A DIY INDIEPOP VINYL & CASSETTE LABEL

Enderby's Room

The Winter Sprinter 2018 - full line up!

Presented by Fika Recordings, WIAIWYA and Gare du Nord

Tues 2 January - Fri 5 January at The Lexington, London, N1

4 day early bird passes available for £34.50 and individual day tickets for £11 adv at www.wegottickets.com/fikarecordings

Tues 2 Jan: The Surfing Magazines Pete Astor Jessica’s Brother

Wed 3 Jan: Steven Adams & The French Drops Fever Dream Charmpit

Thurs 4 Jan: Laetitia Sadier The Leaf Library Enderby’s Room

Fri 5 Jan: Darren Hayman Ralegh Long Picturebox

Four nights, three labels, twelve bands, DJs… the perfect antidote to the post-Christmas blues in the intimate surroundings of The Lexington. Thanks to Track & Field and Fortuna POP!; without their previous stewardships of the Winter Sprinter, we'd all be sat at home feeling glum the first week of January.

The Surfing Magazines The Surfing Magazines are a new garage-rock group consisting of two thirds of The Wave Pictures and one half of Slow Club. Consisting of David Tattersall and Franic Rozycki of The Wave Pictures, Charles Watson of Slow Club and drummer Dominic Brider. Not content with their already ferocious work rate, with three album releases in 2016 alone and over twenty in total between them; members of The Wave Pictures and Slow Club’s 11-track debut as Surfing Magazines is an intriguing and exciting mishmash of musical styles – soundtrack surf, weird pop and Americana. Pulling in influence from all of the great surf music of the 60s and the band’s musical inspirations of Bob Dylan and Lou Reed, the band are professedly ‘at war’ with today’s pretentious prog-indie-rock millionaires and bongo pop demigods. They intend to ‘rock out and blow your mind, and then mellow out and soothe your mind, then rock out again’.

Pete Astor Pete has made records as part of The Loft, The Weather Prophets, The Wisdom of Harry and Ellis Island Sound on Creation, Matador, Heavenly and more. He released Spilt Milk on Fortuna Pop in 2016 and has now signed to Tapete Records, home of The Clientele, Lloyd Cole and The Monochrome Set. Pete has been recording a new album with with James Hoare (Ultimate Painting, Proper Ornaments, Veronica Falls) on guitar and The Wave Pictures’ rhythm section of Franic Rozycki on bass and Jonny Helm on drums.

Jessica’s Brother Jessica’s Brother are singer songwriter Tom Charleston, bass player Charlie Higgs (formerly of The Ramshackle Union Band), and drummer Jonny 'Huddersfield' Helm (of The Wave Pictures). They make rock music with strong Americana influences, and a twist of English gothic darkness.

Steven Adams & The French Drops In the wake of critically acclaimed solo album, 2016's intimate 'Old Magick', and several years of one man shows, Steven Adams has a new band. He's joined by Daniel Fordham and David Stewart, rhythm section with psych-folk oddballs The Drink, guitarist Michael Wood (Singing Adams/The Leaf Library/Hayman Kupa Band) and a rotating cast of guest musicians. Steven Adams, aka, The Singing Adams, aka Steven James Adams, was in The Broken Family Band.

Fever Dream Fever Dream play dark, fuzzy, menacing music that blurs the line from noisy shoegaze to angular post-punk. Intense, melodic and expansive, they are a real treat live and have really good hair.

Charmpit Originally from California but now based out of South-East London, self-described ‘pop punk anarcuties’ Charmpit mash up sugary sweet melodies, lo-fi production and semi-serious subject matter to take a stab at society’s injustices whilst still keeping everything suitably fun. The band formed for the First Timers festival at DIY Space For London last year, a festival where every band on the line-up is playing their first show.

Laetitia Sadier Lætitia Sadier has arguably one of the most recognizable voices in music. Since arriving on the European indie scene back in 1991 with the first Stereolab EP, Super 45, Sadier’s vocal and lyrical approach has remained consistent: She applies her crystalline alto to lyrics that explore philosophy and political inequality through a Marxist lens. In Stereolab and as a solo artist, Sadier’s musical tastes have tended to skew nostalgic, mixing influences of 1960s pop from the U.S. and Brazil, easy listening, and German kosmische.

The Leaf Library The Leaf Library make droney, two-chord, pop that00!0!00s stuck halfway between the garage and the bedroom, all topped with lyrical love songs to buildings, stationery and the weather.

Enderby’s Room Enderby’s Room is fiddle player Dan Mayfield, once from rural Lincolnshire, but he has now found home living in London. His folk tinged songs reflect on his traditional folk upbringing. Mayfield has played violin for many artists including Daniel Johnston, Darren Hayman, The Wave Pictures, Allo Darlin’ and the Belles of London City morris dancers.

Darren Hayman Darren Hayman is a thoughtful, concise and detailed songwriter. He eschews the big, the bright and the loud for the small, twisted and lost. Hayman has taken a singular and erratic route through England’s tired and heartbroken underbelly. Formerly the singer-songwriter of Hefner, Darren Hayman has developed an increasingly idiosyncratic solo career. In recent years Darren has released four albums under his own name - Chants for Socialists where he set William Morris’ words to music; the sister remix album Dubs for Socialists; the album Florence, recorded in Italy; and an album for children called Folk Lullabies for Children and the Childless. As well as writing and recording as himself, Darren has also recorded an album with the band he’s formed with Emma Kupa of Mammoth Penguins (The Hayman Kupa Band), played drums for Papernut Cambridge, keyboards for The Great Electric, and released an EP with his experimental electronic duo Brute Love. Darren has also has been working on an ongoing, hugely ambitious folk project called Thankful Villages, visiting all fifty four 'Thankful Villages', a village in Britain where every soldier returned alive from World War One. Darren visited each of these and, focusing on village life, made a piece of music, a painting and a short film for every one. Some take the form of instrumentals inspired by the location, some are interviews with village residents set to music, others are new songs with lyrics or found local traditional songs.

Ralegh Long English Songwriter Ralegh Long released his recent album Upwards of Summer earlier this year, which won the Help Musician's UK / PledgeMusic Emerging Artist's Award. There is a marked change of pace from his previous records Hoverance and We Are in the Fields, with the jangle of chorus guitars, mandolins and anthemic hooks calling to mind bands such as R.E.M, The DB's, and the Go-Betweens. Written during a time of personal change, when Long was unsure if he was going to continue making music, Upwards of Summer is a revelation. He released his debut album Hoverance to critical acclaim in 2015. Leaving his adopted London, Long returned to his childhood home to write an album of singular grace and simplicity, steeped in natural imagery and "Spooky pastoralism" (MOJO). Hoverance and its follow-up E.P We Are in the Fields (2016) won praise from The Guardian for their “twilit ambience and demented beauty” and from Sky Arts as "calling to mind the atmosphere of Nick Drake".

Picturebox Melodic indie pop music from the cathedral city of Canterbury. Songs about girls, animals, football, anything, everything, nothing. They’ve released two albums on Gare Du Nord and are currently finishing off their third. Leader Robert Halcrow is also involved in the FXU2 project with Jack Hayter and Citizen Helene, and also plays bass for Papernut Cambridge and more recently Twink & The Bare Nodes.

Jun 21st: Enderby's Room with The Wave Pictures and Emma Kupa at St Pancras Old Church

We're putting on a very special gig in the beautiful confines of St Pancras Old Church to celebrate the release of the debut album from Enderby's Room. And we're delighted to be able to say both The Wave Pictures and Emma Kupa will be playing full sets in support of Enderby's Room.

ENDERBY'S ROOM

Enderby’s Room is fiddle player Dan Mayfield, once from rural Lincolnshire, but he has now found home living in London. His folk tinged songs reflect on his traditional folk upbringing. Mayfield has played violin for many artists including Daniel Johnston, Darren Hayman, The Wave Pictures, Allo Darlin’ and the Belles of London City morris dancers. Over the past ten years he has gently built up a collection of his own songs, which he performs with his band Enderby’s Room. The name comes from an Anthony Burgess character called Mr Enderby who composed his prose inside the toilet. The band’s make up has been constantly evolving; around 30 different individuals have been a part of Enderby’s Room over the last decade, before settling on the current 5 piece lineup. Enderby’s Room’s sound features a Victorian pedal harmonium, together with French horn, double bass, ukulele, guitar and percussion.

“Unfolding gently, the quiet grace of Enderby’s Room seems to draw on the folk tradition while taking brave chances of its own.” Clash Music" "At times they capture the sumptuous melancholia of Low; at others, they're finding new shapes for indie folk" How Does It Feel “their delicate harmonies, unusual instruments and vivid storytelling are intricately woven and desperately beautiful” Green Man Festival

THE WAVE PICTURES

The Wave Pictures are David Tattersall, Franic Rozycki and Jonny ‘Huddersfield’ Helm. Formed in 1998 when Franic and David lived in a village called Wymeswold, the band played with several drummers until Jonny became a permanent member in 2003 replacing Hugh J Noble. In the beginning the band learned to play together by covering Jonathan Richman songs but soon David was writing lots of original material. They have since released six studio albums to critical acclaim and played numerous sessions on BBC 6 Music, Radio 1 and Xfm. Interest generated from these recordings has enabled The Wave Pictures to play shows all over the world with artists including Jeffrey Lewis, Darren Hayman, Stanley Brinks, Freschard and Herman Düne.

EMMA KUPA

Emma stepped into the limelight as the lead singer, bass player and songwriter for much loved (and missed) indie heroes Standard Fare, and has since been a front woman in Without Feathers, Mammoth Penguins and The Hayman Kupa Band. What she lacks in quality band names she more than makes up for in intensely personal and irresistibly hummable pop tunes.

BELLES OF LONDON CITY

An innovative and unique blend of morris dancing, song, music and foolery with a modern edge, with Enderby's Room's Dan Mayfield on fiddle.

Advance tickets available from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings.

Enderby's Room - Enderby's Room [12"/CD]

<a href="http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/enderbys-room">Enderby's Room by Enderby's Room</a> The debut album from Enderby's Room is out today. Available on black 12" vinyl, digifile CD and digitally to stream or download.

“unfolding gently, the quiet grace of Enderby’s Room seems to draw on the folk tradition while taking brave chances of its own.” Clash Music "an exquisitely delivered, and vivid piece of songwriting" For The Rabbits “it’s all rather lovely” For Folks Sake “a lamenting duet” Folk Radio “has a subtle beauty that will overwhelm you” Austin Town Hall “an absolute stunner" A Musical Priority

Enderbys-Room-LP.jpg

Get it here:

Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

Enderby's Room - The Music [Digital]

<a href="http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/enderbys-room">Enderby's Room by Enderby's Room</a> The final single from the Enderby's Room album is here, and not long to wait now until the album is available on 12" vinyl, CD and digitally in full.

Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

Enderby's Room - Birds [Digital]

<a href="http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/enderbys-room">Enderby's Room by Enderby's Room</a> The latest single from Enderby's Room is out today! Birds is taken from their forthcoming debut album, and was premiered over at For The Rabbits yesterday. Here's what they had to say about it:

The track is a delicate piece of gently unfurling minimalism, led by a lightly plucked acoustic, and the steady pulse of a double-bass; it’s left to the vocals to carry much of the melodic content. Thankfully in guest vocalist, Deerful’s Emma Winston, they’ve the perfect foil, while Emma’s own music exists in the field of electronic-pop, here she demonstrates herself an equally adept folk-singer. Emma’s silvery vocal effortlessly carrying the quiet melancholy of Dan’s words, as she sings of the natural migration of our avian visitors, “they’re preparing to leave this land and head somewhere warmer, far from our crystal winter“. It’s a song that knows we must all fly the nest at some point, but even in that inevitability, there’s still a sense of trepidation and sadness and what me way lose along the way.

The whole track builds to a quiet crescendo, as Dan and a third voice, belonging to Sophie Koonin, join to provide delightfully harmonious, counter melodies, and the rich, weezing tones of a Victorian pedal harmonium add a touch of depth, before the whole thing fades to fluttering bird song. It’s an exquisitely delivered, and vivid piece of songwriting, and the strongest case yet for just how good Enderby’s Room’s album could be.

Enderby's Room - "Birds" Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

You can still buy their debut 7" vinyl record My Old Friend, and pre-order their album on vinyl, CD or as a download from our Bandcamp shop - it's out in just over a month's time.

Enderby's Room - My Old Friend [7"]

<a href="http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/my-old-friend">My Old Friend by Enderby's Room</a> We've given you a little taster of Enderby's Room over the past couple of months, with the digital singles Lakeside and Heartaches. Now it's time to get stuck in properly, with their debut 7" out today. My Old Friend is taken from their forthcoming self titled debut album, and the 7" vinyl version comes with two exclusive non-album b-sides, Pale Blue Dot and Postcards.

You can buy it direct from our Bandcamp, from your local record shop, and you can listen digitally via Spotify and iTunes.

Out now! The debut 7" from Enderby's Room - available from the Fika Recordings webshop, your local record shop and digitally from Spotify, iTunes etc.

A post shared by TomA (@fikarecordings) on Feb 17, 2017 at 11:27am PST

Enderby's Room - Heartaches [Digital]

Heartaches is the second single from the debut Enderby's Room album, and it's out today! Clash Music described it as “unfolding gently, the quiet grace of Enderby’s Room seems to draw on the folk tradition while taking brave chances of its own”, and Austin Town Hall said it "has a subtle beauty that will overwhelm you". You can hear it now on Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes or Soundcloud.

Heartaches is taken from the self titled album from Enderby's Room, out on the 21st of April on 12" vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order it here. Before that, My Old Friend is released as a 7" single, with two exclusive non album tracks (Pale Blue Dot and Postcards) - get your copy here.