc. The Plan capture desperation (The Jitters), frustrated horniness (Girl O'Clock), loneliness (The City), and a flavor of the absolute fucked-upedness of politics, society, and life (8 1/2 Minutes, Back and Forth, all other songs). This is a total delight that i hope everyone gets to appreciate as much as I do. Sure, I can imagine people disliking it, just as i can imagine people scoffing at the predictable chord progressions of Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea or the whininess of Thom Yorke's voice. But there is substance to this album and it's fun as hell to sing along to. There's irony, wit, and all the other good things that make great albums great for a long time. What it isn't is arrogant; the Plan want you to get fucked up and dance all night to this album, but then listen to it again the next morning when all you can think about is your hangover and the senseless shit you did the night before.

Like crack, it keeps you coming back for more; otherwise you experience an unpleasant withdrawal. _Emergency & I_ is irresistible indie eclecticism inflected with a pop sensibility for a package that's catchy and diverse enough to hook you, with super-tight chops, reams of lyrical cleverness, and instrumental intricacies to entrance you for months afterwards. Not to mention they make some of the most effective euse of synths in rock. I've found it very difficult to get this one out of my CD player...just when I think it's starting to lose its luster, I return to it and get hooked all over again.

Compared to _The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified_, this is a considerably less wild n' crazy n' noisy album. There are still some pretty wacky tracks though: the brilliantly catchy and atonal rock of "Memory Machine", the mad rhythm-and-vocal freakout of "Girl O'Clock", and the short, dissonant and weird "I (love) a magician". The more 'normal' tracks (which are still brilliantly written and clever) adopt the band's intelligent use of synths and limitless supply of hooks. There's "You are Invited" is a charming anthem about self-acceptance, delivered with a cheesy synth-drum beat and vocal narrative. "The City" is also great, shuffling on its glistening high-hat beat and huge synth hook. "Gyroscope" is fiendishly catchy, with a snappy syncopated drum beat and a wicked hook in the chorus. "A Life of Possibilities" opens with clomping bass line and dynamic vocals, then goes to a chirping guitar line in the instrumental chorus. The song builds through its sections, always returning to its delicious main hook at the opportune moments, until the anthemic power-chord finale. The sorta-ballad "The Jitters" is a melancholic, languid piece that makes you feel all weird, especially if you read along to the lyrics.

This is very highly recommended to all sorts. The Dismemberment Plan's electicism and sterling songcraft is a rare thing in this world. I find it hard to imagine people not liking this band. Oh, and the pictures in the liner notes are CRAZY. Yeah, go buy it.