fika recordings

Victoria and Jacob are yet another new signing to Fika Recordings! We first came across them around this time last year when they sent us some sublime demos from their upcoming album. The frantic nature of running a record label alongside a full time day job took its toll, and that particular email slipped down the list of important-things-to-get-done-when-I-get_home-from-work, slightly forgotten. Roll on a few months and to an East London pub, sitting enjoying a few drinks with Trev from Oddbox Records, Darren Hayman and John from WIAIWYA, while we discussed ideas (ridiculous and not-so) and tinkered with Darren’s Excel spreadsheets, talk turned to demos received and demos that had slipped through the net from bands that went on to Bigger Things… Several pints later, John and I had decided that we’d be working together on the Victoria and Jacob, having both fallen in love with those early demos tracks and neither of us quite having had time to do anything about it yet!

Fast forward 6 months from that meeting and we’re just about ready to release the lead single from their forthcoming debut album. Festival will be out on the 27th of May, from both Fika Recordings and WIAIWYA, joined on the b-side by a cover of The Church’s Under The Milky Way.

You can pre-order the 7″ right now, with an immediate download of Festival from the Fika Recordings shop.

Not only that, but we’re giving away a free remix every Monday right up until the single release date. So far, we’ve had a Ralegh Long/Alex Pyper remix, one from Gringle and another from Alexander’s Festival Hall. There’s another five yet to come, and the final two are personal favourites!
Keep up to date with the remixes here.

There’s also a beautifully summery video for Festival, which you can watch below! Enjoy!

Tigercats have a new single out in July. This is exciting enough, but it’ll also be the first 7″ single I’ve put out on Fika Recordings! The single takes Harper Lee from their debut album Isle Of Dogs, and raises it with the second of the double a-sides, Cats Run Free. See that artwork above? That’s the cover; isn’t it a beauty? It’ll be available from the Fika webshop very shortly and should be on sale for £4 online, at Indietracks and at various indiepop gigs that I turn up to.

Tigercats are about to head out to play Primavera festival in Barcelona this weekend. If you’re going, make sure you see them; if you’re not (like me), there are plenty of other chances to see them.
Sat 2nd June: Barcelona – Red Bull Bus/Parc Del Forum/San Miguel Primavera Sound
Mon 4th June: Barcelona – Forum FNAC Triangle, 19:00 hrs + Macondo Bar (w/ The Missing Leech) – 21:30 hrs.
Tue 5th June: Bilbao – Forum FNAC
Wed 6th June: Gijón – Pabellón Cajastur/Recinto Ferial Luis Adaro
Thur 7th June: Madrid – Nasti
Sat 9th June: Madrid – Neu! Club (Farewell party with Mate, Wild Honey, Ellos y La Familia del Árbol)
Thur 14th June: Oxford – Bullingdon Arms supporting the School
Fri 29th June: Rochester – The Deaf Cat
Sat 7th July: Derbyshire – Indietracks
Thur 12th July: London – Old Queens Head, Tigercats & The Smittens & Fulhast

See that last gig? That’s a Fika show. I very rarely put on gigs, so you should probably calm my jittering nerves, buy an advance ticket and ease back, safe in the knowledge that once Indietracks is over, you’ve only got a couple of days of work before there’s something to soothe the pains. It should be a good show, with Tigercats being joined by The Smittens and supported by Fuläst. We’ll have records-a-plenty from all three to buy on the night.
Advance tickets available here