The Shifty Disco label is, as the title suggests, 10 years old. Home in the past to such dubious luminaries as Jack Drag, Murry The Hump, Beulah and Elf Power, their scattershot approach to A&R has seen a fair number more misses than hits on their books.
So far so good, then – such industry should be applauded. But here, across three themed discs (titled Now, Then and Maybe), their roster too easily blends into one. You may well hear the brilliance of ex-RC single of the month, Flipside by Panda Gang but, for each moment of revelation and remembrance, there’s plenty of dirge-like, same-pitch angstridden indie rock, which probably even sounded a tad tired in 1997.
Still, 10 years is a long time for anyone’s business, and the likes of The Young Knives prove there’s a know-how at work behind the scenes at this defiantly lonesome Oxford brand name. All they need is one Arctic Monkeys or Arcade Fire smash, and people will start saying the label is ‘one to watch’. Fingers crossed.
