"Darren Hayman and Emma Kupa today unveil the fruits of their wonderful new collaborative effort – and the glowing pop of “A Tent Of Blankets” might well be the sweet shot-in-the-arm you were craving all along" GoldFlakePaint.
The Just Joans join Fika Recordings
It's been five long years since The Just Joans released their first full length album on WeePOP! and we've been eagerly awaiting what was to come next.
So we're obviously VERY excited to be saying The Just Joans have joined us here at Fika Recordings. We've got a brand new 2 track 7" vinyl from them out in July (just in time for Indietracks). No Longer Young Enough is on mustardy yellow vinyl, the flip side has Breakfast For Our Tea. If you've seen The Just Joans lately, there's a chance you'll remember one or other of these..
This one's available to pre-order right now.
And then you'll only have to wait until the autumn for the new full length album. But we'll tell you all about that in due course...
June 21st: Enderby's Room at St Pancras Old Church
Advance tickets £10 from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings
Jun 21st: Enderby's Room with The Wave Pictures and Emma Kupa at St Pancras Old Church
We're putting on a very special gig in the beautiful confines of St Pancras Old Church to celebrate the release of the debut album from Enderby's Room. And we're delighted to be able to say both The Wave Pictures and Emma Kupa will be playing full sets in support of Enderby's Room.
ENDERBY'S ROOM
Enderby’s Room is fiddle player Dan Mayfield, once from rural Lincolnshire, but he has now found home living in London. His folk tinged songs reflect on his traditional folk upbringing. Mayfield has played violin for many artists including Daniel Johnston, Darren Hayman, The Wave Pictures, Allo Darlin’ and the Belles of London City morris dancers. Over the past ten years he has gently built up a collection of his own songs, which he performs with his band Enderby’s Room. The name comes from an Anthony Burgess character called Mr Enderby who composed his prose inside the toilet. The band’s make up has been constantly evolving; around 30 different individuals have been a part of Enderby’s Room over the last decade, before settling on the current 5 piece lineup. Enderby’s Room’s sound features a Victorian pedal harmonium, together with French horn, double bass, ukulele, guitar and percussion.
“Unfolding gently, the quiet grace of Enderby’s Room seems to draw on the folk tradition while taking brave chances of its own.” Clash Music" "At times they capture the sumptuous melancholia of Low; at others, they're finding new shapes for indie folk" How Does It Feel “their delicate harmonies, unusual instruments and vivid storytelling are intricately woven and desperately beautiful” Green Man Festival
THE WAVE PICTURES
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 but soon David was writing lots of original material. They have since released six studio albums to critical acclaim and played numerous sessions on BBC 6 Music, Radio 1 and Xfm. Interest generated from these recordings has enabled The Wave Pictures to play shows all over the world with artists including Jeffrey Lewis, Darren Hayman, Stanley Brinks, Freschard and Herman Düne.
EMMA KUPA
Emma stepped into the limelight as the lead singer, bass player and songwriter for much loved (and missed) indie heroes Standard Fare, and has since been a front woman in Without Feathers, Mammoth Penguins and The Hayman Kupa Band. What she lacks in quality band names she more than makes up for in intensely personal and irresistibly hummable pop tunes.
BELLES OF LONDON CITY
An innovative and unique blend of morris dancing, song, music and foolery with a modern edge, with Enderby's Room's Dan Mayfield on fiddle.
Advance tickets available from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings.
The Hayman Kupa Band - debut album on Fika Recordings in July
We've been huge fans of Emma Kupa for a long time now, so we're very excited to be working with her on the debut album from The Hayman Kupa Band, alongside Fika stalwart Darren Hayman.
When Darren Hayman (Hefner) and Emma Kupa (Standard Fare/Mammoth Penguins) decided to make a duets record, we knew the results would be great, but we didn’t expect them to be THIS great. Gathering together a rhythm section consisting of Michael Wood (Whoa Melodic/Singing Adams) on bass and Cat Loye (Fever Dream) on drums, The Hayman Kupa band create brash, bold and effortlessly melodic power pop. Sharing writing duties and sometimes singing each others words, lines are blurred and creativity explored in a wonderfully exuberant collection of songs. The album, recorded in three days at Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate, is an exploration of relationships and, at its heart, it’s the sound of a friendship being made.
The first track taken from the album is No More Bombs, and we'll be revealing a couple more in the run up to the album's release on the 21st of July. You can pre-order it here.
Enderby's Room - Enderby's Room [12"/CD]
<a href="http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/enderbys-room">Enderby's Room by Enderby's Room</a> The debut album from Enderby's Room is out today. Available on black 12" vinyl, digifile CD and digitally to stream or download.
“unfolding gently, the quiet grace of Enderby’s Room seems to draw on the folk tradition while taking brave chances of its own.” Clash Music "an exquisitely delivered, and vivid piece of songwriting" For The Rabbits “it’s all rather lovely” For Folks Sake “a lamenting duet” Folk Radio “has a subtle beauty that will overwhelm you” Austin Town Hall “an absolute stunner" A Musical Priority
April 26th: Stanley Brinks and Enderby's Room
Come and join us on the 26th of April - we're hosting Stanley Brinks and Enderby's Room.
Stanley Brinks Enderby's Room at Paper Dress Vintage (Mare St, Hackney Central, London) April 26th 20:00-23:00
Advance tickets £8.50 from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings Tickets £10 on the door
Enderby's Room - The Music [Digital]
Enderby's Room - Birds [Digital]
<a href="http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/enderbys-room">Enderby's Room by Enderby's Room</a> The latest single from Enderby's Room is out today! Birds is taken from their forthcoming debut album, and was premiered over at For The Rabbits yesterday. Here's what they had to say about it:
The track is a delicate piece of gently unfurling minimalism, led by a lightly plucked acoustic, and the steady pulse of a double-bass; it’s left to the vocals to carry much of the melodic content. Thankfully in guest vocalist, Deerful’s Emma Winston, they’ve the perfect foil, while Emma’s own music exists in the field of electronic-pop, here she demonstrates herself an equally adept folk-singer. Emma’s silvery vocal effortlessly carrying the quiet melancholy of Dan’s words, as she sings of the natural migration of our avian visitors, “they’re preparing to leave this land and head somewhere warmer, far from our crystal winter“. It’s a song that knows we must all fly the nest at some point, but even in that inevitability, there’s still a sense of trepidation and sadness and what me way lose along the way.
The whole track builds to a quiet crescendo, as Dan and a third voice, belonging to Sophie Koonin, join to provide delightfully harmonious, counter melodies, and the rich, weezing tones of a Victorian pedal harmonium add a touch of depth, before the whole thing fades to fluttering bird song. It’s an exquisitely delivered, and vivid piece of songwriting, and the strongest case yet for just how good Enderby’s Room’s album could be.
Enderby's Room - "Birds" Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes
You can still buy their debut 7" vinyl record My Old Friend, and pre-order their album on vinyl, CD or as a download from our Bandcamp shop - it's out in just over a month's time.
Bill Botting & The Two Drink Minimums - Better Friends [12"/CD]
Artist: Bill Botting & The Two Drink Minimums
Title: Better Friends
Format: 12" album on blue vinyl | CD in slipcase sleeve
Cat#: Fika059LP | Fika059CD
Release date: 10th March 2017
Bandcamp | Spotify
While Bill is 40,000ft up in the air*, moving his family back to Australia, we're releasing his first album since Allo Darlin's triumphant finale. Everyone's favourite bass-player-with-moustache-come-charismatic-front-man (McCartney, Lemmy, nah!) has made an album simply described as indie mixed with country, or country mixed with indie. Or like if Lou Reed went to a Linda Ronstadt Concert in 1988 and decided to have a change of direction. It's an absolute cracker - just as you'd expect from Bill, and his assembled backing band cherry picking members from The Wave Pictures, Tigercats, Hefner and Owl & Mouse.
Better Friends is available on blue 12" vinyl, CD and digitally. You can buy a copy from us via our online shop, from your local record shop, and from all the usual digital outlets (Spotify/iTunes/etc).
*literally, by my calculations he'll be over Eastern Europe as the album is released in the UK, and by the time he lands it'll be out worldwide and have been out in Australia for all of a day
"a righteous burst of alt-country. “I started smoking when you told me you loved me” Botting croons amid a formidable backdrop of gnarly guitar solos and swooning backing vocals that quickly transport you somewhere else entirely, delivered with an undeniable charm" Gold Flake Paint[Treating You Right premiere]
"an album that is an absolute joy from start to finish and will be cherished and loved by us all. I guarantee this is one of those albums that will ultimately make you smile, laugh, dance and simply enjoy every sound - what more could anyone possible want from an album?" A Musical Priority
"a wonderful indie-country-pop amalgam" Beat Surrender
"sweetly melodic indie-pop with country leanings, sounding very comforting" Norman Records
"Opening with the excellent title track, so good it could sit easily on any ‘Allo Darlin’ album and followed up by the equally catchy 'Burning Bridges' it is clear that Bill’s abilities stretch way beyond that of a mere bass player. 'Better Friends' is far from a one-trick pony though with 'Knew You When' having a distinct country feel and 'Treating You Right' mining the same seam as Status Quo!" Penny Black Music
"While I know we were all more-than-bummed when Allo Darlin’ called it quits, there’s promise in the future, especially knowing that Bill Botting (the AD bass player) has already announced a solo outing. Now, it’s not exactly what one would expect, with a little bit more of a folk influence, though he’s still employing the band’s tendency for great melodies. On this track, there’s a gentle female vocal accompaniment, perfectly accenting Botting’s seeming Western drawl." Austin Town Hall
"These songs - they're all hits - have the southern rock punch of Tom Petty, the careworn intimacy of Neil Young's ballads and the maudlin melodies of The Go-Betweens' Tallulah." Did Not Chart
"It's a good record too with a personal feel and a weathered slant to the lyrics. The melancholy and wistful opening two songs "Better Friend" and "Burning Bridges" make for a great start" Collective Zine
"deliciously crooned in the seductive lull of opining lap steels all smoked in the warming frosty topped glow of a campfire gathering which amid the honey toned winter-esque harmonies and the countrified cool had us much minded of a mulled wine imbibing studio soiree featuring Kevin Tihista, Rockpile and Moviola." The Sunday Experience