"nursed the shoreline" // beach tunes

haven't been here in a while – sorry I was moving! – so I figured I would get back into the swing of things with a mixtape about walking around on the beach in the middle of April (which is, sadly, something I haven't been able to do much this year).

listen @ 8tracks

beeeeest,
AR

Mansions, Pianos Become The Teeth, La Dispute @ The Sinclair

In the dead of winter last year, I saw La Dispute at The Sinclair. I went with my future roommate and despite having issues finding the relatively new venue in Harvard Square, we had the time of our lives. It was great to be back at The Sinclair (the last time I was there was for The Front Bottoms, in July) – The Sinclair's staff is awesome. When you walk into the venue, the event staff scan your tickets, the bartenders are chill (they even give out free water – which is awesome, after years of having to shell out three dollars for plastic cup of tap water). It's a venue that exemplifies what I love about (most of) my experiences in the punk community: care.

In an interview with the Crimson after opening last year, Josh Bhatti (who's the head of The Bowery Presents: Boston, the backers of The Sinclair) said: "You’re going to come here and be treated well. Better than any music venue in town—I guarantee it." And he's right.

Last year The Menzingers were supporting and both bands gave incredible shows but La Dispute took my breath away. I knew immediately after the show that I needed to see them again.

Vocalist/lyricist Jordan Dreyer's frantic energy as a performer makes their live shows so intense. It's watching total surrender to music and seeing that kind of honesty in a performance is fucking incredible. Seeing La Dispute is cathartic, Dreyer's lyrics are both complex and simple: they are well-wrought tales of things we all experience.

The band played a good chunk of tracks off their new album Rooms of the House, which is the best mixing of Dreyer's beautiful lyrics with relatable, every day micro-aggressions. Rooms of the House is about a relationship falling apart, an ode to the fractures of domesticity. It's an incredible album and it's an incredible album live.

La Dispute really honored their hardcore roots this tour, adhering to the "fast and loud" ethos of the hardcore community. By the time we were walking out the door, I felt like I had run a marathon through their songs with them. Fucking mind-blowing.

Supporting La Dispute on the tour were their good friends, Pianos Become The Teeth and Mansions. I had such a good time listening to Mansions that I ducked out for the beginning of Pianos' set to grab a CD and chat with Christopher Browder for a bit about the band and The Sinclair. I'm hoping to catch them at a show again soon.

While I like Pianos Become The Teeth on records, I had a hard time dealing with them as a live band. They play well and the crowd loved it, but their stage presence just didn't do it for me. They just didn't seem to play well as a large group – it felt like I was watching  two bands at once. Sounds cool, but it didn't work for me. The crowd loved it though, so I'm thinking it just wasn't to my taste.

All in all? A great night. The roommate and I had to leave early to get home on time, which was a bummer because we ducked out right when La Dispute started to play their older stuff, but I'd rather have a great time while I was there, rather than have the night ruined by being stuck in South Station. I can't wait to see both La Dispute and Mansions again and see more shows at the Sinclair, maybe even next time I'll try out the restaurant downstairs.

soooo long, so long,
AR