Ever have one of those secrets that you have to tell someone, and in turn, that person tells five people, those five people tell five more people, and before you know it, the whole town knows about it? The Dismemberment Plan might still be a secret to most music fans, but it's the type that can't be concealed for long. Sure, the group has already been together for years, opened for Pearl Jam, put out three discs and stepped in and out of major-label territory. But the road to fame is destined to be a gradual climb for a musicians who dare to carve out a distinct niche in the static indie-rock scene. Still, recognition ultimately seems likely for a truly adventurous group that incites the kind of constant dancing and shout-along fanaticism usually observed only when cover bands or jam-oriented outfits take the stage.

Hailing from outside Washington, D.C., a town known for its politically motivated music scene as well as its politics, The Dismemberment Plan sounds like few of its Fugazi-worshipping neighbors. In fact, the Plan is what so many eminently categorizable acts pretentiously claim to be -- stylistically indescribable.

"You can dig out elements of The Beatles and Roni Size and Carole King and just about everything else," bassist-keyboardist Eric Axelson says. Such name-dropping might rightfully inspire skepticism, but that fades after a few listens to the bizarrely beautiful songs on D-Plan discs such as ! and The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified.