Full Moon Reggae Party, the lead single from Tigercats' debut album, is out today. It features two b-sides: a new version of Nude With Dogs and a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Everywhere; both tracks feature Owl & Mouse on backing vocals.You can buy all 3 tracks from the usual online digital retailers, including iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.
The video is available here
Isle Of Dogs is out next Monday - it is available to pre-order from our shop now.
Tigercats have a new single coming out in April, followed a week later on the 9th by the official release of the Isle Of Dogs LP, and to get you all excited for it, they've made an awesome video. Singer/guitarist Duncan of Tigercats spent many many days locked away drawing and animating this, so hopefully you'll enjoy it! http://vimeo.com/37688129
The single is out on Fika Recordings on the 2nd of April, and comes with two b-sides, both featuring Owl & Mouse. Nude With Dogs will be familiar to some of you from their live shows, while Everywhere is a stupendous cover of Fleetwood Mac's classic. They'll be available from the Fika Recordings shop and the usual digital retailers.
Ice & Snow, the lead single from Red Shoe Diaries' 10" EP, is out now! It is available as a free/pay what you can download from the Fika Recordings webshop.
Since before they knew how to talk to girls, guitarist Ashley and singer Thomas have been writing songs and playing music together, and now, years down the line, these teenage bedroom rumblings have matured into a sophisticated blend all of their own. The missing links were added gradually, with long time college friend, Michael playing drums and adding musical direction. Singer Leanne came next, introducing herself at an early gig as “what you need”. They needed bass too, and Rob didn’t have one yet, but he had what they wanted, so, he got this guitar and he learned how to make it talk. They were complete. So they started gigging more seriously, playing with the likes of The Wave Pictures, Ballboy, Allo Darlin, Nouvelle Vague, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, and playing at festivals such as Indietracks, Edinburgh Popfest and Summer Sundae.
“Nottingham favourites Red Shoe Diaries make sophisticated indie pop that joins the dots from Jacques Brel to Darren Hayman in epic, Morricone-esque broad strokes. Possibly the most exciting glittery-literary indie pop band to come from Nottingham since Tindersticks”. - Fists
“Outside of The Melons Nottingham hasn’t really had a great pop band. But that might change with Red Shoe Diaries getting everyone’s hearts a flutter” - A Layer of Chips
Red Shoe Diaries have a few gigs coming up. Catch them here: Feb 27th - The Musician, Leicester, w/ Allo Darlin, & Tigercats March 26th - The Chameleon, Nottingham, w/ The Wave Pictures June 1st - Ireby Music Festival, Ireby, Cumbria
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)
Sad news people - Moustache Of Insanity are calling it a day. Moustache Of Insanity were one of the bands that made me want to start this label and I was overwhelming excited when Bill and Nik said yes to putting out a cassette on Fika this time last year. They've been an utter pleasure to have on the label and their Album Of Death was one of my favourite albums of last year, released here on sexy blood red vinyl and with our friends at Pull Yourself Together on CD.
All afternoon I've been thinking back over the gigs I've seen them play. Some have been truly shambolic; some have sounded rather professional; all been fantastically fun: they've never failed to make me grin, dance and giggle like an overexcited toddler. From the sticky, sweaty, bloody full band show in Brixton for the album launch, to the acoustic set in the workshop tent at last year's Indietracks festival, playing a blinding set earlier this month at The Lexington, to a truly chaotic set in a basement in Hackney with The Wave Pictures.... I've loved every single minute. Nik, Bill, thank you both!
So before Bill gets time to get back to being a full time Dad and bass player with Allo Darlin, and Nik launches his solo gameboy project, there are a few chances to see them play live together. 26 Jan - The Book Club, London 3 Feb - The Others, London 4 Feb - The Victora, Birmingham 10 Feb - Silver Bullet, London 1 Mar - The Cellar, Oxford 16 Mar - Singapora Lounge, Rochester
You can still buy their LP from us here - every copy comes its own photograph of them fooling around somewhere, a personalised message, a tea bag of death and a cake recipe, all on a delicious smelling slab of blood red vinyl. Go buy it before they're gone forever x
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
We hope you've been enjoying the advent calendar we've been hosting with Darren Hayman. So far we've had 42 songs available to download for free - including appearances from The Wave Pictures, the song writing debut of comedian Josie Long, a track featuring Bedders from Madness and plenty of Fika Recordings favourites. Today's offering includes two songs from Bill Botting (of Allo Darlin', The Secondary Modern and Moustache Of Insanity) and from Fika Recording's latest artist, Tigercats. All of which means we can announce... ... on April 9th, we'll be releasing Isle Of Dogs, the debut album from Tigercats. Yeah! It'll be coming out on Fika Recordings on 12" vinyl, and there'll be the usual Fika related treats included. More details once I figure them out. In the meantime, head over and download their Christmas song! Woo!
Just a quick thank you to everyone that came to our party/gig last night at The Betsey Trotwood to see Darren Hayman, Enderby's Room, Owl & Mouse and Rob Hillfield play. It was a free gig but we tried to guilt you in to donating some money to the Haworth Cat Rescue - and you did. We raised £150.05, which will feed a lot of kittens this Christmas. Thanks also to Julia for making the sublime vegan Christmas cake and decorating it for Fika Recordings.
On the 7th of December we're hosting a launch party for the release of Darren Hayman's Christmas In Haworth EP. Julia, who provided the vegan Christmas cake recipe, will be bringing a cake and I'll be baking some mince pies for the night. Entry is free but we are asking for a donation - everyone involved is doing this for free so all proceeds will go directly to the Haworth Cat Rescue.
Darren will be supported by Enderby's Room, Owl & Mouse and Rob Hillfield. They'll all be playing acoustically and unamplified. Hopefully see you at The Betsey Trotwood on Wednesday!
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.
