Desert Isolation Discs: Hello Thor co-founder Anders Knight

Barcelona-based record label head honcho and talented marketer Anders Knight is my latest guest over at sister blog Desert Isolation Discs. He became the lynchpin in the arts and culture scene of Nottingham when based there through his excellent stewardship of craft night Jumpers for Goalposts (my former charge), promoting gigs with Super Night, as co-host of the Pretty Dandy Flea markets or enticing us to watch great films at the Broadway cinema. 

His record label Hello Thor - co-founded with fellow friends of the blog Tom Whalley and Nick Lawford in 2008 - is host to a raft of exhilarating acts including Fists, We Show Up on Radar and Anxieteam. You can listen to the interview with Anders below.

Desert Isolation Discs: Anders Knight by Alex Lawson on Mixcloud

Yunioshi - CTRL

Yunioshi - CTRL from Nathan Crawley on Vimeo.

With their latest effort CTRL, Yunioshi have affirmed what many in the glamour-ridden, cultural hive of the East Midlands (really!) that Nottingham's finest popstars really do come in perfectly offbeat forms. Check out this video for the EP, which sees keyboard culprit Anna Suzuki Yunioshi rather spooked out...

Hello Thor presents Fists EP launch

Our good friends over at Hello Thor record are promoting an excellent gig in Nottingham this Friday, it's the launch of the glorious new Fists EP Olympic Hits and takes place at The Rescue Rooms where many of ShadowPlay's formative years (great gigs, dubious kissing on purple sofas and bitch slaps) were spent. Here I am rocking a Hello Thor tee in Amelie's cafe in Paris. Details of the gig below, go!

FISTS ‘Olympic Hits EP’ Launch Party! @ The Rescue Rooms
This Friday - 9th April 2010 - 8.30 til late - £5 (+ free EP with advance tickets)

Four of Nottingham’s brightest and best under one roof for one night only!
FISTS - on record their sound shifts from skiffle-punk to country-inflected indie pop. Live, Fists are a woozy, kaleidoscopic and riotously fun affair. "They do DIY and they do it well. Imagine the infectious anthemics of Broken Social Scene arm in arm with the eclecticism of Belle and Sebastian. Underlying this stargazing poppiness is a foundation of razor-edged post-punk." LeftLion
SWIMMING - avant-garde, euphoric and righteously poppy music.
PILGRIM FATHERS - awesome slabs of mind melting psychedelic post-rock.
ESCAPOLOGISTS - synth-heavy, drum machine backed, dark pop.
AFTER-PARTY!!! up in the Red Room featuring special guests:
* APES FIGHT BACK - www.myspace.com/apesfightback
* FRANK’S VINTAGE METAL DISCO featuring early ZZ-Top, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Led Zep, Black Sabbath, and Judas Priest.

Snap up an Advance Ticket for £5 (from Rock City box office / www.alt-tickets.co.uk) and you’ll get a FREE copy of the brand new ‘Olympic Hits EP’ by FISTS - just swap your ticket stub at the merch stand on the night.

Bent: Best Of

Nottingham lads Neil "Nail" Tolliday and Simon Mills will always have a special place in ShadowPlay hearts not only for their origins in the fair Midlands but also for their debut, Programmed to Love, which was probably the best record the city has produced and certainly the most impressive in the field of cleverly-worked electronica. Accomplished DJs and superb musicians, Bent are due a Best Of and, having always kept  a fairly low-key profile, it is nicely packaged as an introduction to the duo. Far from a flung together collection of their tunes, there’s a flow and control over this record which belies its status as a compilation – spreading the band’s work across two CDs.

The seven new songs here also serve to remind listeners that Bent are still fresh, coming up with a number of up-tempo, quite guitar led tunes to intersperse old favourites. But, in the end, long time listeners will enjoy a reprisal, Private Life and Magic Love still causing a tingle. Bent are a band who have often been under appreciated, their legacy starts here.