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The Dismemberment Plan | Change

This CD is not about transsexuals; it is about head-bobbing, rocking out, getting down.
CD, Desoto/Desoto

Tekst: Douglas Gush

Publicatiedatum: 08 september 2002

Spastic house beats and knuckle-slicing vocals tie together the Dismemberment Plan's fourth LP, Change. I have been listening to this disc through my headphones whenever I take walks through the city. Have you ever walked through Boston and watched the homeless kids sit by Harvard University and ask for (spare) change? If you ever do, I would suggest that you buy one of the kids a sandwich or some coffee, sit down, and watch life from their perspective. There is such a contrast in economics, lifestyles, and ideals, that it's enough to make you shudder. Oddly enough, I think somewhere in that paradox there is a beautiful cocktail of reality and idealism. There is art, poetry, intellectualism, and music in that community, and although it should not work, it always works for me.

Change, the album, embodies that conflict, then transforms it into amazing soundscapes, and occasionally makes my forest-like chest hair stand on end. The man steering the bus is Travis Morrison, and he writes in perfect circles around the breakbeats laid down by the rest of the Plan. His falsetto voice eases you into the disc's first track, a song that views life and death through the eyes of narcissistic, simple man. "There's no heaven and there's no hell / No limbo in-between / I think it's all a lie / Just a white light out to velvet black / And back to neutral gray." This track demonstrates the depth of the band by combining simple house beats with spooky guitar work and melodic vocals.

Needless to say, I was impressed with the disc from the start — but I did not say it was perfect. Automatic is a track that I would treat like a red-headed stepchild with a bad attitude and a nerdy bow tie — smelly little bastard! When testing the limits of a disc, it is important that one run across a track that one dislikes, because it gives us cynical rock reviewers something to write about. However, this was the only track that caused me wrinkle my eyebrows and adjust my glasses the way I do whenever I am not impressed. The bulk of this album would probably influence me to roll down the windows at a traffic light, sing loud, and bob my head up and down.

Towards the end of the track list, I get more and more impressed with the lyrics and incredible energy the disc possesses. Following Through, Time Bomb, and The Other Side are intense tracks that may actually set your CD player on fire. I would suggest shouting along with Time Bomb as you fly down a highway at 10:00 p.m., with your shirt off and your chest hair blowing in the wind. (This example only works for those with Chewbacca-like chest hair.) To round the disc off, Ellen And Ben describes what happens when two lovers find each other, diss their friends to spend every moment together, and then fall apart. It's a bittersweet ending to a powerful disc, from a band that has achieved some serious, and well-deserved, underground attention.

For those of us who do not have a people-watching spot, or a city to explore, I would suggest listening to this disc while experiencing life. Go for a ride to nowhere, neck with someone you love, figure out what necking means, rob a bank, anything, but just get out there. Associate this music with something you will want to remember, because this is a disc you will not easily forget.

And get down with the get down.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/the-dismemberment-plan/change/1831/
Meer The Dismemberment Plan op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/the-dismemberment-plan