Fika Recordings is 5!

Back in early 2011, with very modest ambitions, Fika Recordings launched with 4 handmade cassette releases from Lisa Bouvier, Horowitz, Lost Summer Kitten and Moustache Of Insanity. We've certainly grown and learnt faster than we expected, and over the past 5 years we've racked up 50 releases, taken bands to tour in the US and in Europe, heard our tracks on BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music, met many, many wonderful new people in the process. There's plenty more to come over the next year (and hopefully over the next 5 too), but to make some space at Fika HQ (aka known as what's left of my spare room), we're having a little sale. 555 We've selected 5 of our favourite albums, one from each year we've been going, and we're selling them for £5 each, just for the next 5 days. So if there's some back catalogue you've been meaning to pick up, now's your chance to do it on the cheap!

Year One: Moustache Of Insanity - Album Of Death [LP/CD] Just £5!

Year Two: Tigercats - Isle Of Dogs [LP] Just £5!

Year Three: Azure Blue - Beyond The Dreams There's Infinite Doubt [LP/CD] Just £5!

Year Four: Making Marks - A Thousand Half Truths [LP/CD] Just £5!

Year Five: Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures - My Ass [LP/CD] Just £5!

Prices go back to normal on Sunday night, so don't hang around...

Fulhäst - What Do You See?

London's one-man-Gameboy-pop-punk-band Fulhäst has published a new video for the song What Do You See?, the upcoming single from debut album Broken.

The video features members of Durham punk bands ONSIND (Plan-It-X Records) and Martha (Discount Horse Records), as well as Birmingham's Ace Bushy Striptease (Odd Box Records).

What Do You See? is a totally free (or pay what you like) download available from the Fika webshop.

'Broken' comes on yellow vinyl at the end of the month - it's available to pre-order now from the shop. The album also includes a remix of a Your Skin from Darren Hayman... we'll let you hear that shortly!

Halloween Special Offer

As it is almost Halloween, you're going to need something suitably awesome and suitably gory to listen to. But fear not! We've just the album you need! We've slashed the prices on Moustache Of Insanity's Album Of Death to just £5, on both the LP and the CD. It's an album bursting with blood, guts and tales of zombie sex. Those dodgy looking characters lurking in the shadows? Why, they're Nik Vestberg [Fulhäst] and Bill Botting [Allo Darlin'], teaming up for a 13 tracks of getting attacked by human cats, gameboy screams from hell and, er, dinner parties with the recently deceased.

The vinyl comes all wrapped up in a blood smeared inner sleeve too - every one provides a different window into the darkest part of my/Bill's/Nik's inner most nightmares...

Plus a download code and all sorts of other goodies. Just a fiver. Go here http://moustacheofinsanity.fikarecordings.com/album/album-of-death to buy Album Of Death and here http://shop.fikarecordings.com/ to browse the rest of Fika's back catalogue. Offer ends in November. Be quick or have a slightly more rubbish Halloween.

BBC Radio 1: Huw Stephens' Label Of Love

This week we were delighted to be asked to join Huw Stephens on his BBC Radio 1 show to talk about Fika Recordings and play some tunes from the catalogue. You can listen again here:

Here's what we played: Tigercats - Harper Lee Lisa Bouvier - Andreas Red Shoe Diaries - Ice & Snow Moustache Of Insanity - We Need More Awesome Darren Hayman - Photos Like Postcards The Smittens - First Bus Making Marks - Hard To Be Good

Moustache Of Insanity [RIP]

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

Moustache Of Insanity album launch party

Thanks to everyone that came to the Album Of Death launch party at the Dogstar, finely hosted by Librarians Wanted. We hope you didn't get too covered in blood, and those night bus drivers let you on, bloody and sweaty, once the dancing had stopped! You can still pick up a copy of the album on 12" blood red vinyl from here. More pictures from the night available here.

Album Of Death

It is now less than a week to go until the official release of Moustache Of Insanity's Album Of Death! Come down to the Dogstar in Brixton for a very rare opportunity to see a full super-group five piece incarnation of Moustache Of Insanity and to pick up a copy of the LP on Fika Recordings (or the CD on Pull Yourself Together). For full details of the Librarians Wanted show, see go  here.

You've still got time to go pick up the free download single from the album here, to watch the video here and to stream the album in full here.

The LP version comes on 12" blood red transparent vinyl, with hand painted inner sleeve, a tea bag of death and horror, a recipe to bake love yummies from hell and an individual photo scribbled on by the band. All for a ridiculously cheap price of £7 at the show. Come, it'll be AWESOME.

After this, we'll be taking a bit of a summer holiday, so if you want to BUY any cassettes or records from us, do so before the weekend, otherwise you'll have to wait a couple of weeks until we're back. We've only got two of Lisa Bouvier's and Lost Summer Kitten's EPs left before they sell out like the Moustache Of Insanity and Horowitz tapes have. Click on the artwork to the right to listen to all our releases and buy them.

We'll be announcing in September an EP I'm tremendously excited about from an artist I've had a soft spot for for a long time. There's a few other equally exciting things in the pipeline too for the autumn and into the new year too!

Fika Tea Party at Indietracks

Just a quick reminder that we'll be hosting some fika at this weekend's Indietracks festival. Pop down to the workshop tent on Sunday at 3pm for some teas, cakes and probably a bit of music from a few Fika artists. Both Horowitz and Moustache Of Insanity are playing during the weekend and there might be one or two special guests as well. We'll have some cassettes and records for to buy as well. See you there!

Moustache Of Insanity free download single

Woo! Yesterday Moustache Of Insanity released the first single from the album we're putting out in conjunction with Pull Yourself Together. Go download Lynn Lowry here and watch the gameboy tastic video for the b-side too!We're taking pre-orders for the album and if you ask us nicely at Indietracks, we'll be able to sell you a copy early, only £7 in person! The album comes with bloody tea of death and a cake recipe for yummies from hell, on blood red vinyl. Each of the 300 also has a unique blood smeared message of terror/fear/insanity on the inner sleeve and unique insert, with photo and scribblings from Bill and Nik on tour... Awesome!

Fika010: Moustache Of Insanity

Moustache Of Insanity

Fika010, will, appropriately, be our tenth release since our launch in February this year.... and it'll be a full length 12" LP from one of our first Fika artists, Moustache Of Insanity.

Album Of Death is a monstrous amalgamation of classic horror movie themes, dancing and, er, dinner parties. If you've seen MOI recently you'll have been treated to a chaotic rendition of a few of these songs, which should put you in good stead for the screaming and jollity on the album. I adore it and can't wait to get this out. It'll be coming out in mid August, but until then, treat yourself to the awesome preview video for Dancing With Emma.

Plus, if you can't wait for this and haven't got round to buying their cassette EP on Fika (we've long since sold out), pop over to the Moustache Of Insanity website where there's still a few copies left!