Stage Buzz: La Dispute
Michigan post-hardcore quintet La Dispute are generating some serious blog around their third LP, Rooms of the House, which dropped last month on Better Living (the band’s own label). And, while the album deserves every bit of buzz it’s getting (you can read about how much I liked it in our >April issue), don’t let the hype machine fool you: La Dispute have been rocking absolute ass since 2008, when their debut full-length Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair up and eviscerated fans’ notions of what a hardcore band could and couldn’t do (the thing is based on a Japanese folk tale, dons a twelve-minute track, and slips freely into 7/4).
On-tape ambition aside, La Dispute’s chief asset remains their live show, which draws half its power from the band’s sonic girth and half from the utter lack of irony with which frontman Jordan Dreyer barks his oft-bleak lyrics (which broach everything from divorce to disease). It might sound miserable on paper, but if you strap in your psyche, La Dispute could put on one of the most cathartic shows you’ll see all spring.
Saturday, April 5 at Metro. 7 p.m. Sold out.
-Matt Pollock
Category: Featured, Stage Buzz, Weekly
