Laika (band)
Encyclopedia
Laika is a British alternative rock
band founded in 1993 by ex-Moonshake
members Margaret Fiedler
and John Frenett
, and producer/engineer Guy Fixsen
. The band was named after the first animal to orbit the earth, the Russian dog Laika
.
with "dreamy" female vocals. However, they also rely on a more organic approach to their songwriting with live drums and percussion, together with guitars and samples, creating a complexly-layered and polyrhythmic blend of beats and diverse analogue
sounds that defy simple categorization.
and a collaborator with Moby) Margaret Fiedler had moved from New York City to London in 1989 in search of music which better suited her interests. The first significant band she joined was Moonshake
(in which she was one of two lead vocalists, a songwriter
and a multi-instrumentalist predominantly playing guitar, keyboards and samplers). Moonshake's songwriting duties were split between Fiedler and co-singer David Callahan, each of whom had very different styles: Callahan favoured an art-punk storytelling approach with a dub/funk undercurrent while Fiedler preferred a more enveloping and abstract approach drawing on rhythmic Krautrock
-esque loops and murmured vocals. The early Moonshake records (released on the Too Pure
label) were engineered by producer Guy Fixsen
, who had also worked with bands including My Bloody Valentine and The Breeders
.
The creative tensions in Moonshake ultimately became personal and the band splintered in half after a US tour in 1993. While Callahan kept the Moonshake name and continued the band (along with drummer Mig Morland and various guest musicians), Fiedler and bassist
John Frenett both left. Fiedler promptly began working with Guy Fixsen as her writing and recording partner, as well as beginning a romantic relationship with him. The new partnership (with Frenett playing bass) chose the name of Laika and continued to develop the approach Fiedler had taken with her songs in Moonshake.
In their first incarnation, the band was augmented by flautist
and saxophonist Louise Elliot and drummer Lou Ciccotelli (God, Eardrum). On recordings and in live shows, Fiedler and Fixsen shared guitar, keyboards, and sampling duties (with Fiedler handling the bulk of the vocals). The group's debut was the acclaimed Silver Apples of the Moon, released on Too Pure in 1994. Shortly afterwards, Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey
, Spleen) joined as a sometimes second drummer and percussionist.
The band quickly became popular interviewees in the alternative and underground music press, with their music praised for mingling intricacy, polish and accessibility with experimentation and originality. In 1995, Fiedler admitted that her band's music was "just like trip-hop, but much much faster" and declared her distaste for the then-current Britpop
, citing a preference for jazz and dub. She would later recall that "Guy and I were interested in rhythm but couldn't get excited about 4/4. So, influenced by bands like The Young Gods
, we wanted to take rock rhythms and turn them upside down. 7 is great!"
In 1996, Laika contributed to the AIDS
benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
produced by the Red Hot Organization
.
Laika's second album, Sounds Of The Satellites was released in early 1997 and saw many of the previous album's more abrasive edges smoothed away in favour of a sleeker (though not much less experimental) dance tone. The group continued to gain a lot of press attention (in particular when they supported Radiohead
on tour) and continued to be an underground favourite, despite not scoring a breakthrough hit. A third album, Good Looking Blues, followed in 2000, with a collection of singles, B-sides and rarities called Lost In Space being released in 2001.
Up until 2003, each Laika release had been a full band recording involving (at the very least) Elliot and Frenett as players. The situation changed with 2003's Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing, which was recorded by Fiedler and Fixsen alone but with Lou Ciccotelli remaining as the percussionist. The band were dismayed by this album's poor commercial reception (apparently selling less than any of its predecessors). Fiedler has subsequently blamed online filesharing for Laika's sudden dip in sales, commenting "we (had) sold steadily more and more until the last one which didn't do so well. And that coincided time-wise with everyone getting broadband. People were still coming to see the live shows, so go figure."
At around this time, Fixsen and Fiedler ended their romantic relationship. Although they maintained their musical partnership, the band's working life began to become strained. In 2009, Fiedler commented that "we were a couple both personally and professionally for a long time - over ten years - and the personal side of that is over and sometimes it's difficult to work together", citing the recently-defunct Stereolab
as a similar example of a band driven by a central romantic partnership which suffered professionally once that relationship had ended.
Guy Fixsen has also mentioned the strain put on latter-day Laika by their differing lifestyles as instrumentalist-for-hire (Fiedler) and studio-bound producer (Fixsen), which had also meant that Fixsen had written and created a much larger proportion of the music than he had on previous records. He has recalled that "a lot of the music was recorded at my place while Margaret was off gallivanting around the world with PJ Harvey and getting drunk, going around Australia and America and hanging around with Bono
and shit, while I was stuck in my little room ... I sort of set myself a task to stop myself from going mad in my little room: 'Today I'm going to write a song from beginning to end and then I'm just going to forget about it,' whereas in the past I would've worked on it over a period of weeks. There is a lot of spontaneity for a record that took three and a half years to make."
In 2005 Fiedler opted to devote most of her time to law school, something which she has cited as ensuring that "the band stopped being a going concern." Fixsen also took time out in order to travel the world. There were no formal announcements of a Laika break-up - or even a hiatus - but the band has not released anything since Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing. Laika is also no longer listed in the roster on the Too Pure homepage.
, a sideline in eco-friendly candlemaking (for which she runs workshops at The Make Lounge craft space in Barnsbury
, North London
) and possibly writing a cookbook
. She has stated that "the decline of album sales due to illegal downloads made (my) recording and songwriting careers less financially viable."
's backing band on an extensive world tour promoting Harvey's Mercury Prize
-winning Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
album. On this tour, she had played guitar, cello
, and other instruments.
For their 2008 tour of Europe and North America, Fiedler played rhythm guitar
on tour with Wire
, having replaced Bruce Gilbert
.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band founded in 1993 by ex-Moonshake
Moonshake
Moonshake was a UK-based experimental rock/post-rock band existing between 1991 and 1997. The only consistent member was singer/sampler player/occasional guitarist David Callahan, who initially co-led the project with Margaret Fiedler...
members Margaret Fiedler
Margaret Fiedler
Margaret Fiedler McGinnis is a London-based American vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and noted guitarist. She is best known as a founding member of UK indie groups Moonshake and Laika and as live guitarist with PJ Harvey and Wire.McGinnis grew up in Winnetka, Illinois and later in Connecticut...
and John Frenett
John Frenett
John Frenett is an English bassist, best known for his slippery dub-style playing in the bands Moonshake and Laika in the 1990s.He had formed The Hangovers with former The Raincoats member Gina Birch, and played bass and guitar on their debut album, Slow Dirty Tears released in 1998...
, and producer/engineer Guy Fixsen
Guy Fixsen
Guy Fixsen is a producer/engineer/musician based in London. He is best-known for his producing/engineering work with various indie rock, shoegazer, and experimental rock bands, and for forming the band Laika....
. The band was named after the first animal to orbit the earth, the Russian dog Laika
Laika
Laika was a Soviet space dog that became the first animal to orbit the Earth – as well as the first animal to die in orbit.As little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika's mission, and the technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, there...
.
Sound
Musically the band could be described as electronicaElectronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
with "dreamy" female vocals. However, they also rely on a more organic approach to their songwriting with live drums and percussion, together with guitars and samples, creating a complexly-layered and polyrhythmic blend of beats and diverse analogue
Analog signal
An analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. It differs from a digital signal in terms of small fluctuations in the signal which are...
sounds that defy simple categorization.
History
Born in Chicago, USA (and previously an early member of Ultra Vivid SceneUltra Vivid Scene
Ultra Vivid Scene was an American alternative rock band, started by Kurt Ralske.Former Nothing But Happiness and Crash guitarist Ralske started Ultra Vivid Scene in 1987, was signed to 4AD Records in 1988, and released his first UVS EP, She Screamed, in 1988...
and a collaborator with Moby) Margaret Fiedler had moved from New York City to London in 1989 in search of music which better suited her interests. The first significant band she joined was Moonshake
Moonshake
Moonshake was a UK-based experimental rock/post-rock band existing between 1991 and 1997. The only consistent member was singer/sampler player/occasional guitarist David Callahan, who initially co-led the project with Margaret Fiedler...
(in which she was one of two lead vocalists, a songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and a multi-instrumentalist predominantly playing guitar, keyboards and samplers). Moonshake's songwriting duties were split between Fiedler and co-singer David Callahan, each of whom had very different styles: Callahan favoured an art-punk storytelling approach with a dub/funk undercurrent while Fiedler preferred a more enveloping and abstract approach drawing on rhythmic Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
-esque loops and murmured vocals. The early Moonshake records (released on the Too Pure
Too Pure
Too Pure is a London-based independent record label that was formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox.-History:Too Pure started off as a small experimental label and had built their reputation by releasing primarily alternative/independent music which they felt was being ignored by the major...
label) were engineered by producer Guy Fixsen
Guy Fixsen
Guy Fixsen is a producer/engineer/musician based in London. He is best-known for his producing/engineering work with various indie rock, shoegazer, and experimental rock bands, and for forming the band Laika....
, who had also worked with bands including My Bloody Valentine and The Breeders
The Breeders
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 by Kim Deal of the Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses. The band has experienced a number of line-up changes; the current line-up consists of Kim Deal , her twin sister Kelley Deal , Jose Medeles , Mando Lopez Todd the Fox...
.
The creative tensions in Moonshake ultimately became personal and the band splintered in half after a US tour in 1993. While Callahan kept the Moonshake name and continued the band (along with drummer Mig Morland and various guest musicians), Fiedler and bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
John Frenett both left. Fiedler promptly began working with Guy Fixsen as her writing and recording partner, as well as beginning a romantic relationship with him. The new partnership (with Frenett playing bass) chose the name of Laika and continued to develop the approach Fiedler had taken with her songs in Moonshake.
In their first incarnation, the band was augmented by flautist
Flautist
A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...
and saxophonist Louise Elliot and drummer Lou Ciccotelli (God, Eardrum). On recordings and in live shows, Fiedler and Fixsen shared guitar, keyboards, and sampling duties (with Fiedler handling the bulk of the vocals). The group's debut was the acclaimed Silver Apples of the Moon, released on Too Pure in 1994. Shortly afterwards, Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey
PJ Harvey
Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
, Spleen) joined as a sometimes second drummer and percussionist.
The band quickly became popular interviewees in the alternative and underground music press, with their music praised for mingling intricacy, polish and accessibility with experimentation and originality. In 1995, Fiedler admitted that her band's music was "just like trip-hop, but much much faster" and declared her distaste for the then-current Britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
, citing a preference for jazz and dub. She would later recall that "Guy and I were interested in rhythm but couldn't get excited about 4/4. So, influenced by bands like The Young Gods
The Young Gods
The Young Gods are a Swiss post-industrial band. The band's lineup has generally consisted of a vocalist, a sampler operator and a drummer. Their instrumentation often includes sampled electric guitars, drums, keyboards, and other samples. The lyrics are depicted in English, French and...
, we wanted to take rock rhythms and turn them upside down. 7 is great!"
In 1996, Laika contributed to the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip is a compilation album from the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series produced by Paul Heck. It combines elements of ambient, spoken word, and trip hop to expand the ideas of artistic collage and spiritual transcendence of "the Beats"...
produced by the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
.
Laika's second album, Sounds Of The Satellites was released in early 1997 and saw many of the previous album's more abrasive edges smoothed away in favour of a sleeker (though not much less experimental) dance tone. The group continued to gain a lot of press attention (in particular when they supported Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
on tour) and continued to be an underground favourite, despite not scoring a breakthrough hit. A third album, Good Looking Blues, followed in 2000, with a collection of singles, B-sides and rarities called Lost In Space being released in 2001.
Up until 2003, each Laika release had been a full band recording involving (at the very least) Elliot and Frenett as players. The situation changed with 2003's Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing, which was recorded by Fiedler and Fixsen alone but with Lou Ciccotelli remaining as the percussionist. The band were dismayed by this album's poor commercial reception (apparently selling less than any of its predecessors). Fiedler has subsequently blamed online filesharing for Laika's sudden dip in sales, commenting "we (had) sold steadily more and more until the last one which didn't do so well. And that coincided time-wise with everyone getting broadband. People were still coming to see the live shows, so go figure."
At around this time, Fixsen and Fiedler ended their romantic relationship. Although they maintained their musical partnership, the band's working life began to become strained. In 2009, Fiedler commented that "we were a couple both personally and professionally for a long time - over ten years - and the personal side of that is over and sometimes it's difficult to work together", citing the recently-defunct Stereolab
Stereolab
Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
as a similar example of a band driven by a central romantic partnership which suffered professionally once that relationship had ended.
Guy Fixsen has also mentioned the strain put on latter-day Laika by their differing lifestyles as instrumentalist-for-hire (Fiedler) and studio-bound producer (Fixsen), which had also meant that Fixsen had written and created a much larger proportion of the music than he had on previous records. He has recalled that "a lot of the music was recorded at my place while Margaret was off gallivanting around the world with PJ Harvey and getting drunk, going around Australia and America and hanging around with Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
and shit, while I was stuck in my little room ... I sort of set myself a task to stop myself from going mad in my little room: 'Today I'm going to write a song from beginning to end and then I'm just going to forget about it,' whereas in the past I would've worked on it over a period of weeks. There is a lot of spontaneity for a record that took three and a half years to make."
In 2005 Fiedler opted to devote most of her time to law school, something which she has cited as ensuring that "the band stopped being a going concern." Fixsen also took time out in order to travel the world. There were no formal announcements of a Laika break-up - or even a hiatus - but the band has not released anything since Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing. Laika is also no longer listed in the roster on the Too Pure homepage.
Post-Laika
Guy Fixsen continues to work as a sound engineer and producer, most recently with the strongly-tipped Lonelady. Margaret Fiedler (now known by her married name of Mags McGinnis) currently divides her time between music, working in copyright law for the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, a sideline in eco-friendly candlemaking (for which she runs workshops at The Make Lounge craft space in Barnsbury
Barnsbury
Barnsbury is an area of north London in the London Borough of Islington, in the N1 postal districts.The name is a corruption of villa de Iseldon Berners , being so called after the Berners family: powerful medieval manorial lords who gained ownership of a large part of Islington after the Norman...
, North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
) and possibly writing a cookbook
Cookbook
A cookbook is a kitchen reference that typically contains a collection of recipes. Modern versions may also include colorful illustrations and advice on purchasing quality ingredients or making substitutions...
. She has stated that "the decline of album sales due to illegal downloads made (my) recording and songwriting careers less financially viable."
Possible future activity
Fixsen has claimed that Laika is "taking a break" with about half an album already recorded, and that he and Fiedler will reconvene and complete the tracks at a future date. While Fiedler has not entirely discounted this suggestion (or stated that Laika have formally split up), she has cited the difficulties of working with a former romantic partner on any project, as well as the obstacle of her current work. She has, however, admitted that it would be "great to finish (the album)" as well as to play some shows and tour some of the places which Laika did not visit during the band's active lifetime.Outside Band Activities
In 2000, Margaret Fiedler played in PJ HarveyPJ Harvey
Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
's backing band on an extensive world tour promoting Harvey's Mercury Prize
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British...
-winning Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, released 23 October 2000 on Island Records. Recorded during March to April 2000, the album contains themes of love that are tied into Harvey's affection for New York City...
album. On this tour, she had played guitar, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, and other instruments.
For their 2008 tour of Europe and North America, Fiedler played rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
on tour with Wire
Wire (band)
Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
, having replaced Bruce Gilbert
Bruce Gilbert
Bruce Gilbert is an English musician. One of the founding members of the influential and experimental art-punk band Wire, Gilbert branched out into electronic music, performance art, music production, and DJing during the band's extended periods of inactivity...
.
Singles / EPs
- Antenna EP (single 1994, Too Pure)
- Almost Sleeping EP (single 1997, Too Pure)
- Breather EP (single 1997, Too Pure)
- Uneasy (single 2000, Too Pure)
- Black Cat Bone (vinyl only 12" single 2000, Too Pure)
- Badtimes (single 2000, Too Pure)
Albums
- Silver Apples of the MoonSilver Apples of the Moon (album)Silver Apples of the Moon is the debut album by the English band Laika. It was released in 1995 by Too Pure Records.-Track listing:All songs by Margaret Fiedler and Guy Fixsen.#"Sugar Daddy" – 5:25#"Marimba Song" – 5:15#"Let Me Sleep" – 4:23...
(album 1994, Too Pure) - Sounds of the SatellitesSounds of the SatellitesSound of the Satellites is the second album by the English band Laika. It was released in 1997 by Too Pure Records.-Track listing:#"Prairie Dog" – 4:56#"Breather" – 7:16#"Out of Sight and Snowblind" – 5:27#"Almost Sleeping" – 6:54...
(album 1997, Too Pure) - Good Looking Blues (album 2000, Too Pure)
- Lost in Space - Volume 1 [1993-2002] (compilation 2003, Too Pure)
- Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing (album 2003, Too Pure)
Tracks on V/A compilations
- If You Miss (Laika Virgin mix) (from Macro Dub Infection, 1995)
- Lower Than Stars (V/A Volume 12, 1995)
- German Shepherds (from Whore - Various Artists Play Wire, 1996)
- Looking For The Jackalope (236 remix) (from Beat Experience, 1997)
- Black Cat Bone (Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Radio Sunnydale UK Version, 2003)
External links
- Official website
- Discography from official Too Pure website
- Biography from official Too Pure website
- Concert photos by Laurent Orseau (Black Session)