**1/2 LIVE AT THE BLUE ROOM

(Yanstar)

The Blue Room, a small theater in Chico, California, is one of the dozens of independent venues around the country that cater to indie rock, and Live at the Blue Room brings together 14 tracks recorded at the venue since 1998. The Dismemberment Plan play up their self-conscious weirdness on the opener, "What Do You Want Me To Say?", a crunchy and dissonant exercise in oddball guitar lines and lush chords. Singer Travis Morrison hardly seems to take the song seriously, sounding as sincere as Andy Richter and adding a ridiculous "Uh!" every few lines.

"What Do You Want Me To Say?" is one of the disc's high points -- with their almost atonal hooks and Morrison's cynical detachment, the Dismemberment Plan represent an extreme example of the latest trend in indie rock, balancing punk influences with complicated songwriting, disorienting melodies, and jarring rhythms. Most of the rest of the bands here try to incorporate sophisticated arrangements without jettisoning the energy and intensity of the punk they were brought up on. Braid show off their enthusiasm for multiple time signatures; Ant Farm make for an entertaining escape from the rock with a quirky track that sounds like something you'd hear in a Super Nintendo game.

-- Matt Parish