Emergency & I

Emergency & I is a 1999 album by Washington, D.C. indie band The Dismemberment Plan, issued on DeSoto Records. It was produced by J. Robbins and Chad Clark. Reviews for the album were generally very favorable. On January 11, 2011, Barsuk Records reissued the vinyl edition of Emergency & I, which includes an oral history of the band conducted by The A.V. Club's Josh Modell. In 1998, The Dismemberment Plan signed a record deal with Interscope Records. Emergency & I was recorded during the band's time with Interscope and was meant to be the first of the two albums they would record with the label.Using the money from Interscope, the album was recorded at Water Music Studios in Hoboken, New Jersey.Some songs went through different stages during recording. "Spider in the Snow" was originally going to have real strings. However, Travis Morrison thought that using strings was "too fancy" and decided to use Casio keyboards instead. "What Do You Want Me To Say" was originally going to have turntable scratching, but the plan was scrapped after producer Chad Clark thought using samples was kitsch. Chad Clark also originally did not want "You Are Invited" to be on Emergency & I, finding the song too sentimental.When Geffen Records and A&M Records merged into Interscope in 1999, Universal Music Group announced that they would cut numerous artists from Interscope.The Dismemberment Plan were one of the artists affected by the cut. In turn, the band decided to release Emergency & I on their former label DeSoto Records.