Dinosaur Pile-Up – The Most Powerful EP In The Universe [EP]

Friends vs Records

September 15, 2009, 09:03 PM

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The word that gets bandied about most when describing Dinosaur Pile-Up is “grunge” which is fairly accurate. The word I’d like to bandy about as well is “Weezer” - which is also fairly accurate and a compliment. Sure the Leeds based power-trio churn out huge fuzzed-up riffs like we are still living in the mid-90s but they do it with a sense of primary-colour fun, daubed with the occasional splash of Rivers Cuomo introspection and with big, big tunes. Wearing their hearts on their plaid sleeves, it’s as much Weezer as Sub Pop if you ask me.

Dinosaur Pile-Up are garnering much praise and much comparison: everyone from Nirvana to - ooh - Foo Fighters. OK Dinosaur Pile-Up are not ground-breakers or dealing in genre-hopping innovation but they are adding their own confident (check that EP title) splash of colour to a well-trodden path without sounding like copycats. It would be interesting to think how Dinosaur Pile-Up would have been reviewed in 1994, however today they do stand apart from the crowd. The tail-end of the grunge years became quite depressing as loud became sludge and invention became trudge but Dinosaur Pile-Up have got the early years formula right. Melody + riff + fun + loudness. Does it equal ‘The Most Powerful EP in the Universe’? Not quite.

'Summer Hit Single' may have a maudlin lyrical touch (“It’s been a long hard year, many ups and downs… now the summer’s here”) but is a relentlessly full-throttle summer pop-shakedown that hints at a broader alt-rock sound (it reminded me of early Grandaddy: 'AM180' to be specific). 'Opposites Attract' slows it down a tad, a tense foot-on-the monitor stomp before the new wave fuzz of 'Cat Attack!!'. 'Melanin' is a bitter-sweet shuffle and it all finishes with the restless, quirky 'Beach Bug'. The EP has a refreshing, self-assured if somewhat rootless transatlantic sound but does it really gain from being an EP? Maybe a two song knock-‘em-dead single would have lived up better to the promise of the first song’s title.

I’m quibbling now. It may not be "The Most Powerful EP in the Universe" but it is first-class guitar-pop-punk. The cover shows cut-out photos of the band towering over a puny looking Earth. Such global domination may not be theirs just yet but despite the flaws of the EP conquering the hearts of a few more fans is assured.

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