Kevin Bronson on April 14th, 2014

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Who: The Dismemberment Plan at the Gobi Tent
In 3 or Fewer Words: That indie feeling
Memorable Because: “The D-Plan” was booked for a midnight set in the large Gobi Tent, but you’d have sworn their cathartic throwdown went down in a dumpy D.C. club. Hardly a hundred of Coachella’s 90,000-plus fans took it in, to their great detriment. In the days before “indie rock” meant imitation nostalgia, it stood for taking chances and pushing boundaries. The Plan’s singular, unclassifiable sound shouted that mantra into the dark desert void, lost to the sound and fury of the EDM dynasty we find ourselves in. (Come to think of it, the parade of genre revival rock that abandoned innovation really took off about the time Dismemberment Plan first broke up. What might have been?) “You’re Invited” and “What Do You Want Me To Say?” bilged the heart and cleansed the soul. On a festival day with an embarrassment of riches, other bands played bigger or more spectacular, but perhaps no other band played with so much character.
What I’d Tell My Friend Who Was At Skrillex: Just press play.
– Ben “Mouse” McShane