A DIY INDIEPOP VINYL & CASSETTE LABEL

The Just Joans - "You Might Be Smiling Now..." pre-order

Cult Scottish miserabilists The Just Joans are delighted to be releasing their first new album in more than a decade, following the band’s signing to Fika Recordings.

Formed in Glasgow in 2005, The Just Joans have evolved from a shambling two-piece to an accomplished sextet that embraces rivalry and relationship in the vocals of siblings, David and Katie Pope.

Once described as ‘the missing link between The Magnetic Fields and The Proclaimers’, the band have used self-awareness and self-deprecation to continuously explore themes of angst, heartbreak and detachment in their songs.

From their 2006 debut album Last Tango in Motherwell through a series of successful EPs, to 2012’s compilation Buckfast Bottles In The Rain, the acerbic wit in David Pope’s observational lyrics have helped make the band a firm favourite of the indie-pop scene. Their rise has seen them play a plethora of international festivals, such as Wales Goes Pop, Indiefjords, NYC Popfest, and of course the Indietracks festival, of which they have been long-standing cult favourites since their first appearance in 2008. 
The band are excited to release You Might Be Smiling Now…, a self-recorded and produced collection of new songs. The release offers more of the same cynicism, but from an older if not necessarily wiser perspective as evidenced on lead single No Longer Young Enough and You Make Me Physically Sick (Let’s Start Having Children) is a jaundiced slice of toybox pop that crosses The Human League and Harold Steptoe.

Complementing this shift in tone comes a more polished electronic sound on tracks A Matter of Time and Someone Else That You Like More Than Me while O' Caledonia sails along at a blistering pace like no Just Joans lament before it.

Despite the band’s obvious maturity, You Might Be Smiling Now... still manages to maintain all the emotional charm and whimsical melodies that led The List to view The Just Joans as ‘a lovable blend of sleepy acoustic guitars, Brian Wilson-esque harmonies and West Coast sarcasm.’

Discussing the new album, singer-songwriter David Pope:

“You Might Be Smiling Now... could be considered a loose concept album. The songs detail the confusion in my teenage years, the horror of my twenties and the terror of my encroaching middle age. It's somewhat self-indulgent, but I hope that these wee stories about small town boredom, drunken romance and misty-eyed nostalgia resonate with the other overgrown teenagers out there in their mid-thirties.”

The Just Joans are David Pope (vocals and guitar), Katie Pope (vocals), Chris Elkin (lead guitar), Fraser Ford (bass guitar), Doog Cameron (keyboards) and Jason Sweeney (drums).

Pre-order You Might Be Smiling Now... on heavyweight black vinyl, CD or as a download.

The Just Joans - No Longer Young Enough [7"]

Artist: The Just Joans
Title: No Longer Young Enough
Format: 7" single on mustard yellow vinyl
Cat#: Fika061
Release date: 28th July 2017
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

Named after a long-standing agony aunt from a popular Scottish newspaper, The Just Joans formed in Glasgow in 2007. Over the last ten years they have released a series of EPs on WeePOP! and have built something of a cult following among navel-gazing indie types. Their songs detail the highs and lows (mainly lows) of modern life, with a particular focus on failing relationships and missed opportunities. Musical touchstones for the band include The Magnetic Fields, The Shangri-Las, Smokey Robinson, The Kinks and Orange Juice. 

Now, after a recording hiatus of several years, The Joans are back with a brand new single "No Longer Young Enough", a girl group-esque ode to that realisation when facing a Saturday night of clubbing that you'd much rather stay in, read a good book and feel fresh in the morning. The single also features original artwork by painter and singer with the band, Katie Pope. 

A new album, You Might Be Smiling Now..., will follow later this year.

"Shambling indie pop in the vein of early Pastels, those home-recorded Belle & Sebastian efforts or the early Postcard singles... and it matches joyous innocence - those backing vocals, that xylophone melody - to some rather downcast lyricism. Wonderfully Scottish." Clash Music [No Longer Young Enough premiere]

"a winsome and gently hook filled slice of delicate indie pop with some lovely ‘woos’ in the background and the gentle Glaswegian accent of singer Katie Pope. It’s a gem." Overblown

"offering the perfect brand of glistening indiepop, moving back and forth between upbeat moments and more sultry swing to entice listeners. Such gems are hard to find nowadays, but rumor of a full-length in the works should keep us all looking forward to the next steps from this act." Austin Town Hall

"Any band that can make us laugh and sigh, often in the same song, is a band to keep in your playlist. Check out the title track, which offers girl-group vocals pointing out that for all of us, there is a time when Friday nights/Saturday mornings in the clubs becomes reading at home in our PJs and an early lights out." When You Motor Away

"‘No Longer Young Enough’ is four and a half minutes of indie-pop wonderfulness that is destined to be played on repeat by all who hear it. The sharp punchy intro instantly demands attention, picking the listener up before Katie Pope’s sweet vocal kicks in. With a classic girl group style singalong chorus giving the bittersweet lyrics a saccharine coating it’s a highly infectious offering that doesn’t falter from start to finish. Innocence collides with world weary self awareness and joy meets pathos as everything is neatly underpinned by a healthy dollop of humour." The Barley Boat

The Hayman Kupa Band - The Hayman Kupa Band [12"/CD]

Artist: The Hayman Kupa Band
Title: The Hayman Kupa Band
Format: 12" album on heavyweight black vinyl | CD in digifile sleeve
Cat#: Fika060LP | Fika060CD
Release date: 21st July 2017
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

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 other’s 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.

Darren explains further:

It’s only happened a few times but just once or twice I have seen someone on stage and thought, “I want to be in a band with them.” But I thought it the first time I saw Emma playing with her magnificent and under-rated band Standard Fare.

I met her properly a little later in Sheffield when we played together. Before the gig I said I was suspicious of bands that wore hats. She wore a hat on stage.

They say imitation is a form of flattery and I was glad that I noticed when I wrote the song “Boy, Look at What you Can’t Have Now” that it sounded like the sort of thing Emma might write. I covered up my theft by asking her to sing on it.

When we were recording the song I suggested that we should write a whole album of duets. Musicians suggest things like this all the time because they are stupid or drunk. A few months later Emma told me she had started writing the album. This is what Emma does; she says something then does it. I race to play catch up.

The songs were written over three weekends at her house and mine. Co-writing is something I’m not used to. It’s very intimate and me and Emma became friends through the process. Emma’s lyrics are sharp and precise whereas mine are more metaphoric. It was lovely seeing how quickly we settled into something in between.

We talked about relationships and that’s what the album is about. It’s about our fears and paranoias and the search for trust and love. We deliberately swapped lines and genders so the narrative is never truly that of traditional duets. I sing Emma’s lines often and she sings mine. It’s two voices singing the results of our conversations. We became close friends whilst writing these songs.

We wanted a band to make the album and chose Michael Wood and Cat Loye. We never considered anyone else. They brought a brash, bold sound to the songs and we rehearsed twice and then recorded the album in three days at the Big Jelly studios in Ramsgate.

I was thinking about the Beatles and very early 1960s pop records. We recorded everything live including the vocals with only a handful of overdubs.
We put a microphone high up in the ceiling to get bright, rackety sound and mixed it in mono.

We recorded it two and a half years ago and it has remind locked like a time capsule whilst me and Emma released five other albums.

 I like this album a lot. It’s the sound of a friendship being made.

Select press for The Hayman Kupa Band album

“the album’s low-key indie pop (not a million miles from Mammoth Penguins, or indeed Hefner) is the ideal setting for their warm-hearted musical conversations. Vocally, Kupa’s light, frank delivery blends perfectly with Hayman’s Pete Shelley-esque tones and both fit the Pastels-ish music like a key in a lock.” Record Collector [4/5]

“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” Gold Flake Paint"

“A joyous collection of very direct romantic songs with perfect indie production values, if you like the sadly defunct Allo Darlin’, then you’ll love these guys.” Morning Star [4/5]

“a vibrant and thoroughly enjoyable record" Penny Black Music

“It’s a spectacular bit, and its quite possibly some of the purest pop I’ve heard in 2017. Pretty sure this might be my favorite musical thing going on at the moment.” Austin Town Hall

“Together they make the kind of ramshackle indie-pop which features only the type of notes and chords you have heard before. Therefore the album has a warm familiarity as the two of them share lyrical couplets - sometimes at each other like a more careworn indie version of Prolapse. In other words it's domesticity put to music.” Norman Records

“It’s the sort of energetic, scratchy indie-pop you’d expect from these two songwriters only structured like a classic pop-duet, the back and forth vocals reminiscent of Sunny & Cher or Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg” For The Rabbits

“Ah, the many and varied adventures of Darren Hayman... A one-man indie pop cottage industry, the songwriter's lengthy and wildly creative catalogue contains many gems, many moments of splendour. New project The Hayman Kupa Band, however, stands out against the jewels in his crown. A series of duets with Emma Kupa (from Standard Fare/MammothPenguins), the pair's intersect and intertwine to provide real intimacy to the material.” Clash Music

“seemingly effortless power pop” Louder Than War

“While it might be that burgeoning friendship underpinning the record the songs lean far more toward the thrill, the longing, and the heartbreak of romantic love. Sweet and beautiful, this is a tender album but one which is also emotionally raw in parts, the melody soothes while words cut deep. This is as fine an indiepop record as you would hope for from the pairing, with vintage undertones it is a gorgeous and honest reflection on love in many forms.” Circus Sweet

 

July 24th: The Hayman Kupa Band album launch show

Advance tickets from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings

THE HAYMAN KUPA BAND 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.

WOLF GIRL Wolf Girl are Becky, Chris, Carl and Christabel - a garage pop four-piece based in South London. Having met each other through being in awkward teenage bands in the South East, they eventually formed in September 2013. With admirable authenticity, they record and rehearse in an old garage called Bucket East that backs onto the river Wandle, staying faithful to their garage-rock tendencies. It’s been said that they both do and don’t sound like the Ramones, and have also been compared to both the Shop Assistants and Bratmobile. Wolf Girl have their own trademarks though, offering a spirited take on powerful, melodic and jagged indie pop that often recalls the noisier aspects of C86.

SCHANDE A London trio, Schande are known for writing discordantly catchy, melodic indie rock- that joyous blend of 90s indie at its best, mixed with a unique element of the unknown. Jen’s take on Schande’s sound is simple: “We’re not story tellers- the music is landscape where literal meaning is irrelevant. We’re inspired by memory, by experience and by those undefined tangents and planes linking the two. Those tensions between space and location- that’s what we soundtrack.”

The Hayman Kupa Band - A Tent of Blankets [Digital]

The-Hayman-Kupa-Band3-1.jpg

"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.

Listen here: <a href="http://shop.fikarecordings.com/album/the-hayman-kupa-band">The Hayman Kupa Band by The Hayman Kupa Band</a>

Spotify | iTunes | Bandcamp

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...

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