La Dispute - Vancouver

Band: La Dispute
Album: Vancouver
Genre: Rock/Hardcore/Experimental
Label: Friction/ No Sleep

Tracks:
1. Future Wars
2. A Word of Welcome and Warning
3. See You in Vancouver
4. To Withstand The Force of Storms
5. He is Here, He Is Not Afraid
6. The Surgeon and The Scientist
7. Fairmount
8. Untitled

Released in April 2006, "Vancouver," is the debut ep from La Dispute, who just inked a deal with No Sleep Records and thus, I felt the need to review the ep that got them there. Hailing from Grand Rapids, MI, these boys push themselves to verge of a musical breakdown both lyrically and through instrumentation all in the course of only eight songs. However, the question remains: Does La Dispute truly deserve the deal they have just inked or should they have remained on the underground until they faded into obscurity?

"Vancouver," begins with cymbals and builds quickly into a full band power force as vocals come in and you are instantly reminded of, "A-->B Life," era Mewithoutyou. There isn't really screaming or singing, more like very fast and emphasized spoken word poetry. It sounds ridiculous, but it works amazingly well. The album rarely slows for more than a short period, with songs like, "Future Wars," and, "The Surgeon and The Scientist," flowing like a tornado of of ideas being pushed together just to see what can be made. There are times where, instrumentally, it sounds like your listening to each member practicing by themselves, or tuning, but somehow, La Dispute makes it into song and makes you want to hear more of it. I listed this band as hardcore, but there are no breakdowns and the screams are more like brief yelps in the midst of storytelling, but the music itself is hard and fast and the fury found inside the vocals speaks of underground hardcore. It's simply in your face music that doesn't care if you get it or not, they just want to entertain you. In fact, find a live video of them sometime and see what they bring to the table, you'll be both impressed and clicking refresh on myspace to see if they're coming your way soon.

On the negative side, the album does have some downsides. The production is sub-par at points and the bass seems either not there at all or too loud. Also, the vocal production seems hallow a lot. Almost as if he is standing to far away to get a clean recording, but I doubt that's the case. Most of the flaws seem to be more focused on the production, so I won't hold those against the band too much. As a whole, La Dispute has room to grow and it's been time since this recording, so I'm sure on 11/17, when the new album drops, they will be a much tighter band, but until then, "Vancouver," is a must listen for fans of At The Drive In or the glory days of Mewithoutyou. Not everyone will, "get it," but if you do, you'll have a new favorite rising artist.

Grade: 8/10