La Dispute - Panorama ALBUM REVIEW

I THINK I SAW YOU IN MY SLEEP, MELON

6 and 8
There are no other numbers

Man, I got a la dispute tattoo at 17 when wildlife came out, I’m turning 24 soon and this band hasn’t done anything that would make me regret that, so far.

2018: year of the snitch
2019: year of the six

anthony can you please reply to my therapist

I loved Panorama, the aesthetic was on point and the same atmosphere lingers with all the tracks. Also wish you had mentioned THERE YOU ARE (HIDING PLACE), to me that was one of the strongest songs on the album vocally, instrumentally and lyrically.

You’re really sleeping on There You Are (Hiding Place), in my opinion. This is the standout track on the album for me, lyrically and musically. The vocal performance is pained and evocative, and the transition between the softly spoken passages and the yelled really gel with the syncopated, almost frantic drumming. I agree that this feels like a return to an older formula after ROTH, but I disagree that this is a miss. I feel like they really hit the mark they were aiming for and it resonated for me personally quite a bit.

Giving this album anything less than an 8 is blasphemy.

I love watching your forehead crease and uncrease Melon, your forehead deserves a strong 10

la dispute ran so hobo johnson could walk

This album deserve atleast an 8 wtf.. bad melon

There is no la dispute about how tasty the melon looks in tie dye shirts

Surprised there was no mention of There You Are(Hiding Place). That's easily one of La Dispute's best tracks ever. Powerful lyrics, great music, and a nice range of emotion/tone.

I LOVE LA DISPUTE!!! THEY ARE SPLENDID MUSICAL STORYTELLERS!!! Cathartic poetry is the word!

I thought this was going to be a 7 or 8. Great record.

Damn Fandango, I've been waiting for this one and you hold me in suspense with the tie-dye in the thumbnail.

I pretty much agree with you on the first half, it's amazing, but I do think you're still sleeping a bit on the rest of the album. You didn't even mention There You Are, which has a performance from Dreyer that I find to be pretty unique and considerably emotional from him. Also, I think Footsteps at the Pond is great if you just get past the mix (namely on headphones), though I do think the mixing on this album is a bit on and off.
I honestly wouldn't rate this worse than a 7; its got the aesthetic down, and even if the storytelling isn't as grandiose and specific as it was in _Wildlife,_ this album simply offers something different. The themes are more accessible but at the same time might even be more beautiful.
I mean, this is definitely not better than _Wildlife_ but I think it actually is one of the better albums in their discography. I don't know why but I found it more memorable than _Rooms of the House._

There’s no need to talk about how jealous you are of Billie Eilish’s long hair in every video, Anthony.

Imagine thinking the new Billie eilish record is better than this

Don’t let this distract you from the fact that melon gave Lil Pump a higher score than MBDTF

Cover art looks like La Dispute made a future synth album

I'd have given this a strong 7, but I feel you made some pretty valid points. Nowhere near as enveloping/powerful as Wildlife or RoTH, but I do love their attempt to bring in a lot of mood and texture. I'm a little surprised you didn't have anything positive to say about THERE YOU ARE (HIDING PLACE). In my opinion that's easily one of the best tracks on this LP, with some of Jordan's most sincere lyrics.
Also no comments on the vocal mixing, which I'm still divided on.
Interesting review Melon, thanks for taking the time to drop some publicity on my favorite band.

I understand where he's coming from, I'm a big fan of la dispute but I loved this record. My favorite record of their before this one was Rooms of the House, which is at odds with most of their fan base which seems to like Wildlife. I feel like this album was a solid 9 for me

*YOU, WILDLIFONY LOVERTHANO GIVES THIS A 6/10?!?*

Rammstein-Deutschland track review!! Come on; first track in eight years!!

Can we talk about the vocals in the beginning? Billie who? Ariana who?

thank you for reviewing bands in this genre :)

FINALLY
I’m disappointed but it’s ok

I agree with you on this. When held up next to their other albums you see a regression in to a comfort zone rather than a branch out into new artistic boundaries, where their first couple albums are obviously inspired and willing to try whatever

🍈 Needle Drop Scores 2k19: 💉
10/10 : 0
9/10 : 2 (Lil Simz - Grey Area, Xiu Xiu - Girl with Basket of Fruit)
8/10 : 9
7/10 : 8
6/10 : 14
5/10 : 4
4/10 : 4
3/10 : 1 (Maaagiee Rogggerrrs)
2/10 : 1 (Gunna 💧)
1/10 : 0
NOT GOOD : 2 (NAV, Logic)
69/10 : 1 (guess)
There has been *46* reviews this year. Final Verdict: Year of the 6ix continues.
If you think I have made a mistake, let me know and I'll fix it right away. Thanks for reading. 👍

Man it's been a minute. I remember I wrote a review of Rooms of the house for my college radio station my freshman year and now I've been graduated for 2 years next month. Glad to hear new La Dispute tho, no matter how long it took

interpretations and opinions are fascinating - view from our bedroom window is one of favourite tracks. great review tho

I keep thinking that I NEVER agree with you. This is probably La Dispute's best album. So solid and well thought out. It's literally an audio journey and they've never sounded better.

Please review The Valley by Whitechapel. Love this La Dispute album review btw

Do 'I Hate Mars Bars'.

Loved the album. I see your points though.

Year of the 6 continues

BEEN WAITING FOR THIS NEEDLE TO DROP

Your the best Anthony Fantano. youve brought me and so many others a lot of happiness, thank you man!!!

the opening and closing of the album are really moving and intense, the middle is a little less interesting but still worth a listen

Really loved this album. Especially with the fact that they relesed the album early as a "video game" really immersed you in the album.

Anthony should make a video ranking his 10/10 albums.

i really think you nailed the album review. majority of the comments will be people (fans) arguing, but if we're all honest here, I think we're clinging to an older nostalgic powerhouse of refreshed post-hardcore that was new at the time.
something ive learned from very many great artists/bands though, is over the time they gather popularity, I think identity refinement starts to take place. Two examples I can give are Radiohead and Shigeto.
A fork in the road appears; do we keep creating music for our fans (give them the sound they and our music execs want of us) and eventually burn out our sound, or do we create the music for ourselves and trust our fans will interpret and respect our musical direction and understand we change just like the world and humans around us?
I knew this album wasnt going to be what I wanted almost from the day it began its promotion campaign. Post after post of 15sec leak clips, of only 2 songs, merch merch merch promotional posts, tour posts. Nothing about the music, the band, the direction, the musicians. Trying to drip feed the patient and heartfully-invested fans, baiting us.
It felt like any social media presence wasnt the band or music that I loved, it was the merch stall outside of the stadium/concert arena.
It left a sour taste in my mouth, where hype meant more than actual band presense.
Its sad to see something change. But now I realise this is La Dispute, whether consciously or unconsciously stepping down from my shelf of high rotation, and making way for me to again explore new music and find a new emotional connectivity with musicians.

It’s no Wildlife, but I do enjoy the Fulton Streets for sure, and I like Jordan’s occasional attempts at singing as opposed to only yelling and speaking on this album. I can’t recall any other past tracks he sung on.

I own panorama on vinyl and the 'muddy' mixing of footsteps at the pond sounds incredibly on vinyl

This album is easily at least an 8

Avey Tare Cows on Hourglass Pond??

FINALLY, I'VE BEEN WAITING SINCE RELEASE

I would really love to see a review for Floating Trip by Bowland! It's an Iranian/Italian psychedelic kinda trip hop band, they're amazing imo

Thanks for telling me about an album eggcup head sales man!

For me, Panorama was a departure from what I wanted, but at the same time, another Wildlife just wouldn’t hit the same. I like every record they’ve put out thus far, but all for entirely different reasons. I loved Vancouver for it’s embrace of a rough and chaotic sound that paid homage to the roots of the bands sound. I loved Somewhere at the Bottom for it’s nuanced storytelling that seemed almost timeless against a backdrop of relationships paused in moments of true agony, and I think it’s probably their most overlooked album. As far as Wildlife goes, I’m sure anyone who got this far knows why it’s absolutely amazing from start to finish, but to put it simply, it was the hardest hitting emotive storytelling I could find that didn’t feel like it took itself too seriously or tried to feel deeper than it was. Rooms of the House was also a great listen because even though it stumbled to find a catchier sound, it never let go of the ability to paint a situation with stunning weight and urgency. Lastly, I love Panorama because, to me, it shows that not all trauma and pain stays that urgent and weighty, but rather can be expressed in moments of apathy and regret in equal measure as heart wrenching breakdowns. I feel like each record presents a new approach to telling stories, and each one delivers punctual messages of dealing with tragedy (except maybe Vancouver... it didn’t really grapple with these themes). Overall, I think I’ve had a lot of cathartic moments listening to la dispute, and I wouldn’t ask them to change in any way, even if they end up moving away from my interests.

Appreciate you reviewing this.
I see your points about how the stories aren’t as cutting but that’s because this is a personal album rather than telling other people’s stories. Also love the ending of You Ascendant for how the mixing and feedback starts to overtake Jordan’s vocals as he’s starting to shout louder, then it collapses.
I thought the way each song transitions to next was done very tastefully and really makes this album breeze by. My favourite track (and only one to go unmentioned) is THERE YOU ARE (HIDING PLACE) where I think we get the most compelling delivery on the album and best dichotomy of the sound this record is going for. It has the somber guitar and bassline and then explosive vocals that builds up to a breaking point.
I’m a massive La Dispute fan so it’s no question that I was very happy with this album, v worth the wait. 10/10 ez

*Starts out review speaking German*
*Haircut basically skinhead*
*Ends video aggressively Heiling*
Anthony, is there anything you want to tell us?

You only gave this a 6 because the yellow flannel needed a wash.

You should talk about Getter's tour being cancelled, it's probably the biggest topic in the electronic music community at the moment and definitely worth discussion in my opinion.

Anthony I definitely saw you working out at Planet Fitness in Bristol a few months ago. I was gonna say hi but was too nervous

I love the fuck outta this album. It's atmospherically heavy, and I love the variation in the mixes for each song. A strong 8-9 for this one!

Coming back to this album. its hard to describe how I feel about this album. on the one hand, I wouldn't want la dispute to make anything else, however if I were to rate each song separately and average them, I think I'd end up on a 6, like Melon. But if you come into the album with enough patience and listen through the whole thing in one sitting, it suddenly becomes a sprawling, epic and emotionally resounding LP that looms over the rest of their discography and leaves me wondering if I just listened to the best album of the decade. The questionably messy mixes suddenly become all encompassing until all there is is the music. One of the most interesting musical experiences I've had, but I think I really need to be in the mood to listen to it.

I've been listening to these guys since they first put out Somewhere Between and I'm definitely in agreement, though I'd argue it's a 7 purely for their willingness to further attempt to experiment with their sound a bit. It wasn't really a hit in most cases on Panorama unfortunately but the few good tracks on here are fucking great. You Ascendant is a good song, but "anti-climactic" is definitely the most apt description of that song in the context of a LD closer track.
Honestly, when you release something like Wildlife so early on into your career, you've got a serious, serious mountain to overcome in future releases.

Strong 7 to light 8. The mix on some tracks could’ve been much better but I really enjoyed the progression and performances.

Please review the Japanese house- ‘good at falling’. It will amaze you

This one was always going to be divisive. I think it's mostly riveting throughout, but fizzles towards the end. I can feel their pain listening to this.

Gotta love the George Clanton merch

You should look at Empath from Devin Townsend or P4: Hail Stan from Periphery next!

Rooms of the house was the first LD album I ever really got into and I loved it so much because the album and the band in general were so stylistically unique from anything I’ve ever heard. When they put up their albums for free as a charity drive I got their other albums and fell in love with the heavier style they had on Vancouver. I’ve been really enjoying panorama because to me it feels like a good mix of both of those styles I’ve really enjoyed from them, but I definitely agree that the narratives are less captivating and memorable than on rooms of the house. I’m a huge LD fanboy though so I still really enjoy the album even if it’s a little underwhelming :)

hell yeah was waiting for this one

This is a great album. I'm in love with it.

Imagine liking Billie eilish more than this

I live on Fulton St and from the videos they released and the lyrics, I know the area Jordan's singing about.

I think an album which could warrant a review is the semi new Lil skies album 'shelby'. You did a quick review of his previous project 'life of a dark rose' and you said that you expected him to only become big is a song blew up all of a sudden (of which 2 of them did, 'red roses' and 'nowadays'). Now I'm just wondering if there's anything in his music which you might find to be unique or enjoyable since you found his music to be so common denomitor.

I dig the Black Moon LP in the back

Fulton Street one owes a lot to "Spiderland" by Slint. This record is damn beautiful.

Hey Anthony, you should check out Gouge Away if you havent already. They were picked up by La Dispute and are fucking killing it right now

Mama there go that man Anthony fanblueshirtano again ....

The Black Moon record in the back👌

Pup: Morbid Stuff
The Drums: Brutalism

I only clicked on this video because the colors looked nice. Nice shirt Anthony.

*THE YEAR OF THE 6 LIVES ON*

So SLIDE shirt means decent 6 ???

As someone who's never heard La Dispute before, I'm not sure about this album. It's fairly unique, but I'm not sure if the shouted words and instrumentals hang together for me. I'll hang onto it in case it grows on me.

will you be listening the new jaws record that comes out friday?

Whitechapels newest record is an incredible piece, I’d love to see your reaction to their sound

Where that Quelle Chris and Billy Woods respective 8s Melon?

that a slide shirt? i just recently got into George Clanton and wowwwowowoww is it good

Repping the Clanton merch 👍

Anthony can probably sing pretty well which makes me wonder why he hasn’t made music seriously.

I have to admit it has taken me a minute to let it grow on me, but I'd give it an 8. Not only because it's maddeningly relatable, but a departure from their previous departures. I like the mixing too sorrynotsorry

1:22 couldn't agree more

You should review Zeca Pagodinho, Anthony

Footsteps at the pond, is my favourite so g on this record

NICE *SLIDE* SHIRT MELON SHOUTOUT TO DAVID BOWIES VAPORWAVE GEORGE CLANTON

Snapped Ankles- "Stunning Luxury" like a weird mix of braniac, LCD soundsystem and XTC deffo your thing.

I love La Dispute but nothing touches Wildlife.

I see that George clanton shirt 😳

Though I appreciate your attempts at being bilingual and speaking Spanish in this review, Anthony, I wish you wouldn't mention tacos, chimichangas, or "tú verga" every 17 seconds

Melon trying to summon the beast with these 6’s

Review "You Are Literally a Metaphor" from Consider the Source

Have you re-listened to wildlife recently? Did you love it, did you hate? What would you rate it? I'd give it a 6 these days.

This album wrecked my emotions.

Man I was expecting a 9 or 8...guess I really can't predict Melon's scoring.