A mixed bag of musical treats…For as long as I can remember Killing Moon has always been there. Since 2012 they have been picking them up and coming acts that excite them. Putting out compilations and putting on gigs. IDLES, Nadine Shah, InMe, Annabel Allum, Draper and Fickle Friends are interwoven in their history. The fourteenth addition to their New Moons series is here. It showcases the label’s desire to tell us about the new acts they believe in.
The album kicks off with JOOLS ‘How Can Some Experience Pride Without Liberation for All’. And kick off it does. It brings to mind IDLES but with A Day To Remember backing track. Which is apt as Killing Moon were one of the first people to write about IDLES and booked them for shows. Spyres slows things down a bit, but not by much. The chorus is massive and catchy with crunchy guitars. Which is pretty much what you want. Eades ‘Same Guy’ has a good energy to it and a catchy stuttering guitar riff. ‘Same Guy’ is a bit more laidback than the first two tracks. It shows a more reflective side to the label.
Theodor Black’s ‘INDIGO’ is a nice slice of melodic hip-hop full of stories of inner city living, but with a De La flavour to the delivery. After a blistering start ‘New Moons Vol. XIV’ starts to lull in the middle. This is to be expected with compilation albums. The songs are a mixture of neon indie, R&B and rock and are generally fun, but they just don’t really excite me as much as the opening salvo. Not every compilation can be ‘Nagasaki Nightrider’, or ‘Curl Compilation 2’ though can it?
What ‘New Moons Vol. XIV’ shows that there, as usual, is a huge vein of undiscovered and unsigned music to be tapped into. Anyone of these bands has the potential to headline festivals. As and when they come back. But what ‘New Moons Vol. XIV’ really shows is that the label is doing what it has always done. Finding new music that excites them, that they want to excite you. Which is what they’ve done for the past eight years. Maybe the compilations should be called ‘Business As Usual’ instead.
7/10
Words: Nick Roseblade
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