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.
The early Moonshake records, released on the Too Pure label, were engineered by the producer Guy Fixsen, who had also worked with bands including My Bloody Valentine and The Breeders.
In Laika's first incarnation, Fiedler, Fixsen, and Frenett were augmented by the flautist and saxophonist Louise Elliott and the drummer Lou Ciccotelli (God, Eardrum, SLAB!).
In 1995, Fiedler described her band's music as "just like trip-hop, but much much faster" and declared her distaste for the then-current Britpop, citing a preference for jazz and dub.
Fiedler has subsequently blamed online file sharing 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.
[10] Fiedler, now known by her married name of Mags McGinnis, has divided time between several ventures, including music, writing, candlemaking, working in copyright law for the BBC, and running the rights clearance service Mineral Point Music Ltd.[9][11] She played rhythm guitar for English rock band Wire on their 2008 tour of Europe and North America, replacing Bruce Gilbert.
[11] Fiedler has stated that "the decline of album sales due to illegal downloads made [her] recording and songwriting careers less financially viable".
[11] Fixsen has claimed that Laika are "taking a break" with about half of an album already recorded, and that he and Fiedler will reconvene and complete the tracks at a future date.
[8] Musically, the band drew from a variety of sources, including dub, trip hop, and drum and bass, as well as more atmospheric and "dreamy" pop approaches.
[12] Their work utilizes both electronic and organic approach to songwriting with live drums and percussion, together with guitars and samples, creating a complex layered and polyrhythmic blend of beats and diverse analogue sounds that defies simple categorization.
They were among the first wave of bands to be classified as post-rock;[13] in a 1994 article in Melody Maker profiling the genre, journalist Simon Reynolds described Laika's sound as a "blend of machine-music and flesh-and-blood funk... combining the 'magical', superhuman effects of sampling with the 'warmth' that comes from real-time interaction between players".