Here at DCist, we've fostered a reputation as the definitive source of all things Dismemberment Plan fandom. Combine that with our affinity for the blip-bloop of an NES score, and we're unable to resist. more ›

As you may have noticed, the Dismemberment Plan reunion shows generated the sort of energy and electricity usually reserved for Category 5 hurricanes. You've already seen us write at length in anticipation of them (and after this review, we'll stop, we promise!). Now, here's a timeline of tweets, quotes and additional staff commentary of the shows we'd been anticipating since September. more ›

D.C.'s favorite sons The Dismemberment Plan have reunited and will play a series of highly-anticipated concerts this weekend. To mark the occasion, we've asked members of our staff to pick their favorite Dismemberment Plan tune and write a post about it. Today: music critic Mehan Jayasuriya on "The Other Side." Check out the rest of the series here.

Unlike most Dismemberment Plan fans, my introduction to the band wasn't that masterpiece of mid-twenties malaise, Emergency & I, but rather, its aptly-titled follow up, Change. more ›

You may have realized by now that we're kind of excited about the Dismemberment Plan's upcoming reunion tour, which begins tonight with a performance at the Black Cat, which they last played in 2007. We really couldn't have timed our piece on "The City" any better, though -- the band opted to play the Emergency & I classic during their appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night. more ›

D.C.'s favorite sons The Dismemberment Plan have reunited and will play a series of highly-anticipated concerts this weekend. To mark the occasion, we've asked members of our staff to pick their favorite Dismemberment Plan tune and write a post about it. We'll have an entry every day for the rest of this week. Today: editor-in-chief Aaron Morrissey on "The City."

Bring up about the Dismemberment Plan's "The City," the penultimate cut from the band's seminal Emergency & I, and many will likely talk about the song's emotive finale -- 73 seconds in which Travis Morrison finds himself admitting "And all I ever say now is good-bye." more ›

D.C.'s favorite sons The Dismemberment Plan have reunited and will play a series of highly-anticipated concerts this weekend. To mark the occasion, we've asked members of our staff to pick their favorite Dismemberment Plan tune and write a post about it. We'll have an entry every day for the rest of this week. Today: music editor Valerie Paschall on "The Ice of Boston."

Virginia Beach was hardly a fertile breeding ground for cultivating an interest in independent music. more ›

D.C.'s favorite sons The Dismemberment Plan have reunited and will play a series of highly-anticipated concerts this weekend. To mark the occasion, we've asked members of our staff to pick their favorite Dismemberment Plan tune and write a post about it. We'll have an entry every day for the rest of this week. Today: film critic Ian Buckwalter on "The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich."

I got to know the Dismemberment Plan one afternoon late in 1999. more ›

As if we weren't excited enough about the upcoming Dismemberment Plan shows at the end of the week, the guys brought our anticipation to a fever pitch by a) releasing some more tickets for their Black Cat and 9:30 Club shows yesterday and b) playing a secret show at Galaxy Hut on Saturday night. Considering the size of Galaxy Hut, most local Plan fans didn't get that hypothetical gold-leaf engraved invite, but here are some photos of the intimate event which should hold you over...at least until their Late Night with Jimmy Fallon appearance on Thursday night. more ›

D.C. rockers The Dismemberment Plan are, without question, the highlight of this month's music calendar -- but before they strap in for three huge shows later this month, they'll be appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on January 20. And they need help choosing what they'll play! more ›

Did you miss out on tickets for the two Washington, D.C. Dismemberment Plan reunion shows, both of which sold out in mere minutes on Friday? You're in luck! The Washington Post's Chris Richards reports that the the band is D-Planning (I know, I know, sorry) on playing a second show at the 9:30 Club on Sunday, January 23. Tickets will reportedly go on sale later today, but no set time has been announced -- at this point, the best plan of attack is probably to F5 the hell out of the band's new Facebook page until details pop up; we'll update if we get word on an on-sale time. tickets are on sale now. Go, go, go! more ›

If you're like us, you're probably pretty excited about the Dismemberment Plan's upcoming reunion tour, which will hit both the Black Cat and the 9:30 Club in late January 2011. (If you haven't yet taken the time to read our updated Secret History feature about the making of D-Plan's legendary Emergency & I, now seems like a good time to get on that.) Tickets for the two D.C. shows go on sale this afternoon at noon; we're expecting both shows to sell out in about twelve seconds. Maybe less. Tickets for both the January 21 show at the Cat and the January 22 show at 9:30 are $20. Here's the website to visit when noon rolls around -- good luck. more ›

DCist's Secret History series kicked off last summer with an entry on the Dismemberment Plan's classic Emergency & I (DeSoto, 1999), one of the best albums to come out of D.C. in the 90s, if not ever. But given that the original piece featured no comments from the band -- now a Secret History staple -- and that the D-Plan just announced reunion shows for 2011 and an Emergency & I reissue from Barsuk Records, we thought it might be a good time to re-post the Emergency & I piece, augmented with some observations and comments from Dismemberment Plan singer/guitarist Travis Morrison and bassist Eric Axelson. Enjoy! more ›

Our new occasional series, "Secret History", features DCist contributor Brandon Gentry profiling classic D.C. rock albums as a way of looking back at the District's contributions to music over time. To start the series, he takes a look back at the Dismemberment Plan's Emergency & I (DeSoto, 1999). more ›

So now you know who we loved locally this year. Here's our list of the live shows that came through town and left a lasting impression in '07. more ›

The first, instantly noticeable aspect of Fredericksburg, VA's Pash is the luminous voice of singer/guitarist Merideth Munoz. With a voice that partially recalls Rainer Maria's Caithlin de Marrais and has a rock edge reminiscent of Pretty Girls Make Graves' Andrea Zollo, Munoz has the vocal tenacity to halt anyone who may have stumbled across a track on their MySpace page. more ›

When the Dismemberment Plan decided to call it quits in 2003, D.C. lost the one hometown act that just about everyone could agree on. The years since have been filled with high expectations for all of the band's former members, though none of the post-breakup projects have managed to incite the level of excitement that always seemed to surround the Plan. As you'll probably recall, the first out of the gate was Travis Morrison with... more ›

The male/female rock duo formula is a time tested tradition. Whether it owes to the simplicity of the setup, the contrasting timbres and harmonies possible, or some sort of subliminal sexual tension is anyone's guess. But from Richard & Linda Thompson to Quasi to the White Stripes to Sonny & Cher, and even, um, Roxette, there's no denying its appeal. The Aquarium popped up in D.C. a full half decade ago, quietly building a following... more ›

When the advance promo single from The Beanstalk Library landed in our hands in the midst of that blinding heat wave in early August, it seemed perfectly timed. The one-two punch of “Elephantitis”, a rushing, gushing power-popper, and “Fake It”, with its requisite jangle and harmonies, was the perfect antidote to midsummer malaise. Now the proper full-length, America at Night, is finally out, and the band’s finally got the album they’ve been working on since... more ›

Travistan and the Dismemberment Plan. There. I wanted to just throw those out there right at the start and get them out of the way, as they're the two points of reference reviews are inevitably going to go to time and time again for Morrison's new record. They're also two things to which Morrison may already tire of comparisons. And, of course, they're the essential pieces of the questions on many a hopeful fan's lips... more ›

FRIDAY: >> DCist favorites The French Kicks are at the Rock and Roll Hotel tonight with The Childballads (the Bon Savants cancelled). $13, 9:30 p.m. >> Exotic Fever Records is keeping the spirit of the D.C. underground scene alive almost singlehandedly, and this weekend they'll celebrate their seven year anniversary with an ecclectic festival to showcase their artists. Tonight it's Mass Movement of the Moth, New Idea Society, Den of Thieves, Kathy Cashel, Worn In... more ›

FRIDAY: >> The Millennium Stage Conservatory Project concludes this weekend at the Kennedy Center. Promising young musicians from the nation's best conservatories will be giving free concerts in the Terrace Theater: Eastman School of Music (tonight), Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University (Saturday), and Shepherd School of Music, Rice University (Sunday). All concerts begin at 6 p.m. and can also be experienced by live simulcast through the Millennium Stage Web site. >> Garrison Keillor brings... more ›

Fort Reno, the long-running summer concert series that dates back to the days when Marion Barry wasn't dodging indictments, gives D.C.'s indie and punk faithful welcome respite from dark, dimly lit clubs, and everyone a chance to enjoy some great local bands during the long summer evenings. The stage has witnessed many amazing performances by a who's who of local luminaries including Fugazi, Q and not U, Ted Leo and Mary Timony, and was to... more ›

>> While half the DCict staff was still buzzing from this weekend's Dismemberment Plan shows, stereogum chatted with front-man Travis Morrison about his day job as "lead JavaScript programmer for advertisements for the Washington Post website." All of a sudden the Post seems so much cooler. Any other semi-retired rock gods looking for jobs at a D.C. Web site? We can offer you cookies and a handful of DCist temporary tatoos! >> Cops in... more ›

Down here at DCist HQ, you know what really gets us going? more ›

"We're going to play a short set," declared Chad Clark, a few songs into the Beauty Pill's opening set, "because we're not stupid." Clark knew full well why it was that Saturday night's show had sold out in four minutes, and as wonderful as Beauty Pill's collection of angular and melodic post-punk was, it wasn't them. Neither was it Owls & Crows, whose opening set was a juggernaut of hard, no-nonsense rawk that could... more ›

FRIDAY: >> Attention all nerds: This is like our Lollapalooza or something. First Person: Stories from the Edge of the World is an event being held tonight by National Geographic Live, which features some sort of "collaboration" between NPR's Neal Conan and Liane Hansen, the Celtic/early music crossover group Ensemble Galilei, and actor Bill Pullman. Together this crew will narrate excerpts from the journals of great explorers such as Jacques Cousteau, George Mallory, and Charles... more ›

Today the National Press Club announced the craziest show to hit the Washington music scene since Dismemberment Plan decided to reunite for two performances this weekend. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who's recovering well from his cancer surgery, and CBS anchor Bob Schieffer go head to head in a battle of the bands dubbed Honky Tonk Meets the White House Wonk. The veteran newsman sings with Honky Tonk Confidential, a country-western band, while... more ›

Monday >> You can be fairly certain that when a rapper takes a stagename that is a play on Hawthorne, you're going to be dealing with a hip-hop experience concerned with more than just the next glass of Courvoiseir. Hesta Prynn and her cohorts in Northern State take the Black Cat backstage with Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion, the new project from half of the fantastic Bitch & Animal. This ought to be a mainstage... more ›

As you may have heard, one of the most beloved and, in our opinion, best bands ever to come out of the District, The Dismemberment Plan, are reuiniting next month for the sake of Callum Robbins. The overwhelming, fast sell out of the first show lead the guys to agree to a second night -- April 27, which went on sale last night relatively under the radar — but openly enough to sell out pretty... more ›

> >UPDATE: As a commenter notes, The Dismemberment Plan tickets for the second show, Friday, April 27 are on sale NOW. Go, friends, go! > > Best birthday present ever? Hmmm. Submitted for your approval: How about booking the Thievery Corporation? To play the birthday boy's living room? Well played, ma'am. Well played. [The Upstate Life] > > Why isn't Butterstick playing in the snow like his parents? Maybe it's because he doesn't want to... more ›