We Show Up On Radar - Crumbs For Erin [Digital]

Artist: We Show Up On Radar
Title: Crumbs For Erin
Format: Digital Single
Cat#: Fika071SG3
Release date: 1st March 2019
Bandcamp | Spotify

Crumbs for Erin, the third single from We Show Up On Radar's new LP "Zanzibar Whip Coral", is released on the 1st of March.

* * *

Naughty little folk-pop maestro We Show Up On Radar is indeed a person and Zanzibar Whip Coral is indeed his album. A body of songs expelled through his cloud-like body like a turbulent but fruitful gale. This mass of organised air is to be released on Fika Recordings in March 2019.

Nottingham based multi instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Andy Wright - the man inside We Show up On Radar - has conjured up this 9 song popular melodrama using nothing but his own full sized Wurlitzer, complete with rotating platform and wearing his trademark sequinned suit.

View fullsize

Zanzibar Whip Corals is the 4.15 from Waverly Station. The train seats are woven from spun sugar and the train driver is a pelican with secrets in his bill. The gentle breeze spilling through the windows is Andy's voice with a melancholy love story sung for all the weird and wonderful creatures giggling in the distance. His songwriting is tender, almost fragile but his songs are anthemic, bubbling with gentle power. This journey is one of sheer magic and terror, like a lovely nightmare where you wake up smiling.

We Show Up On Radar’s songs are bewitching tales, scattered with references to vegetarian yeti’s, microscopic sea creatures and Greek Gods. It is music that is full of contradictions - childlike and sweet, but a bit wrong; terribly sad, but hopelessly uplifting.

Wright invented libraries and then toured them…. We Show Up On Radar have also recorded on various occasions for the BBC at the legendary Maida Vale studios and Abbey Road. ("surreal, hushed acoustic folk-pop that's both downbeat and delirious" BBC Introducing).

We Show Up On Radar have previously supported The National, Piney Gir, Thomas Truax and Bright Eyes at Nottingham's Rock City and dazzled with a headline show at Club Fandango at the Bull & Gate, London (“an astonishing treat” Artrocker).

Lets all fly away on each other’s smiles.

Mar 16: Bill Botting & The Two Drink Minimums + Elizabeth Morris (Allo Darlin') + Jessica's Brother

Come join us on the 16th March at The Shacklewell Arms - Bill’s back from Australia for one week only (again) - and we’re throwing a bit of a party! For the first time since Allo Darlin’s farewell gig 2 and a bit years, Elizabeth, Paul, Bill and Mikey will all be together in a room again. Paul and Mikey are joining Bill’s band for the night, and Elizabeth is flying in especially to play a solo set.

That's Bill (Allo Darlin'), with a band that features members of Allo Darlin' (that'll be both Paul 'Thunder' Rains and Mikey 'Cowbell' Collins), plus heroes from Tigercats, The Wave Pictures, The Surfing Magazines and other legendary acts!

That's Elizabeth (Allo Darlin')! Her first show in London for literally years!

That's Jessica's Brother! Literally Jessica's Brother. That's Tom, along with Charlie and Johnny 'Huddersfield' Helm.

All star filled line-up for a starry Saturday night.

Advance tickets from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings and from Dice.

Mammoth Penguins - I Wanna [Digital]

Artist: Mammoth Penguins
Title: I Wanna
Format: Digital Single
Cat#: Fika070SG1
Release date: 15th February 2019
Bandcamp | Spotify

Following a sold out London show with Swearin’, Cambridge indie pop trio Mammoth Penguins are delighted to announce that they have signed to Fika Recordings and that their third album, There’s No Fight We Can’t Both Win, will be released on 26th April 2019.

The band are streaming lead single ‘I Wanna’ today, listen and share here:

“‘I Wanna’ is a super simple song about how liking someone can unlock a load of creativity and energy,” comments vocalist Emma Kupa, “and suddenly there are so many possibilities and so much potential, and life becomes way more fun.”

Mammoth Penguins are a 3-piece indie pop powerhouse, showcasing the songwriting and vocal talents of Emma Kupa (Standard Fare, The Hayman Kupa Band) backed up by the noisiest rhythm section in indie pop.

Their first album, Hide and Seek, was released with the much-loved and sorely missed Fortuna Pop! in 2015. Stand-out tracks ‘Strength In My Legs’ and ‘When I Was Your Age’ were picked up by BBC 6Music and Radio X, and the band played a live session for Marc Riley the following year.

But Mammoth Penguins didn’t want to stop there.  Their follow-up release John Doe in 2017 was an ambitious concept album, exploring the feelings of loss and anger at a man who fakes his own death, only to return years later. It featured contributions from Haiku Salut’s Sophie Barkerwood and Alto 45’s Joe Bear, and expanded well beyond the 3-piece rock‘n’roll template, with washes of strings, synths and samples (field recordings of butter being scraped on toast, photocopiers, and Ramsgate beach helping to fully immerse the listener in the world the band have created) filling out and developing Kupa’s songwriting.

Having had their ‘and now for something completely different’ moment, the band have brought that ambition and expanded palette to the production of this new release. The sound is big, bold and confident—with layers of guitars, backing vocals and keys all adding extra muscle—but maintaining Kupa’s candid, heartfelt, confessional style of songwriting, and the jubilant power pop hooks that made the first record so special.  

As with many songwriters, Kupa’s songs are derived mostly from her own personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings, be they long-lived or fleeting. “The times when people have said my lyrics resonate with them or articulate something specific for them are extremely validating for me and I hope that happens with this album,” she explains of the new record.

“Arranging the songs with Mark and Tom is a massive buzz and playing them live as a band feels so exciting. Having Joe and Faith put their mark on the album was also a massive privilege. Making a record can be an extremely slow and drawn out process that requires patience, perseverance and resilience, and because of that we are super excited and proud to be releasing this album.”

This time around, classic themes of love, loss and conflict are (mostly) given a hopeful and optimistic spin that opposition is neither inevitable nor hopeless. For musical comparisons, think Land of Talk, and Philadelphia bands such as Swearin and Hop Along, but Kupa’s insight into the everyday and her ability to pen such relatable and honest missives means that, often, the best comparison for Mammoth Penguins’ music is with your own past.

Press

“The track is about how falling for someone can send you into a whirlwind of creativity and energy, as Emma explains, “suddenly there are so many possibilities and so much potential, and life becomes way more fun.” The joyful tone of the lyricism, is matched in the musical progression, seemingly inspired by the richer-textures of John Doe, here they sound bolder and denser than before; the guitars crunch, the layers vocal shine the drums hit like the proverbial ton of bricks. As they sing in unison with a sense of abandon and freedom, “I love you, fuck it all”, with tracks as cathartic and joyful as this, expect a lot of people to be screaming that back at them soon.” For The Rabbits

”It all kicks off with fuzzy guitar riffs opening the scene for Emma to jump in with her voice; her lyrical content is one of infatuation/love and a willingness to “fuck it all, fuck it all” in the name of love. But, what’s interesting to me, is the way the song winds down, ever so slightly for a musical interlude to flex musicianship, just before bouncing back into the swing of things emphatically.” Austin Town Hall

Track of the Day @ Get In Her Ears
Freakmagnet [Sweden]

Mammoth Penguins join Fika Recordings

View fullsize

We’re really pleased to be able to say that Mammoth Penguins have joined the Fika Recordings family!

It’s fair to say we’ve been fans of Mammoth Penguins for a long time now, since their blinding debut for Fortuna Pop, Hide and Seek, we’ve taken every excuse we can to book them for Fika Recordings shows in London with Tigercats, Steven James Adams and more, and just couldn’t get enough of their 2017 concept album John Doe. And it didn’t just all start there: we’ve followed Emma Kupa’s output keenly, from those early Standard Fare 7”s on the much adored Thee SPC label, through to her album with Darren Hayman we released the year before last (check out The Hayman Kupa Band record here).

So there’s a brand new single out today, I Wanna, taken from the full length album There’s No Fight We Can’t Both Win, which will be out on the 26th April on 12” vinyl and on CD.

You can pre-order the album now (with an immediate download of the new single I Wanna) and hear the new single on Spotify.

May 6th: Stanley Brinks at The Betsey Trotwood

It’s been a long time since we’ve hosted Stanley Brinks somewhere quite so small and intimate as the beautiful upstairs room at The Betsey Trotwood, but we’re delighted to be doing so again.

It’ll just be Stan, playing a couple of sets of songs, without any support. Its a tiny little room, and we’ve sold over 1/3 of the tickets for the night already, so if you’re planning on coming, get your ticket for £10 from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings sooner rather than later.

Doors open at 19:30, all over by 22:30 - the perfect way to see out the bank holiday weekend.

We Show Up On Radar - Willow Tree [Digital]

Artist: We Show Up On Radar
Title: Willow Tree
Format: Digital Single
Cat#: Fika071SG2
Release date: 8th February 2019
Bandcamp | Spotify

Willow Tree, the second single from We Show Up On Radar's new LP "Zanzibar Whip Coral", is released on the 8th of February.

* * *

Naughty little folk-pop maestro We Show Up On Radar is indeed a person and Zanzibar Whip Coral is indeed his album. A body of songs expelled through his cloud-like body like a turbulent but fruitful gale. This mass of organised air is to be released on Fika Recordings in March 2019.

Nottingham based multi instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Andy Wright - the man inside We Show up On Radar - has conjured up this 9 song popular melodrama using nothing but his own full sized Wurlitzer, complete with rotating platform and wearing his trademark sequinned suit.

View fullsize

Zanzibar Whip Corals is the 4.15 from Waverly Station. The train seats are woven from spun sugar and the train driver is a pelican with secrets in his bill. The gentle breeze spilling through the windows is Andy's voice with a melancholy love story sung for all the weird and wonderful creatures giggling in the distance. His songwriting is tender, almost fragile but his songs are anthemic, bubbling with gentle power. This journey is one of sheer magic and terror, like a lovely nightmare where you wake up smiling.

We Show Up On Radar’s songs are bewitching tales, scattered with references to vegetarian yeti’s, microscopic sea creatures and Greek Gods. It is music that is full of contradictions - childlike and sweet, but a bit wrong; terribly sad, but hopelessly uplifting.

Wright invented libraries and then toured them…. We Show Up On Radar have also recorded on various occasions for the BBC at the legendary Maida Vale studios and Abbey Road. ("surreal, hushed acoustic folk-pop that's both downbeat and delirious" BBC Introducing).

We Show Up On Radar have previously supported The National, Piney Gir, Thomas Truax and Bright Eyes at Nottingham's Rock City and dazzled with a headline show at Club Fandango at the Bull & Gate, London (“an astonishing treat” Artrocker).

Lets all fly away on each other’s smiles.

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We Show Up On Radar - A Theogony [Digital]

Artist: We Show Up On Radar
Title: A Theogony
Format: Digital Single
Cat#: Fika071SG1
Release date: 18th January 2019
Bandcamp | Spotify

A Theogony, the first single from We Show Up On Radar's new LP "Zanzibar Whip Coral", is released on the 18th of January.

* * *

Naughty little folk-pop maestro We Show Up On Radar is indeed a person and Zanzibar Whip Coral is indeed his album. A body of songs expelled through his cloud-like body like a turbulent but fruitful gale. This mass of organised air is to be released on Fika Recordings in March 2019.

Nottingham based multi instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Andy Wright - the man inside We Show up On Radar - has conjured up this 9 song popular melodrama using nothing but his own full sized Wurlitzer, complete with rotating platform and wearing his trademark sequinned suit.

View fullsize

Zanzibar Whip Corals is the 4.15 from Waverly Station. The train seats are woven from spun sugar and the train driver is a pelican with secrets in his bill. The gentle breeze spilling through the windows is Andy's voice with a melancholy love story sung for all the weird and wonderful creatures giggling in the distance. His songwriting is tender, almost fragile but his songs are anthemic, bubbling with gentle power. This journey is one of sheer magic and terror, like a lovely nightmare where you wake up smiling.

We Show Up On Radar’s songs are bewitching tales, scattered with references to vegetarian yeti’s, microscopic sea creatures and Greek Gods. It is music that is full of contradictions - childlike and sweet, but a bit wrong; terribly sad, but hopelessly uplifting.

Wright invented libraries and then toured them…. We Show Up On Radar have also recorded on various occasions for the BBC at the legendary Maida Vale studios and Abbey Road. ("surreal, hushed acoustic folk-pop that's both downbeat and delirious" BBC Introducing).

We Show Up On Radar have previously supported The National, Piney Gir, Thomas Truax and Bright Eyes at Nottingham's Rock City and dazzled with a headline show at Club Fandango at the Bull & Gate, London (“an astonishing treat” Artrocker).

Lets all fly away on each other’s smiles.

---

Press for A Theogony

A Theogony is a wonderful introduction to We Show Up On Radar’s world, a world full of beauty and oddness, strange characters and honest human emotions, laced through with the bleakest melancholies and the brightest, most hopeful swells of uplifting sound. Beginning life with just a Sparklehorse-like distorted guitar line, and Andy’s barely there vocal, A Theogony swells and drifts throughout its perfect three-minute run-time. Meandering piano lines, entwine and dance with a Wurlitzer, backing vocals sound like the most downbeat Gospel-choir you’ll ever come across, and the big brass-finale, that could sound clichéd in a lesser songwriter’s hands, feel like it’s transporting you off to a brave new world.
The sort of track you can listen to time and time again, and still feel like you’ve never quite pieced it all together; fascinating, beautifully rewarding songwriting, existing in the intriguing outskirts of pop-music, where all the most interesting kids hide out. As the press release says, “let’s all fly away on each other’s smiles”, one track in and We Show Up On Radar have already got us grinning from ear to ear.
For The Rabbits

Do you remember those days where we were swept up by crafty songwriters like Jens and Sufjan? Well, Andy Wright and his project We Show Up On Radar are quite similar, at least in their song construction, adding layer after layer. This tune begins with wonky keyboard lines matching Wright’s voice, then a chorus comes in for backing vocals, marking the entry of piano and percussive handclaps…and all that in just the first minute. Then you find this pulsing fuzz move in, and a softer backing vocal all leading to this glorious pop crescendo where horns and drums and melody crash and swirl together. What a wondrous way to begin the day. If you like it, look for the band’s Zanzibar Whip Coral in March via Fika Recordings.
Austin Town Hall

Mikey Collins - Waste [Digital]

Artist: Mikey Collins
Title: Waste
Format: Digital EP
Cat#: Fika064SG5
Release date: 11th January 2019
Bandcamp | Spotify

Following the release of his debut solo album Hoick earlier this year, ex-Allo Darlin’ drummer Mikey Collins announces a series of remixes, which will appear over two EPs. Guest remixers include Johnny Winfield, Nicholas de Carlo, James Yuill, Jolyon Thomas, Ghost Culture and Ian Button (Death In Vegas/Papernut Cambridge). 

As Mikey explains; “I've always loved a remix. I remember buying singles in the 90s and loving the re-imagining of an original track into a whole new piece of art – sometimes more exciting that the original. Some were a bit crap, sure, but – good ones – have never really felt like 'just sticking a beat over the top' to me. I think it's fascinating seeing what other producers make of the same set of stems / lyrics / flow and taking a few elements to turn it into something that has a life of its own. Like watching your kid grow up or something! So, I always knew I wanted to try and get some remixes of the Hoick songs if possible. I gave every artist the option of which tune they would like to remix.” 

This, the second EP, features a brand new track called “Waste”, which Mikey loved but it didn’t quite make it on to the main record. The other tracks included are “Home Bird” and “Side By Side” (both remixed by Johnny Whinfield again) and “Sound In Here” was remixed by Ian Button, who is the drummer in Mikey’s live band but has also been in countless bands including Death In Vegas, Thrashing Doves, GoKart Mozart and many, many more. There’s also a remix of “Something To Lose” by Nicholas de Carlo, which he renamed “A Heart”. Nicholas is a music producer and arranger who worked as a composer in Berlin for many years and recently relocated to Ramsgate, where Mikey lives and they have collaborated on a few projects together.

Hoick is the solo album from Allo Darlin’ drummer Mikey Collins, who combines his love of rhythm and joyous harmonies to create a fun and sonically varied record. He is joined by a crack-team of musicians including drummer Ian Button (Death In Vegas, Papernut Cambridge), Tom Parkinson on bass, Tigercats’ Laura Kovic on keyboards and vocals, as well as fellow former Allo Darlin’ member and lifelong friend, guitar maestro Paul Rains. The flicker of his previous band pervades much of the album, as Collins draws inspiration from the upbeat nature of their music but he also gives it his own spin, as well as gleaning influences from other sources including Dexy’s Midnight Runners, The Rolling Stones and current artists such as Matthew E White and Night Works. 

Winter Sprinter 2019: Withered Hand + Catenary Wires + Mikey Collins

It’s the final of our 4 night stint at The Lexington, and we’re sending you off in to the weekend in style with Withered Hand, CatenaryWires and Mikey Collins!

Advance tickets are on sale now from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings for £11. The Winter Sprinter runs from Jan 8-11th 2019.

Withered Hand is the songwriting output of Dan Willson. A cult figure in the Scottish music scene since 2009, Dan has released two widely acclaimed albums, New Gods (2014) and Good News (2009) and several lo-fi EPs. Currently working towards his third full length album, Withered Hand continues to tour and play one-off dates in venues from concert halls to living rooms.

The Catenary Wires are Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey. Amelia and Rob are best known for making fuzzy, sixties girl-group inspired indie-pop in their previous bands Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research and Tender Trap.

 With the Catenary Wires, they have created something different; gentler and more acoustic, emotive and melancholy, although still fuelled by their great love for pop melodies and harmonies.

Mikey Collins found fame and cult acclaim as the drummer in indiepop behemoths Allo Darlin’. By the time the much loved band parted ways in 2016, Mikey was already hard at work in his Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate, working on the songs that would go on to become his debut album.

Recently released on Fika Recordings, Mikey’s record, Hoick, is largely inspired by his relocation from London to the Kent coast; ruminations on living by the sea and building a new community in a new town. Musically, it keeps the pop-tinged heart of his old band, and, through the addition of disco rhythms and RnB grooves, moves his sound into intriguing new directions. Live he’s backed by a crack team of musical heroes who bring his intricate musical ideas to life.

Winter Sprinter 2019: Haiku Salut + Gwenifer Raymond + Joss Cope

We’re delighted to be able to unveil the line up for the third night of the Winter Sprinter as Haiku Salut, Gwenifer Raymond and Joss Cope. It’s all happening at The Lexington on Thurs 10th of January.

Advance tickets are on sale now from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings for £11. The Winter Sprinter runs from Jan 8-11th 2019.

Haiku Salut are an instrumental dream-pop-post-folk-neo-everything trio from the Derbyshire Dales. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Gemma Barkerwood, Sophie Barkerwood, and Louise Croft. Between them, Haiku Salut play accordion, piano, glockenspiel, trumpet, guitar, ukulele, drums, and melodica. Their music also features electronic elements, which they refer to as “loopery and laptopery”.

Gwenifer Raymond is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist, originally from Cardiff but now residing in Brighton, England. Gwenifer began playing guitar at the age of eight shortly after having been first exposed to punk and grunge. After years of playing around the Welsh valleys in various punk outfits she began listening more to pre-war blues musicians as well as Appalachian folk players, eventually leading into the guitar players of the American Primitive genre. She has since been playing her own moody and often-times manic original American Primitive styled compositions on guitar and banjo around the UK and the US.

Joss Cope is a Midlands born musician with a pedigree stretching back to the Liverpool post punk scene and early Creation Records. He's worked with his elder brother Julian, made videos, campaigned for Greenpeace, and played guitar and bass for a number of bands in recent years before teaming up with some top Helsinki musicians to make this debut solo record.