Stanley Brinks and the Old Time Kaniks - Right Down My Alley [Digital]
Right Down My Alley is the first single taken from Stanley Brinks and The Old Time Kaniks forthcoming double album Vieilles Caniques et Nouvelles Caniques.
Spotify | iTunes | Bandcamp | Soundcloud
Pre-order the double vinyl, double CD or digital versions of the album here.
Cosines - Transitions [10"]
Cosines return with their new EP, “Transitions”. As well as being the missing link between the band’s debut LP and next year’s follow-up, the four tracks are all about change – with themes of starting over, moving on, making changes and reacting to unexpected events.
Opening track, Let’s Start It Over, is the most personal, building over five minutes to a classic pop crescendo – coming soon to a dancefloor near you. Dunbar was written in angry response to the news that Cosines’ spiritual home, The Buffalo Bar, was to shut, and received its live debut at one of the final shows there. The song pays tribute to the latest of many vital small music venues forced to close due to property development, London’s increasing gentrification and lack of arts support from government.
Transitions is out on 10" black vinyl and as a download now.
Palomica - Petito [12"]
Petito
Petito is Palomica’s second full length album, and their first with Fika Recordings. Since 2013’s “Sometimes It’s A Struggle”, Nicol Parkinson has played with co-existing unrelated sounds, bringing tape manipulation, ambient recordings and electronic drones to his delicate pop songs. It was partially recorded in his childhood bedroom outside Brighton, with his childhood cats poking around, and finished in Bristol in late 2015 with a different cat poking around.
Petito is full of incidental outside sounds alongside tumbling words and occasional guitar flourishes: sometimes melodic, sometimes cacophonic. For fans of Real Estate, Belle & Sebastian and Tenniscoats.
Available now on 12" pigeon coloured vinyl and on download. Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes
<a href="http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/petito">Petito by Palomica</a>
Math and Physics Club - In This Together [12"]
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We've been very excited to work with our new friends Math and Physics Club and our old friends at Matinee Recordings on this brand new compilation, gathering together 16 b-sides, rarities and unreleased treats from the band, all on vinyl for the very first time. Pre-orders have been brisk so we've only a handful of copies of this left, so don't hang around if you're keen to get a copy. If you're a MAPC fan in the USA and are hankering over a copy of the gatefold vinyl, ask your local record store to order you a copy in - RedEye are distributing it outside Europe so point them in the right direction! Matinee are looking after the CD version - we're hoping to get a few copies to the UK in time for Indietracks, otherwise you can order it directly from them here.
"this collection of Math and Physics Club's earliest work and some choice rarities works as a reminder of how good they were, how at their best they actually came quite close to being the next Lucksmiths or B&S" All Music
"So far this is easily the best compilation album of the year and quite possibility the only one you’ll need in 2016." Pennyblack Music
"there’s something stirring and anthemic in the best of these sweetly melodic, heartfelt and life-affirming songs that keeps you hooked on every word and chord change. It’s pop without cynicism, familiar in its sound but attractive all the same" Sounds XP
"Although it isn't billed as a greatest hits album, it comes close to serving as one and should become a favorite album for old and new fans alike. I've had it on repeat for several days now, and it is like having a welcome old friend drop in for an extended stay." When You Motor Away
"this is your chance to fall in love with one of the greatest bands you might have overlooked" Austin Town Hall
Palomica - Honeydew [Digital]
We're really rather chuffed to be able to announce that Palomica have joined the Fika Recordings fold. We'll be releasing their second album Petito on the 1st of July - but before that, you can hear the lead single Honeydew below.
Honeydew is released as a 4 track single on the 10th of June.
Then it's only a short wait until the release of Petito at the start of July. The album comes on pigeon coloured vinyl (think a soft grey base, with specks of green and purple). We'll have some copies available for sale ahead of the release at the launch show on the 23rd of June at Haunt (Stoke Newington High Street), where Palomica will be joined by The Nervy Betters and Actual Crimes. Full details over on the Facebook page - advance tickets are available from WeGotTickets.
You can pre-order Petito here.
Palomica is the home-recorded clumsy rock and roll project of Nicol Parkinson. It’s incidental outside sounds alongside tumbling words and occasional guitar flourishes: sometimes melodic, sometimes cacophonic.
Stanley Brinks and the Kaniks - Turtle Dove [12"/CD]
Artist: Stanley Brinks and The Kaniks
Title: Turtle Dove
Format: 12" album on blue vinyl in gatefold seelve | CD in digifile sleeve
Cat#: Fika051LP | Fika051CD
Release date: 5th May 2016
Bandcamp | Spotify
Following the albums Gin and My Ass recorded with The Wave Pictures in un-gentrified East London, Stanley Brinks (aka André Herman Dune) returns with a new collaborative album, this time with the Norwegian folk collective The Kaniks as his backing band.
Eschewing a traditional recording studio, André took The Kaniks to a remote island outside the small town of Egersund in south west Norway. Over the course of week of midnight sun, midnight swims and midnight beers on their isolated rocky island, living and recording in the only building on the island, the (now un-manned) mid 19th century Vibberodden lighthouse at the invitation of the town’s mayor, Stanley Brinks and The Kaniks recorded three albums of material; Turtle Dove is the first of those three to be released.
Brinks is renowned for his unique antifolk style: both playful and suggestive, insightful and entertaining. His fondness for calypso and the unusual provide the perfect foil to The Kaniks’, whose folk instrumentation and country and bluegrass influences take these 12 songs to a joyous place Brinks hasn’t been before in his extensive back catalogue.
Turtle Dove comes on blue vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with full download and bonus download of 2 track single “Too Much Women”. It is a Record Store Day exclusive release, on 16th April 2016.
Stanley Brinks was born in Paris, France, in 1973. He studied a bit of biology and worked as a nurse for a while. Half Swedish, half Moroccan, strongly inclined to travel the world, he soon began spending most of his life on the road and developed a strong relationship with New York. By the late 90s he’d become a full time singer-songwriter – André Herman Düne – as part of three piece indie-rock band, Herman Düne. Several albums and Peel sessions later and after a decade of touring Europe, mostly with American songwriters such as Jeffrey Lewis, Calvin Johnson and early Arcade Fire he settled in Berlin. The early carnival music of Trinidad became a passion, and in the early 21st century he became the unquestioned master of European calypso, changing his name to Stanley Brinks. Under this moniker he has recorded more than 100 albums, collaborated with the New York Antifolk scene on several occasions, recorded and toured with traditional Norwegian musicians, and played a lot with The Wave Pictures.
The word "kanik" first came about when some people in the church choir realized how out of tune they were, and decided to call themselves the "cannots" (Norwegian "kan ikke”): those who can not sing.
The Kaniks are all traditional Norwegian musicians, and they actually are good singers. Brinks met them partying in the harbor of Egersund, a fishing town in the wild Southwest of Norway. They were all in different bands of all kinds, playing Cajun music, Johnny Cash covers, Norwegian folk songs, modern jazz, communist anthems, and West African instrumentals.
Press
"Joyous jugband songs" Uncut
“Turtle Dove is a welcome addition to Stanley Brinks’ back catalogue; he’s one of the most imaginative and accomplished songwriters around today with an unerring instinct for creating atmospheric and engaging albums. Along with his collaborators, The Kaniks, Stanley Brinks has made yet another glorious album which celebrates the individuality of us all at the same time as it reminds us we’re not all that different, really, under the skin. I can see it becoming an indispensable part of my summer soundtrack and am very much looking forward to hearing the other two albums in this trilogy of Nordic antifolk. Great stuff!” Folk Radio
Sally Shapiro - If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind [7"]
Here's the video for Sally Shapiro's new and final single, If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind. Check out Stereogum's beautiful words over at their video premiere. The video comes courtesy of Jarett Sitter, the genius behind Sally Shapiro's previous video What Can I Do and Johan's You Passed Through.
The single is out today - you can buy a copy on 7" white vinyl (limited to 500), with a b-side of David Guetta's Dangerous. The download comes with two bonus remixes from Tommy '86 and Ben Macklin.
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<a href="http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/if-you-ever-wanna-change-your-mind">If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind by Sally Shapiro</a>
Buy "If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind" on 7" vinyl or download: BandcampSpotifyiTunesGoogle Play
Stanley Brinks and The Kaniks - Too Much Women [Digital]
Unfortunately due to some delays with manufacture, Turtle Dove won't be available for Record Store Day on Saturday. We're very disappointed and have tried everything we can to find a solution, but without any luck. As such, we've had to put the release of Turtle Dove back to the 5th of May. The good news is that you can now pre-order the record from us here - we'll be shipping these out in advance of the official release date.
In the mean time, settle back and enjoy the two track digital single Too Much Women / For The Road...
Bill Botting & The Two Drink Minimums - It's Not Christmas Anymore [Cass]
Artist: Bill Botting & The Two Drink Minimums
Title: It’s Not Christmas Anymore
Format: Cassette (handmade numbered sleeve)
Cat#: Fika050
Release date: 11th Dec 2015
Bandcamp | Spotify
It's Not Christmas Anymore - the new release from Allo Darlin's Bill Botting, ably joined by an all star line up featuring Darren Hayman, Dave and Jonny from The Wave Pictures, Paul from Allo Darlin'/Tigercats and Owl & Mouse's Hannah, is out now! We've a very limited, and very lovely, handmade cassette with download available from the Fika Recordings shop, or you can line it up on the stereo via Spotify, iTunes etc to soundtrack your Christmas this year. We're a little bit in love with these 4 songs, and can't wait to hear more from Bill backed up by this line up...
Buy It's Not Christmas Anymore
... and if you're in London, you'll be able to do just that at the Duke of Uke Christmas party on Wednesday 16th Dec, at the Bethnal Green Working Mens Club, with live sets from Bill Botting & The Two Drink Minimums, and from Owl & Mouse. And it's free! More details available via Facebook.