We played an Edge Festival show with Dinosaur Pile-Up and Is This Music? were awfully nice about it. Aw shucks...
"What’s in a name? Ok, in the case of Curators, not that much, this being a thinly-veiled link between both parts of the review. Describing themselves as “an irritation before the main event” Curators are anything but. Their name may suggests little - should we expect punk, metal, eurodisco? Who knows (I’d have said electropop myself).
In the event, I guess, alt.rock may be the pigeonhole of choice, the 4-piece making perfectly executed guitar tunes big on anthemic choruses and catchy hooks. What is apparent is that the four members are in perfect harmony - literally, backing vocals ringing out lustily and guitars being flailed at in synchronised form, like cogs in a human threshing machine. ‘State of Grace’ is tops for its insistent riff but rivaled by a newie with chorus “close the windows or our souls will fly away” which stays in the head all the way through the interval.
So, what’s in a name? (told you we’d get there). Surely using the word “Dinosaur” in a band name is inadvisable as the ghost of J Mascis and co will weigh heavily over it. To be fair, of all the US acts you’d expect, the sludgey rock of the Massachusets trio is the one they’re least in thrall to.
Well, recorded at least. ‘Summer Hit Single’ - er, the single - is one great big bright guitar hook; live it’s a dirtier, grungier sound which contrasts a little with the clear-as-a-bell sound of the opening act. For every ‘Love Is A Boat And We’re Sinking’ with its sparky melody - also subsumed in a din of feedback - there’s a ‘My Rock’n'Roll’, which is really bog-standard grunge. And Nirvana-by-numbers is so Nineties, especially when compared to the spidery guitar lines that ape Pavement, or the tune-and-a-half they squeeze into every Weezer-a-like effort.
So it’s a set of highs and not-so-highs - their way with a joyous skyscraping chorus is not in doubt, and the aforementioned songs just about poke through the din and see the sweaty wee venue light up. They even throw in a live drum changeover mid-song (they had a spare snare with them, ho ho) and technically they’re spot on while hovering on the edge of controlled and righteous rage. If they can write consistently theirs will be a name to conjure with - though whether they’ll top ‘Freak Scene’ for longevity or shake off their ‘Jr’ partners is another matter."