Tigercats - Full Moon Reggae Party [Digital]

Artist: Tigercats
Title: Full Moon Reggae Party
Format: digital single
Cat#: Fika014
Release date: 2nd April 2012
Spotify | Bandcamp

Excited for the release of Tigercats' album Isle Of Dogs on April 9th? Looking forward to their appearance at London Popfest this weekend and their tour with Allo Darlin' next week? Need a sneak preview of the lead single from the album to keep you going? Yeah? Well you're in luck.

We're letting you download Full Moon Reggae Party totally for free! It will be coming out properly on April the 2nd as a 3 track digital single (available from all the usual digital outlets to stream and to buy) with two brand new b-sides: one a Tigercats original featuring Owl & Mouse, the other a cover of their favourite Fleetwood Mac song. We'll be unveiling the animated video for Full Moon Reggae Party shortly too... "Full Moon Reggae Party" was written in one day after an enforced absence from the studio, and recorded just a couple of days later. It's about going on the run ("I heard you stole a van, we've got some fake Gaugin's, let's go and get the cash, dance to Two Sevens Clash") but it's also the most direct love song they've ever done. A lot of Tigercats' lyrics are constructed out of fleeting, disconnected imagery, but "Full Moon Reggae Party" speaks straight to it's subject. Unlike earlier songs, it was written by Duncan with Laura's voice in mind: the exuberant verses that he sings solo contrast with the richness of the chorus. To download Full Moon Reggae Party go here.

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

25 Feb London Popfest, 100 Club w/ Allo Darlin', Comet Gain and others
26 Feb Leeds, Brudenell Social Club w/ Allo Darlin'
27 Feb Leicester, The Musician w/ Allo Darlin'
29 Feb Cardiff, Buffalo Bar w/ Allo Darlin'
02 Mar Norwich, Norwich Arts Centre w/ Allo Darlin'
16 Mar Ramsgate, Caboose Cafe (headline show)
21 Mar Manchester, The Castle Hotel w/ Shrag
22 Mar London, Kibo Kift at Somerset House (headline show)
29 Mar Brighton, Horse & Groom (headline show)
30 Mar London, Power Lunches - Isle of Dogs album launch, supported by Omi Palone, Fever Dream & Robert Rotifer w/ Allo Darlin' and Moustache of Insanity DJ's

Tigercats - Isle Of Dogs out 9th April 2012 12" vinyl on Fika Recordings (fikarecordings.com) CD on Acuarela Discos (acuareladiscos.com)

Red Shoe Diaries - Ice & Snow

This time last year Fika Recordings HQ was a flurry of cutting and folding, getting our first four cassettes ready for our launch in the middle of February. A year on and 12 releases later, we're still a buzz of frantic and somewhat chaotic activity. All in order to bring you a bunch of fantastic releases this year, the first of which comes from Red Shoe Diaries.

Ice & Snow is the lead single from their EP on Fika Recordings, "When I Find My Heart...". It'll be available to download from the Fika Recordings website on a pay what you like basis (and we're happy for you to download it for free). You can still buy their 5 track 10" EP from us here.

Artwork for the single comes courtesy of Amy Blackwell.

Red Shoe Diaries A1 Ice & Snow B1 Driving Blind B2 Saturday Love Rocket Available to download from February 27th

Darren Hayman, Fika Recordings & Friends - Advent Calendar [Digital]

Artist: Darren Hayman
Title: Christmas Advent Calendar
Format: Digital Compilation
Cat#: Fika012
Release date: 1st December 2011
Bandcamp

In December 2011, Darren Hayman and Fika Recordings joined forces to compile a Christmas compilation. We both asked friends and bands we loved, and released the tracks for free download every day through December until Christmas day. 

Darren Hayman - Christmas in Haworth [10"]

Artist: Darren Hayman
Title: Christmas in Haworth
Format: 10”
Cat#: Fika011
Release date: 14th November 2011
Bandcamp | Spotify

'Let's go away for Christmas', we said. We never go away for Christmas and Christmas never looks like Christmas. Christmas did look like Christmas in Haworth in 2010: a blanket of snow, tinsel, all that stuff. It made me nostalgic for for cheap, flimsy cards that hung on string on my parents' wall. When I think of Christmas, I don't think of snow, I think of my Uncle pushing a shaving foam pie into my face until I choked. I think of my Mum crying over Monopoly. I think of cold fatty meats and a broken James Bond Lotus Espirit. 

Christmas gets in the way, so we got out of the way of Christmas. We went to Haworth in Yorkshire. We walked out into the countryside and got lost in the snow. 

Four of these songs were written and recorded in Haworth, West Yorkshire, during Christmas 2010 and later overdubbed in London and Newcastle. 'Branwell' was written and recorded in London July 2011 and 'Ruby's House' was written and recorded in Ruby's house in Lancashire in June. David Watkins played the banjo and Rebecca Evans played the bass clarinet. The band on Branwell is Jonny Helm (drums, vocals), David Tattersall (banjo, vocals), Franic Rozycki (mandolin, vocals), Robert Rotifer (guitar, vocals), Bill Botting (bass, vocals) and me (piano, vocals). 

Recorded by Ian Evans and myself. 
Darren Hayman - August 2011 

Moustache Of Insanity album launch party

Thanks to everyone that came to the Album Of Death launch party at the Dogstar, finely hosted by Librarians Wanted. We hope you didn't get too covered in blood, and those night bus drivers let you on, bloody and sweaty, once the dancing had stopped! You can still pick up a copy of the album on 12" blood red vinyl from here. More pictures from the night available here.

Album Of Death

It is now less than a week to go until the official release of Moustache Of Insanity's Album Of Death! Come down to the Dogstar in Brixton for a very rare opportunity to see a full super-group five piece incarnation of Moustache Of Insanity and to pick up a copy of the LP on Fika Recordings (or the CD on Pull Yourself Together). For full details of the Librarians Wanted show, see go  here.

You've still got time to go pick up the free download single from the album here, to watch the video here and to stream the album in full here.

The LP version comes on 12" blood red transparent vinyl, with hand painted inner sleeve, a tea bag of death and horror, a recipe to bake love yummies from hell and an individual photo scribbled on by the band. All for a ridiculously cheap price of £7 at the show. Come, it'll be AWESOME.

After this, we'll be taking a bit of a summer holiday, so if you want to BUY any cassettes or records from us, do so before the weekend, otherwise you'll have to wait a couple of weeks until we're back. We've only got two of Lisa Bouvier's and Lost Summer Kitten's EPs left before they sell out like the Moustache Of Insanity and Horowitz tapes have. Click on the artwork to the right to listen to all our releases and buy them.

We'll be announcing in September an EP I'm tremendously excited about from an artist I've had a soft spot for for a long time. There's a few other equally exciting things in the pipeline too for the autumn and into the new year too!

Moustache Of Insanity free download single

Woo! Yesterday Moustache Of Insanity released the first single from the album we're putting out in conjunction with Pull Yourself Together. Go download Lynn Lowry here and watch the gameboy tastic video for the b-side too!We're taking pre-orders for the album and if you ask us nicely at Indietracks, we'll be able to sell you a copy early, only £7 in person! The album comes with bloody tea of death and a cake recipe for yummies from hell, on blood red vinyl. Each of the 300 also has a unique blood smeared message of terror/fear/insanity on the inner sleeve and unique insert, with photo and scribblings from Bill and Nik on tour... Awesome!

Indietracks Tea Party

Come and join us for fika at this year's Indietracks festival in Derbyshire, where we'll be hosting a tea party in the workshop tent on Sunday afternoon at 3pm. Both Horowitz and Moustache Of Insanity will be playing the festival and we might try and sneak in the odd acoustic performance from some of our other artists too! Drop by and we'll ply you with tea and cakes and music and you'll have the chance to buy some of our releases. There'll be some kind of blind tea tasting/identifying going on too, which means there'll be prizes.... Awesome!

Full schedule for the festival is available here.

Cassettes!

Fika010: Moustache Of Insanity

Moustache Of Insanity

Fika010, will, appropriately, be our tenth release since our launch in February this year.... and it'll be a full length 12" LP from one of our first Fika artists, Moustache Of Insanity.

Album Of Death is a monstrous amalgamation of classic horror movie themes, dancing and, er, dinner parties. If you've seen MOI recently you'll have been treated to a chaotic rendition of a few of these songs, which should put you in good stead for the screaming and jollity on the album. I adore it and can't wait to get this out. It'll be coming out in mid August, but until then, treat yourself to the awesome preview video for Dancing With Emma.

Plus, if you can't wait for this and haven't got round to buying their cassette EP on Fika (we've long since sold out), pop over to the Moustache Of Insanity website where there's still a few copies left!