Parlophone Records (label)
05 June 2019 (released)
05 June 2019
‘Culture is at once the expression and the reward of an effort, and any system of civilisation which tends to relax effort will suffer a corresponding depreciation of culture’. Georges Duhamel
Named for a scene from 2005’s simian-spectacular ‘King Kong’, Dinosaur Pile-Up are here to swipe the façade away, to wipe away the cosmetic claptrap peddled by the online ‘influencers’ in their gilded properties to reveal the true motives of these fame-hungry whore-mongers. The band’s targets of objection are forensically identified (perma-grinned man mountain Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson gets a 'mention' on both ‘K West’ and ‘Back Foot’). Be thankful for their endeavours.
Fourth album, ‘Celebrity Mansions’, is their first for major label Parolophone: a HEAVY collection of rock riffing, thunderous skin-thumping, Green Dayesque pop-punk and acerbic lyricism.
The ‘what-it-says-on-tin’ ‘Thrash Metal Cassette’ is a throwback to the halcyon days of physical music exchange, those audio missives that contained coded messages and the expression of tastes. This analogue form of cultural currency is celebrated as a sonic backdrop of the band’s touring bus. ‘Back Foot’ has the tonal traces of Manu Chao’s ‘Bongo Bong’, Matt Bigland’s laconic delivery a prelude to a bare-knuckle breakout of bash, Kerrang, wallop.
‘Celebrity Mansions’ is as melodious as Weezer, a dig at the aforementioned web-endorsers, shilling for a killing. Taking stock of the band’s ‘career’ to date it situates their talents up against these vacuous product placement people. ‘Pouring Gasoline’ sees Bigland stretch and exercise his screech cords sonically surrounded by a cacophonous wall of sound.
The ambiguous ‘K West’ is a cock-snooking aside at … is it, could it be, Mr Kim Kardashian and his orchestrated publicity generating faux pas? Nope, it appears be about the K West hotel in Hammersmith, London Town, site of some ‘mayonnaise’ spattered millionaire and their ‘drinking with the band’ antics before meeting ‘Jay-Zed (sic)’ for dinner’.
Even cathartic closer ‘Long Way Down’ - a tribute to his late father - employs the crunching noisescape that permeates throughout.
Intelligently dumb, diligently done.
