Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures - Spinola Bay [Digital]

Here's a free track to download! Recorded at the same time as Gin and Orange Juice, this track is an alternate version of Spinola Bay to the one that appears on Gin; here, Andre takes lead vocals alone. Enjoy!

Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures are heading out on tour in March, supported by Freschard. Catch them here: 1 March Ramsgate - Ramsgate Music Hall [Tickets] 2 March Brighton - The Prince Albert [Tickets] 3 March London - The Old Queens Head [Tickets] 4 March Nottingham - The Maze [Tickets] 5 March Cardiff - The Moon Club [Tickets] 6 March Manchester - Chorlton Irish Club [Tickets] 7 March Hull - The Adelphi 8 March Wakefield - The Hop [Tickets] 9 March Newcastle - The Head Of Steam [Tickets] 10 March Edinburgh - Henry’s Cellar Bar 11 March Glasgow - CCA 12 March Belfast - [TBC] 13 March Galway - Roisin Dubh 14 March Cork - Triskel Arts Centre 15 March Dublin - Whelan’s 16 March Bangor - COB 17 March Bristol - Start The Bus

Making Marks - A Thousand Half-Truths [12"/CD]

We're finally releasing the debut LP from Norway's Making Marks! It comes on beautiful heavyweight 180g vinyl with a printed inner sleeve of lyrics and pictures and download code, and on a 6 panel CD digipack with full lyrics booklet too. Or you can simply download it from our webshop, iTunes etc.

“There’s a trace of Saint Etienne’s suburban romance to be heard in the superior pop of Making Marks, a Norwegian four-piece whose debut album puts a winning finish of wit and longing on the belts-and-braces indiepop undercoat.” Uncut

“It’s an effective blend, especially with the sad but beautiful vocals of singers Ola Innset and Nina Bø as well as the country twang of Innset’s picking style of electric guitar playing.” Neon Filler

“classic heartwarming indiepop” SoundsXP

“a strong contender for indie-pop album of the year” Inforty

“a summery album to brighten up the current wintery outlook” Scottish Express

“The consistently excellent male/female vocals on show make A Thousand Half-Truths less a smack in the face than a warming, gentle arm around the shoulder. Perfect for these cold winter nights.” Shout4Music

Buy heavyweight LP / digipack CD / download

We've also got all three of their earlier 7" singles available for you to buy alongside the album: Ticket Machine [their debut 7", includes Suburban Kids With Biblical Names remix] Barcodes [their follow up, includes Erik Skantze remix] Uten En Tråd [their Norwegian single, includes a b-side recorded and produced by Darren Hayman]

Making Marks "Bruises" free download

mm13-5-small

We're revealing another track from the upcoming Making Marks album "A Thousand Half-Truths". And, for one week only, you'll be able to download Bruises for free.

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/127184005" params="color=ff6600&auto_play=false&player_type=artwork" width="300" height="300" iframe="false" /]

Pre-order A Thousand Half-Truths on 12" heavyweight vinyl, digipack CD or digital download.

Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures - Orange Juice [7"]

Artist: Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures
Title: Orange Juice
Format: 7” orange vinyl
Cat#: Fika033
Release date: 20th January 2014
Bandcamp | Spotify

"Brinks comes over all Modern Life Is Rubbish as he laments life’s disappointments, including a 21st-century ‘Panic’ refrain of “the radio sucks balls, I don’t relate to any of the music they’re playing at all”. The antidote, apparently, is a cocktail of “alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, ephedrine and orange juice”. That out of these it is the healthy option that is chosen for the song’s title shows the whole thing is done with a glint in the eye." For Folks Sake

"sounds like Herman Dune when they were charmingly naïve and elegantly simple, a rock’n’roll strum with an easy rhythm, anthemic chorus and some memorable lyrics... a great, singalong single that promises much for forthcoming album Gin" Sounds XP

"This is massively catchy. You’ll never be able to stop singing it. Over a ramshackle Jonathan Richman style lollop they advise us that basically everything is shit but they’ll get by with alcohol, tobacco, caffeine ephedrine and orange juice." Norman Records [8/10]

"In matching life's hangdog vagaries with love's jubilation, Orange Juice lifts gloom into hard-won glory. It's pure musical joy." Did Not Chart

"this fun little number could be my new theme song for surviving SxSW" Austin Town Hall

"It might sound slightly daft to say that you ‘know’ John Peel would have loved a particular band or song, but given that Stanley Brinks did get support from the legendary DJ before his death, I’m not really being that presumptuous about this." 17 Seconds

"Picking the best track out of the two is something of a challenge, so investing in both is recommended" The Sound Of Confusion

BBC 6 Music session with Marc Riley [broadcast 6th March 2014]

Fika Recordings totes

We've had some tote bags made up. They come in 5 colours (black, graphite grey, navy blue, classic red and bottle green), are 100% cotton and look amazing! Available from the Fika webshop - buy tote bag.

Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures - Maybe I Will See You Again

Stanley Brinks is joined by The Wave Pictures on their first joint release for 4 years with upcoming 7” single Orange Juice. Orange Juice is an anthemic singalong about a recipe for happiness - “a little bit of you, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, ephedrine and orange juice”.

B-side Maybe I Will See You Again is, rather aptly after the concoction of Orange Juice before it, a song about standing at a street corner with a hangover. It has previously appeared on the album ‘Stanley Brinks Hovers’, but this is a new rock'n roll version backed by The Wave Pictures. Orange Juice is out on the 20th January on 7" orange vinyl and is available digitally.

Neither track features on the new Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures album ‘Gin’, out in March.

Pre-order Orange Juice on 7" / downloadPre-order Gin on 12" / CD / download

There's also a sneak peak of the A-side for Orange Juice from the test pressings here

Time Is On Our Side video

An absolutely dreamy pop song from Azure Blue with a video to suit, I'm still overwhelmed by this song, and by the album. Having been listening to it for several months now, the palpitations of hearing it for the first time are still there every time the vinyl goes on to my turntable - its a record for lying back on the sofa and dreaming of the thrill of summer road trips, the lush grassy meadows and the brisk late evening swims under the sunset... The album is out now on LP/CD/double gatefold LP.

Fulhäst - But They Don't Even Sell Lo-fi Parasols In Top Shop

Here's a new video from Fulhäst, the second from his debut album Broken, starring members of Tigercats and Fever Dream. Fulhäst plays lo-fi Gameboy pop-punk about movies, heartbreak and stuff.

The album was recorded in the spring by Darren Hayman and Darren has also remixed one of the tracks, Your Skin, available here as a free download.

[bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=969190925 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=9]

Azure Blue "Beyond The Dreams There's Infinite Doubt"

The new album from Azure Blue is finally out! Beyond The Dreams There's Infinite Doubt is the follow up to the Swedish Grammy award winning Rule Of Thirds (where previous winners have included Fika favourites The Knife, Jens Lekman and El Perro Del Mar).

Here in the UK we're putting out the LP: it comes on delicious maroon coloured semi-transparent 12" vinyl, inside a wonderfully textured reverse card sleeve and includes a download code. Our friends at Hybris are in charge of the CD and digital in Europe, with Matinee Records handling the same duties for North America. Anna Logue in Germany are also issuing a double gatefold edition, containing both the new LP and Azure Blue's debut LP on vinyl for the first time.

Copies of the vinyl LP are shipping now and we'll have copies of the CD shortly. We'll also be taking some copies of the gatefold double LP, which is available to pre-order now; we're expecting to receive this from Germany later in the autumn.

Buy Azure Blue - Beyond The Dreams There's Infinite Doubt

Vinyl LP

Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures

We're thrilled to announce that Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures will be playing at The Shacklewell Arms on Tuesday 27th August! Support on the night comes from Freschard. This show is a sneak preview of their upcoming album, out on Fika Recordings early 2014 and tickets are now available to purchase from WeGotTickets. We're happy to have the capable hands of Scared To Dance joining us on promotional duties for the show too!

Stanley Brinks is the current identity of André Herman Düne, formerly of the French folk rock band Herman Düne. He has recorded and played shows in Europe, the UK and the US under various other names such Ben Dope, Ben Haschish, Klaus Bong, John Trawling, Lord Stanislas.

Since leaving Herman Düne in December 2006 he has been championed by the likes of Jeffrey Lewis (who wrote a song about how Herman Düne were better when André was still in them) and in 2012 he collaborated with The Wave Pictures for their debut joint release. The follow up album is due to come out on Fika Recordings next year.

Stanley Brinks will be joined by The Wave Pictures as his backing band for this show. 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.

They have released a twelve studio albums to critical acclaim and played numerous sessions on BBC 6 Music, Radio 1 and Xfm. Their new album, City Forgiveness, will be out in October on the Moshi Moshi label.

Freschard is the musical vehicle for the solo artist Clemence Freschard. She writes songs deftly combining folk music, urban daydreams, acoustic sounds and electronic programming.

Growing up in a farm in French Burgundy, she moved to Paris at the age of 18 where she baked pies and cakes in a café. There, a local musician and regular customer called André Herman Düne wrote a few songs for her to sing.

In 2004 she moved to Berlin, where she recorded her first LP Alien Duck with a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds. Her second album Click Click, recorded in 2006, features a drummer (Leo Bear Creek) and electric guitars by Stanley Brinks. On her third album, Moonstone she plays the drums herself. She works as a sound engineer and records her friends’ music. She also has a calypso cover band with Stanley Brinks, called Kreuzberg Museum.