A DIY INDIEPOP VINYL & CASSETTE LABEL

Digital

The Just Joans - Romantic Visions of Scotland [12"/CD]

Artist: The Just Joans
Title: Romantic Visions of Scotland
Format: 12" album on black vinyl with lyrics insert | CD in digifile sleeve
Cat#: Fika113LP | Fika113CD
Release date: 23rd January 2026
Bandcamp

 The Just Joans' new album Romantic Visions of Scotland finds the Glasgow band in characteristically melancholic form, pairing shambling indie pop with sharp observations on romantic pratfalls and everyday disappointments, all delivered with sardonic Scottish wit, fronted by siblings David and Katie Pope, whose wry lyrics and heartfelt vocals remain at the heart of the band’s distinctive sound. 

Originally inspired by a grandiose exhibition title spotted on Glasgow buses in 2019 for a show at the National Museum of Scotland called Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland, the new album arrives six years later as a collection of semi-autobiographical snapshots from the Central Belt of Scotland. Whilst some of the details have been exaggerated for comic (or tragic) effect, the songs are based on personal experience of mundane failings, bitter regrets and missed opportunities that make up an unremarkable life.

Recurring themes of nostalgia for a bygone era and the fear of being left behind by lovers, friends and peers run throughout the album. Musically and lyrically, the band channels Village Green-era Kinks, with nods to The Television Personalities, The Smiths and Dolly Mixture.

In the past they have always recorded by themselves in a variety of bedrooms, living rooms – and the occasional toilet. For the first time they have abandoned their DIY recording practices to create what songwriter David Pope calls, “a corporate behemoth in an actual studio.” The album was recorded at Chem19 in Blantyre with Paul Savage, who is best known as a founding member of local legends The Delgados. He has also produced and recorded the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Arab Strap and Camera Obscura, and has captured a slightly more muscular version of the band while retaining their ramshackle charm.

The album artwork by vocalist and painter Katie Pope depicts Motherwell Train Station – an ordinary, boring place that speaks to the subject matter of the songs, but with a hint of potential escape. As David Pope explains, “For me, the painting reminds me of the ending of Billy Liar in which Billy tries and fails to leave his hometown for the bright lights of London. Half the band also live in Motherwell, so it seemed appropriate.”

Funded by Creative Scotland, the recording allowed the band to bring in bass and cello arrangements, adding depth and a sheen of musical proficiency to their signature sound. 

About The Just Joans

The Just Joans were formed in Glasgow in 2005 by songwriter David Pope. Early demos were collected together and released as a loose concept album, Last Tango in Motherwell, in 2006. Chris Elkin joined on guitar and was followed shortly after by David’s younger sister, Katie, on vocals and Fraser Ford on bass. Over the years they have released EPs and albums on WeePOP! and Fika Recordings and have gained a cult following as Scottish pop miserabilists. 

The current line-up consists of Katie Pope (vocals), David Pope (vocals, guitar), Chris Elkin (lead guitar), Fraser Ford (bass), Arion Xenos (keyboards) and Jason Sweeney (drums).

Press Quotes:

“They fit snugly into the scratchy, low budget Scottish indie tradition of The Delgados and Arab Strap… There’s mischief in this miserablism.” - Mojo 4*s

“Glasgow’s The Just Joans have documented the romantic pratfalls of a generation of indie kids with sardonic wit and a shambling musical style where Stephin Merrit lies down with The Vaselines.” - Uncut

“Funny and sad, it’s the kind of song that made Red House Painters, The Magnetic Fields and The Wedding Present’s early albums so easy to embrace; an unpretentious sharing of relatable gloom.” - Record Collector

Brutalligators - Still Here [12”]

Artist: Brutalligators
Title: Still Here
Format: 12” Vinyl LP | Digital
Cat#: Fika112LP
Release date: 21 Nov 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

BRUTALLIGATORS RETURN WITH RAW AND RESILIENT SECOND ALBUM “STILL HERE

A queer indie-punk love letter to learning to accept all that life throws at you, with big sing-along choruses and heart-on-sleeve lyrics about relationships, friendship and gender.

Hitchin-based indie-punk four-piece Brutalligators are back with their second album, Still Here, a powerful, cathartic, and joyously loud collection of songs about survival, identity, and moving forward. From shout-along anthems to intimate confessions, the album explores grief, friendship, queer identity, aging, and that ever-complicated feeling of simply trying to exist.

Following 2021’s This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small, the new record marks a sonic and emotional evolution for the band — trading heartbreak and endings for resilience, and healing, bringing the raw energy of Brutalligators debut with more melodic moments, blending the indie punk of PUP and Menzingers with the cleaner indie sound of Future Teens and Weezer.

Still Here is an album with the mantra of “I’m still here, and I’m alive” says vocalist/guitarist Luke Murphy (they/them). “Looking at how me and my identity hasn’t been accepted in the past, and focusing on the attitude of ‘fuck you, I am who I am, this is what makes me me’”. 

There’s plenty of positivity on Still Here too, ‘Safe Haven’ and ‘Giving Up’ are both completely heart-on-sleeve love letters to the life that we have now – kind of spiritual sequels to ‘Josie’ from the first record – whereas ‘Wrong Words’ is a similar vein to ‘November 4, 2016’ from the first EP, revelling in how awesome it is to have solid friendships.

The breadth of Still Here showcases the progression of Brutalligators as artists who have been grafting in the DIY scene for the past eight years. ‘Still Here’ and ‘Get Better’ are flagbearers for the typical sound of the band, blending lyrics about queer acceptance with the energy and shout-along choruses that wear their influences of bands like Los Campesinos! and Iron Chic on their collective sleeve. However, ‘Nice Try’ showcases the more restrained side of Brutalligators – an ode to feeling stuck, that brings in influences like The Beths and Aarron West And The Roaring Twenties. Meanwhile, ‘Wrong Words’ almost feels like an old Deftones track, with soaring screamed vocals and heavy, chunky rhythms driving the song forward and closing out the album. 

Still Here is a proudly DIY project, largely recorded, produced, and mixed by drummer Rhys Kirkman - a return to the homegrown feel of early EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen. Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents, Me Rex) recorded Hold Fast, allowing the light and shade to shine through with lush layers of synths, piano and organ, while What’s Next was engineered by Tom Hill (Modern Rituals, Muttering), who’s got a real knack for capturing the energy of a track; Tom had recorded the debut Brutalligators album.

Brutalligators are:
Luke Murphy - they/them (vocals/guitar)
Paul Wade - he/him (guitar/backing vocals)
Simo Lee - they/them (bass/backing vocals)
Rhys Kirkman - he/him (drums/backing vocals)

Brutalligators started in late 2016 when Paul and Luke met for a coffee and discovered a mutual love of 90s and 00s emo and hardcore. Having been in various hardcore and emo bands throughout the 00s and 10s, they decided to try and write some songs together and Brutalligators was born. Simo and Rhys joined soon after, before they debuted at The Good Ship in Kilburn in 2017. They self-released their first EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen in 2017, following with the second EP Friends I Wish I’d Had in 2019 via Real Ghost Records. Their debut album This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small was released in 2021 on Beth Shalom Records, which Noizze commented that the album “presents the band in their greatest, most intimate and most cathartic form.” Since releasing This House is Too Big… Brutalligators have been tearing up stages across the UK and Europe, supporting bands such as Fresh, Michael Cera Palin, Dikembe, Johnny Foreigner and Martha. 

Luke and Paul also run the vinyl subscription server Nothing Sounds Good, spreading the word of DIY punk and indie around the UK. Luke is also a contributor to How To Make Friends, a DIY promotion collective that runs gigs across the UK, and hosts the How To Make Friends podcast, which interviews DIY bands about what it is to be a musician today. Paul also plays in the party-metal collective Needle in the Cross, and makes award-winning short films under Wade Bros Productions. Rhys performs solo folk-punk as Rhys Kirkman. We think Simo might be a fey creature that sustains themself on glitter and multi-sided dice, but we are unsure…

The Just Joans - Here Come The Rugby Boys [Digital]

Artist: The Just Joans
Title: Here Come The Rugby Boys
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika113SG1
Release date: 4th November
Bandcamp

Scottish indie miserabilists The Just Joans announce their new album Romantic Visions of Scotland which is due out via Fika Recordings on 23 January 2026 and share the wry first single “Here Come The Rugby Boys”. The Glasgow band pair shambling indie pop with sharp observations on romantic pratfalls and everyday disappointments, all delivered with sardonic Scottish wit, fronted by siblings David and Katie Pope, whose wry lyrics and heartfelt vocals remain at the heart of the band’s distinctive sound.

“Here Come The Rugby Boys” has all the hallmarks of a classic indiepop anthem, with an incredibly infectious tune and keen lyrics. As songwriter David Pope explains: “When I was 9 or 10 a couple of guys came to my primary school in Paisley to tell us about mini rugby. They promised us mars bars and glory and neglected to mention anything about communal showering or being humiliated in front of our fathers. I went along for a few months and this song is based on my vague memories of those cold Sunday mornings.

"Musically I think there’s a bit of “part-time punks” by the Television Personalities in the song, alongside a bit of the camp theatricality of The Kinks. It was one of the first tracks we recorded for the new album and there’s a level of clumsy enthusiasm and drive which seems to suit the song. It captures something of the frightening, careering, messy nature of the game (and of that age in general).”

Originally inspired by a grandiose exhibition title spotted on Glasgow buses in 2019 for a show at the National Museum of Scotland called Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland, the album Romantic Visions of Scotland arrives six years later as a collection of semi-autobiographical snapshots from the Central Belt of Scotland. Whilst some of the details have been exaggerated for comic (or tragic) effect, the songs are based on personal experience of mundane failings, bitter regrets and missed opportunities that make up an unremarkable life.

Recurring themes of nostalgia for a bygone era and the fear of being left behind by lovers, friends and peers run throughout the album. Musically and lyrically, the band channels Village Green-era Kinks, with nods to The Television Personalities, The Smiths and Dolly Mixture.

About The Just Joans

The Just Joans were formed in Glasgow in 2005 by songwriter David Pope. Early demos were collected together and released as a loose concept album, Last Tango in Motherwell, in 2006. Chris Elkin joined on guitar and was followed shortly after by David’s younger sister, Katie, on vocals and Fraser Ford on bass. Over the years they have released EPs and albums on WeePOP! and Fika Recordings and have gained a cult following as Scottish pop miserabilists. 

The current line-up consists of Katie Pope (vocals), David Pope (vocals, guitar), Chris Elkin (lead guitar), Fraser Ford (bass), Arion Xenos (keyboards) and Jason Sweeney (drums).

Press Quotes:

“They fit snugly into the scratchy, low budget Scottish indie tradition of The Delgados and Arab Strap… There’s mischief in this miserablism.” - Mojo 4*s

“Glasgow’s The Just Joans have documented the romantic pratfalls of a generation of indie kids with sardonic wit and a shambling musical style where Stephin Merrit lies down with The Vaselines.” - Uncut

“Funny and sad, it’s the kind of song that made Red House Painters, The Magnetic Fields and The Wedding Present’s early albums so easy to embrace; an unpretentious sharing of relatable gloom.” - Record Collector

adults - the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless [12"]

Artist: adults
Title: the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless
Format: 12” green vinyl album & digital
Cat#: Fika110LP
Release date: 31st October 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

adults’ new record is a pocketful of seeds, ideas, loves, fears and hopes which have sprouted, grown, and intertwined over the past two years. It's a jumble of indie pop, jangle, shoegaze, emo and country songs made in those moments in between. They say that the new album “gathers together echoes of the songs and bands we love into deeply personal songs about growth, change, loss and love, set to the background hum of a world which wants to crush all hope.”

The songs are patchworks of riffs, loops and overdubs stitched together by long time co-conspirator Rich Mandell over the course of 3 months recording on rooftops and warehouses in South London. This is the longest they’ve ever spent recording, (they did their first record in a day in a garage!) and have tried to put together a much more coherent, intentional record as well as just messing around with loud amps and gear they don’t have access to in their bedrooms! 

dead red was always going to be the opening track, slowly building up from a wiggly synth stolen from early The World Is a Beautiful Place… songs and building and building and building. Although lots of their songs aren’t overtly political, each track has an undercurrent driving at radical change. There’s a lot to see red about at the moment, and growing up, many of us have been conditioned to snap, lash out and hurt those closest to us. According to the band: “over time, we’ve learnt from people around us that it’s possible to grow and change. People aren’t disposable, and working on how we respond to harm is vital for building a better world.” 

The singles from the album show adults at their frenetic, hook-filled and optimistic best: flag (flailing wildly somewhere between Fugazi and Supermilk, being silly with time signatures whilst despairing about late stage capitalism), crying (a simple indie pop song about trying to manage conflict with someone you love, but really just getting into arguments with the other person in your head) and patterns (a shoegazy, dream pop song about death and the aftermath). The fast and scrappy side of adults are on display on chest pains and partner song pest chains, complete with a glam-rock solo harmony at the end.

FFO: los campesinos!, martha, breeders, radiator hospital, nana grizol, sleater-kinney, joanna gruesome, the beths, the pains of being pure at heart.

adults are a fast silly indie punk band of four long term pals (carl, joe, joely and tom) who love indie-pop, diy and burgess park. Containing members from various UK diy bands (Fresh, New Starts, Wolf Girl, Tomboy Grandpa, Top Deck) they write noisy awkward pop songs with crunching guitars, speedy drums and yelping dual vocals. Based in south London and firmly established in the UKs indie-pop scene, adults released their debut single ‘MSN’ with Art is Hard records (Bristol, UK), an EP with Caballito Records (Madrid, Spain) and their debut album ‘for everything, always’ came out in 2022 on Fika Recordings (London, UK). Collaborating on splits with much-loved Bitch Hunt ‘Space Armadillo EP’ and recently with Oxford’s Spank Hair titled ‘…in the big league’.

Influenced by the kindness and community of the UK diy scene, adults continue the fight to write one song as good as the world’s best band, Martha (Durham). 

They have a new album ‘the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless’ coming out on Fika on 31/10/2025 and will be playing shows around the UK with mates Felicette in October.

Adam Ross (feat C Duncan) - Drink The First Light [Digital]

Artist: Adam Ross (featuring C Duncan)
Title: Drink The First Light
Format: digital
Cat#: Fika115
Release date: 30th October 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

Released as a standalone single, the song represents some of the poppiest and slickest music of Adam's career thus far.

"It started out as an experimental home recording" says Adam. "As it developed, I felt it had the potential to be a fun, catchy pop single. It's a bit of a departure for me, as I usually tend to write quite narrative-led, wordy songs whereas this one is more lyrically abstract and driven by the melody and the production."

C Duncan (Mercury-nominated artist and a friend of Adam's) was brought in at the mixing stage. "Chris is an extraordinarily talented musician and composer. His grasp of musical theory is crazy and it's what makes him such an original and inspiring songwriter. But he's also underrated from a technical perspective. He records and produces most of his own records so I initially approached him to help me as a mixing engineer on this song. He polished it up beautifully and, as an extra bonus, added some gorgeous instrumentation and vocal harmonies."

Lyrically, the song offers up imagery inspired by seasonal changes. "As we slide into darker and colder autumnal days, I'm increasingly aware of how important sunshine is to me. The song is sort of written from the perspective of an inverse-vampire: someone with an insatiable craving for sunlight. The wider theme is one of optimism and seizing the day."

The single is Adam's first release since his critically-acclaimed 2024 album 'Littoral Zone'. 'Drink The First Light' is a palette-cleanser to fill the interim before he begins work on his next full album and it represents a new-found joy for collaboration:

"One of the great things about being a solo act is that you can work with different people on every project. I've been in the band Randolph's Leap for 15 years and we've established a really good and effective understanding of how to work with each other. But it's also nice to bring in new people and learn new methods. I've definitely learned a lot over the last few years by working with people like C Duncan, Andrew Wasylk, Gillian Fleetwood and Jenny Sturgeon. I'm having a lot of fun too."

Adam Ross is a songwriter based in north-east Scotland. He has led the cult indie band Randolph's Leap for over a decade, releasing music with legendary Fife label Fence Records and Lost Map as well as Olive Grove Records and Fika Recordings. He released a debut solo folk album 'Staring At Mountains' in 2022 and 2024 saw the release of a brand-new solo album, ‘Littoral Zone’ produced by multiple Scottish Album Of The Year Award nominated composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Wasylyk.

Adam has a track record of playing at festivals and venues across the country including Green Man, Celtic Connections, Belladrum and the Edinburgh Fringe. His reputation as an engaging, witty, storytelling performer was further cemented by his role in ‘The Isle of Love’, a country-wide touring theatre show inspired by his songs.

His music has received regular airplay on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC 6 Music including various singles and albums of the week. He has also received excellent press in newspapers such as The Herald and The Scotsman.

Brutalligators - Train Wreck [Digital]

Artist: Brutalligators
Title: Train Wreck
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika112SG2
Release date: 22nd October 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

BRUTALLIGATORS JOIN FIKA RECORDINGS WITH RAW AND RESILIENT SECOND ALBUM “STILL HERE”. NEW SINGLE “TRAIN WRECK” IS OUT NOW.

A queer indie-punk love letter to learning to accept all that life throws at you, with big sing-along choruses and heart-on-sleeve lyrics about relationships, friendship and gender.

Hitchin-based indie-punk four-piece Brutalligators are back with their second album, Still Here, a powerful, cathartic, and joyously loud collection of songs about survival, identity, and moving forward. From shout-along anthems to intimate confessions, the album explores grief, friendship, queer identity, aging, and that ever-complicated feeling of simply trying to exist.

“Sometimes you just need to write a banger” says Luke Murphy about the latest single ‘Train Wreck’. “We wanted to write a big, gang-vocals-driven, chanty, fun punk song, with big singalong choruses. I think this is one of our dumbest songs lyrically, in the best possible way. In saying that, “my life’s a punchline that I didn’t get – just keep on laughing and it might make sense in the end” feels like the perfect summary of the last ten years of my life.”

Following 2021’s This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small, the new record marks a sonic and emotional evolution for the band — trading heartbreak and endings for resilience, and healing, bringing the raw energy of Brutalligators debut with more melodic moments, blending the indie punk of PUP and Menzingers with the cleaner indie sound of Future Teens and Weezer.

Still Here is an album with the mantra of “I’m still here, and I’m alive” says vocalist/guitarist Luke Murphy (they/them). “Looking at how me and my identity hasn’t been accepted in the past, and focusing on the attitude of ‘fuck you, I am who I am, this is what makes me me’”. 

Still Here is a proudly DIY project, largely recorded, produced, and mixed by drummer Rhys Kirkman - a return to the homegrown feel of early EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen. Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents, Me Rex) recorded Hold Fast, allowing the light and shade to shine through with lush layers of synths, piano and organ, while What’s Next was engineered by Tom Hill (Modern Rituals, Muttering), who’s got a real knack for capturing the energy of a track; Tom had recorded the debut Brutalligators album.

Brutalligators are:
Luke Murphy - they/them (vocals/guitar)
Paul Wade - he/him (guitar/backing vocals)
Simo Lee - they/them (bass/backing vocals)
Rhys Kirkman - he/him (drums/backing vocals)

Brutalligators started in late 2016 when Paul and Luke met for a coffee and discovered a mutual love of 90s and 00s emo and hardcore. Having been in various hardcore and emo bands throughout the 00s and 10s, they decided to try and write some songs together and Brutalligators was born. Simo and Rhys joined soon after, before they debuted at The Good Ship in Kilburn in 2017. They self-released their first EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen in 2017, following with the second EP Friends I Wish I’d Had in 2019 via Real Ghost Records. Their debut album This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small was released in 2021 on Beth Shalom Records, which Noizze commented that the album “presents the band in their greatest, most intimate and most cathartic form.” Since releasing This House is Too Big… Brutalligators have been tearing up stages across the UK and Europe, supporting bands such as Fresh, Michael Cera Palin, Dikembe, Johnny Foreigner and Martha. 

Luke and Paul also run the vinyl subscription server Nothing Sounds Good, spreading the word of DIY punk and indie around the UK. Luke is also a contributor to How To Make Friends, a DIY promotion collective that runs gigs across the UK, and hosts the How To Make Friends podcast, which interviews DIY bands about what it is to be a musician today. Paul also plays in the party-metal collective Needle in the Cross, and makes award-winning short films under Wade Bros Productions. Rhys performs solo folk-punk as Rhys Kirkman. We think Simo might be a fey creature that sustains themself on glitter and multi-sided dice, but we are unsure…

adults - flag [Digital]

Artist: adults
Title: flag
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika110SG
Release date: 14th Oct 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

Just a couple of weeks ahead of the release of adults’ second album, the band share “flag”, the final track to be previewed from “the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless”.

adults’ final single, flag, is a clash of voices, side-eyes at nostalgia, despair at gentrification and the hauntology of urban decay. Inspired by Fugazi’s Cashout, this song was reworked as many times as Elephant and Castle has been ‘regenerated’. It exudes anger at the estate agents, council leaders and landlords who decimate local communities for a quick profit, and then try to remake the ‘culture’ which they have evicted. 

adults’ new record is a pocketful of seeds, ideas, loves, fears and hopes which have sprouted, grown, and intertwined over the past two years. It's a jumble of indie pop, jangle, shoegaze, emo and country songs made in those moments in between. They say that the new album “gathers together echoes of the songs and bands we love into deeply personal songs about growth, change, loss and love, set to the background hum of a world which wants to crush all hope.”

The songs are patchworks of riffs, loops and overdubs stitched together by long time co-conspirator Rich Mandell over the course of 3 months recording on rooftops and warehouses in South London. This is the longest they’ve ever spent recording, (they did their first record in a day in a garage!) and have tried to put together a much more coherent, intentional record as well as just messing around with loud amps and gear they don’t have access to in their bedrooms!

FFO: los campesinos!, martha, breeders, radiator hospital, nana grizol, sleater-kinney, joanna gruesome, the beths, the pains of being pure at heart.

adults are a fast silly indie punk band of four long term pals (carl, joe, joely and tom) who love indie-pop, diy and burgess park. Containing members from various UK diy bands (Fresh, New Starts, Wolf Girl, Tomboy Grandpa, Top Deck) they write noisy awkward pop songs with crunching guitars, speedy drums and yelping dual vocals. Based in south London and firmly established in the UKs indie-pop scene, adults released their debut single ‘MSN’ with Art is Hard records (Bristol, UK), an EP with Caballito Records (Madrid, Spain) and their debut album ‘for everything, always’ came out in 2022 on Fika Recordings (London, UK). Collaborating on splits with much-loved Bitch Hunt ‘Space Armadillo EP’ and recently with Oxford’s Spank Hair titled ‘…in the big league’.

Influenced by the kindness and community of the UK diy scene, adults continue the fight to write one song as good as the world’s best band, Martha (Durham). 

They have a new album ‘the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless’ coming out on Fika on 31/10/2025 and will be playing shows around the UK with mates Felicette in October.

adults - crying [Digital]

Artist: adults
Title: crying
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika110SG2
Release date: 23rd Sep 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

South-London indie-punks adults are back with their second full length album in October. The new single, crying, is the second track to be taken from the forthcoming LP “the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless”.

According to the band, crying, is some “bouncy, fuzzy junk about miscommunication in love”. Flailing somewhere between Trust Fund and Martha they sing about arguing in your head with someone you love about completely different things and learning that sometimes it’s better to just lay things out on the table. Featuring some excellent noodling by Fresh’s Joely it’s one of the album’s more straight up indie-pop tracks.

adults’ new record is a pocketful of seeds, ideas, loves, fears and hopes which have sprouted, grown, and intertwined over the past two years. It's a jumble of indie pop, jangle, shoegaze, emo and country songs made in those moments in between. They say that the new album “gathers together echoes of the songs and bands we love into deeply personal songs about growth, change, loss and love, set to the background hum of a world which wants to crush all hope.”

The songs are patchworks of riffs, loops and overdubs stitched together by long time co-conspirator Rich Mandell over the course of 3 months recording on rooftops and warehouses in South London. This is the longest they’ve ever spent recording, (they did their first record in a day in a garage!) and have tried to put together a much more coherent, intentional record as well as just messing around with loud amps and gear they don’t have access to in their bedrooms!

FFO: los campesinos!, martha, breeders, radiator hospital, nana grizol, sleater-kinney, joanna gruesome, the beths, the pains of being pure at heart.

adults are a fast silly indie punk band of four long term pals (carl, joe, joely and tom) who love indie-pop, diy and burgess park. Containing members from various UK diy bands (Fresh, New Starts, Wolf Girl, Tomboy Grandpa, Top Deck) they write noisy awkward pop songs with crunching guitars, speedy drums and yelping dual vocals. Based in south London and firmly established in the UKs indie-pop scene, adults released their debut single ‘MSN’ with Art is Hard records (Bristol, UK), an EP with Caballito Records (Madrid, Spain) and their debut album ‘for everything, always’ came out in 2022 on Fika Recordings (London, UK). Collaborating on splits with much-loved Bitch Hunt ‘Space Armadillo EP’ and recently with Oxford’s Spank Hair titled ‘…in the big league’.

Influenced by the kindness and community of the UK diy scene, adults continue the fight to write one song as good as the world’s best band, Martha (Durham). 

They have a new album ‘the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless’ coming out on Fika on 31/10/2025 and will be playing shows around the UK with mates Felicette in October.

Brutalligators - Hold Fast [Digital]

Artist: Brutalligators
Title: Hold Fast
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika112SG1
Release date: 17th Sep 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

BRUTALLIGATORS JOIN FIKA RECORDINGS WITH RAW AND RESILIENT SECOND ALBUM “STILL HERE”. NEW SINGLE “HOLD FAST” IS OUT NOW.


A queer indie-punk love letter to learning to accept all that life throws at you, with big sing-along choruses and heart-on-sleeve lyrics about relationships, friendship and gender.

Hitchin-based indie-punk four-piece Brutalligators are back with their second album, Still Here, a powerful, cathartic, and joyously loud collection of songs about survival, identity, and moving forward. From shout-along anthems to intimate confessions, the album explores grief, friendship, queer identity, aging, and that ever-complicated feeling of simply trying to exist.

New single “Hold Fast” was an early track for the record, says vocalist Luke Murphy. “It’s a song about that feeling of grief, and rebuilding through changing the space around you, but we wanted it not to be a straight-up sad song. We didn’t really succeed with that! Lyrically, I was listening to a lot of Sly Withers’ Overgrown when I was writing this track, and loved the garden metaphors they use. Paul gave me the line ‘I think you would be proud of the garden’ and it slotted straight in.” There’s a balance of light and shade to Hold Fast, pulling from both indiepop influences and an emo-adjacent landscape.

Following 2021’s This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small, the new record marks a sonic and emotional evolution for the band — trading heartbreak and endings for resilience, and healing, bringing the raw energy of Brutalligators debut with more melodic moments, blending the indie punk of PUP and Menzingers with the cleaner indie sound of Future Teens and Weezer.

Still Here is an album with the mantra of “I’m still here, and I’m alive” says vocalist/guitarist Luke Murphy (they/them). “Looking at how me and my identity hasn’t been accepted in the past, and focusing on the attitude of ‘fuck you, I am who I am, this is what makes me me’”. 

Still Here is a proudly DIY project, largely recorded, produced, and mixed by drummer Rhys Kirkman - a return to the homegrown feel of early EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen. Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents, Me Rex) recorded Hold Fast, allowing the light and shade to shine through with lush layers of synths, piano and organ, while What’s Next was engineered by Tom Hill (Modern Rituals, Muttering), who’s got a real knack for capturing the energy of a track; Tom had recorded the debut Brutalligators album.

Brutalligators are:
Luke Murphy - they/them (vocals/guitar)
Paul Wade - he/him (guitar/backing vocals)
Simo Lee - they/them (bass/backing vocals)
Rhys Kirkman - he/him (drums/backing vocals)

Brutalligators started in late 2016 when Paul and Luke met for a coffee and discovered a mutual love of 90s and 00s emo and hardcore. Having been in various hardcore and emo bands throughout the 00s and 10s, they decided to try and write some songs together and Brutalligators was born. Simo and Rhys joined soon after, before they debuted at The Good Ship in Kilburn in 2017. They self-released their first EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen in 2017, following with the second EP Friends I Wish I’d Had in 2019 via Real Ghost Records. Their debut album This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small was released in 2021 on Beth Shalom Records, which Noizze commented that the album “presents the band in their greatest, most intimate and most cathartic form.” Since releasing This House is Too Big… Brutalligators have been tearing up stages across the UK and Europe, supporting bands such as Fresh, Michael Cera Palin, Dikembe, Johnny Foreigner and Martha. 

Luke and Paul also run the vinyl subscription server Nothing Sounds Good, spreading the word of DIY punk and indie around the UK. Luke is also a contributor to How To Make Friends, a DIY promotion collective that runs gigs across the UK, and hosts the How To Make Friends podcast, which interviews DIY bands about what it is to be a musician today. Paul also plays in the party-metal collective Needle in the Cross, and makes award-winning short films under Wade Bros Productions. Rhys performs solo folk-punk as Rhys Kirkman. We think Simo might be a fey creature that sustains themself on glitter and multi-sided dice, but we are unsure…

Pelts - Swimming [Digital]

Artist: Pelts
Title: Swimming
Format: Digital EP
Cat#: Fika111
Release date: 10th Sep 2025
Bandcamp

Pelts are Cat, Louise and Eilidh, a Copenhagen based three-piece combining a playful mix of post-punk and minimalist riffs. Swimming is their debut EP, 4 direct powerful tracks that are bound to appeal to fans of Grass Widow or Electrelane.

“Lyrically, Cat’s always working through her neurosis”, the band explains, “but instrumentally, it’s all about screwing around and letting the collaboration between the three of us create our sound. We all have slightly different approaches to writing for each of our instruments (and sometimes each others’), which can end up creating some contrasts that swing between feeling disjointed and feeling harmonic. We try to embrace the tension and sit through it.”

The artwork and title reflect a fluid-like quality in the songs that comes from the simple setup of guitar, bass and drums playfully interacting with each other while also doing their own thing and sometimes playing their own little melody.

The EP’s title track Swimming sums up Pelts, combining the punchy and the weird, with a driving bass-line, the track slowly evolved with Cat bringing the vocal melodies and Louise fitting out the puzzle pieces with the guitar hooks. Eilidh adds that it’s “the song during which we found out how fast Cat can play the egg!”.

Recorded live with Christian Ankerstjerne in Vindmøllevej, Copenhagen in December 2024, the EP captures Pelts perfectly, pretty bare bones but playful, with the band fully embracing the available percussion and keeping the background screams from an early take on Stressed.

Video by Nik Vestberg.

The video for Swimming was filmed over a few hours on a sunny day in Copenhagen in August 2025. It was shot on a LomoKino camera, a simple, manual, 35mm film camera from Lomography designed to shoot short movies on standard 35mm film.

You crank a handle to expose multiple frames per frame of the film, which you then scan and line up to form a movie. Swimming is made up of 1257 frames, spread over eight rolls of severely damaged Kodak Ektachrome slide film, which expired in 1992.

The result is an antidote to HD perfection and AI-generated video.

Pelts is an Aries trio with roots in London’s DIY scene. The band consists of three friends who came together in Copenhagen after many years in various projects such as Molar, Fever Dream and local twee punks Enids. The Pelts name refers back to the animal associated with their shared star sign.

Pelts are:
Cat: drums + vox 
Louise: guitar + vox
Eilidh: bass + vox

https://www.instagram.com/peltstheband/