Just a quick post to let you know you can pop into your local record shop and pick up a copy of Darren Hayman's new EP, as well as buying it online from us here or from Darren here. Norman Records [online] Pebble Records [online] Rough Trade [London] Spillers Records [Cardiff] Piccadilly Records [Manchester] Resident Music [Brighton] Avalanche Records [Edinburgh] Violet & Claire [Japan]
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
Hangover Lounge playlist
So I baked, baked some more, got the slow train to north London, drank lots of Brooklyn lager and played a few tunes. Thanks to everyone that came down and helped eat the cinnamon rolls and the chocolate cookies! Azure Ray - Displaced St. Thomas - Heroes Making Dinner The Caravelles - Tonight You Belong To Me Lost Summer Kitten - Lovesong No. 1 The Broken Family Band - Nights In The Tractor Beam Micah P Hinson - When We Embraced Darren Hayman - Photos Like Postcards Laura Cantrell - Khaki & Corduroy Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Maundering Seafood - Broken Promises Jellybean - 99 Problems Nina Gordon - Straight Outta Compton Laurel Music - Dreams & Lies Devon Sproule - Let's Go Out Mississippi John Hurt - Nobody's Dirty Business William Elliot Whitmore - First Of A Thousand Beasts Camera Obscura - I Don't Want To See You The Bobby McGee's - No Friends Jam On Bread - When I'm Entering Data Allo, Darlin' - Tallulah
*break*
The Robot Ate Me - The Genocide Ball Sweet Baboo - I'd Kill For You Even If You Didn't Want Me To Smog - Dress Sexy At My Funeral Owl & Mouse - Heavy Heart Bishop Allen - Butterfly Nets Red Shoe Diaries - Ice And Snow Let's Go Sailing - This Rope Is Long My Little Pony - A Miracle Säkert! - Någon Gång Måste Du Bli Själv The Ladybug Transistor - 3=Wild The Owls - Peppermint Patty Lambchop - The Man Who Loved Beer Au Revoir Simone - Stars CocoRosie - Tekno Love Song Old Man Luedecke - Joy Of Cooking Ed Greene - Love (She Tells Me There's A God Above) We Show Up On Radar - An Animal Sports Day
Christmas In Haworth advent calendar
In celebration of Fika Recording's last release of the current year, the Christmas In Haworth 10" EP, Darren and myself have put together a Christmas treat for you. On the first of December we'll be launching an online advent calendar. Every day, from the first to the twenty-fourth, we'll be posting up an mp3 or a video that you can download for free. There'll be videos and songs from Darren himself, some current and future Fika Recordings artists will be contributing, as well as a number of very special guests and friends, including The Wave Pictures, Tigercats, MJ Hibbert and many more we can't reveal quite yet... We're kicking it all off now with a free download of The Christmas Wars from the Christmas In Haworth EP. Head over to the website to download, and keep an eye out for something special next Monday to mark the official release of the EP.
Christmas In Haworth - an online advent calendar from Darren Hayman, Fika Recordings and friends
Fika011: Darren Hayman - Christmas In Haworth
The summer is barely over, the autumn evenings are drawing in and Christmas is on the way... Which makes me rather excited to be able to announce Fika Recording's eleventh release since we started in February this year. In early November we'll be releasing a new 6 track 10" EP from Darren Hayman, Christmas In Haworth. It was recorded last Christmas, amongst the snow in West Yorkshire and sounds utterly beautiful. There'll be just 300 copies, each one coming in a hand screenprinted brown card sleeve, with a digital download code and Darren's choice of Christmas fika (lapsang souchong and Julia's Christmas cake recipe).
It is available to pre-order now here, where you can also stream the entire EP.
We've also got plans for what promises to be a quite exciting December. If you enjoyed Darren's January Songs project, we hope you'll enjoy this soon. We'll be announcing full details later in the autumn.
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!
Fika Tea Party at Indietracks
Just a quick reminder that we'll be hosting some fika at this weekend's Indietracks festival. Pop down to the workshop tent on Sunday at 3pm for some teas, cakes and probably a bit of music from a few Fika artists. Both Horowitz and Moustache Of Insanity are playing during the weekend and there might be one or two special guests as well. We'll have some cassettes and records for to buy as well. See you there!
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!
Red Shoe Diaries EP Launch Tour Poster
The Red Shoe Diaires new 10" EP is released on Fika Recordings on Monday the 11th of July. To celebrate, they'll be playing two shows, one in London and one in Nottingham on Friday the 8th and Sat the 9th. Support in London comes from Fika artists Ed Greene and Petter Seander, while Nottingham has the awesome We Show Up On Radar and August Actually. See you there!