Laika, one of England’s premier groups, has spent the last three years trying to live up to its name. Fortunately, the group has succeeded in spades, releasing two CDs (’95’s “Silver Apples of the Moon” and ’97’s “Sounds of the Satellites”) and an EP (“Antenna”) to critical acclaim.

The group formed in August 1993 after vocalist/guitarist Margaret Fiedler left her previous group, Moonshake.

She hooked up with producer/engineer Guy Fixsen, who had previously worked on early Moonshake material, as well as material from The Breeders, My Bloody Valentine and Throwing Muses.

Fiedler and Fixsen (who plays guitar in Laika) combined their talents to create a musical edge that is not quite electronica — although it makes use of samples — and not quite rock ‘n’ roll, although it has the traditional rock instruments.

The music is otherworldly and spacey, capable of propelling the listener into the Milky Way while remaining firmly rooted on Earth — which is rather appropriate considering the source of the group’s name.

“We were in a bookstore and they had all of these little books about what happened on this day in history,” Fiedler explained. “Well, it just so happened that it was Nov. 3 when we went to the bookstore. We looked through the little book for Nov. 3 and discovered that this was the day when the first living thing was sent into space.

“It was a dog named Laika,” she concluded. “We liked the name and connotations immediately. It is a naive and sweet image, yet it has a serious angle to it. Kind of like Star Trek and the ‘to go where no one has ever gone before’ type of thing.”

Laika certainly is going where nobody has ever been before. The group’s concerts make use of a live band (Fiedler, Fixsen, bassist John Frenett, percussionist Lou Ciccotelli and drummer Phillippe d’Amonville) that reproduces the electronica feel of its CDs.

“There is a little bit of everything in our music,” Fiedler said. “We like our samplers, but we also like our guitars. However, the samplers are nice because they allow us to throw everything in there. We can originate stuff with samplers. But it is not the be all, end all.

“We tend to focus on the feel, the rhythm and tempo,” she added. “It’s the groove that’s important. I especially like jazz and dub textures and using fusion to combine styles in a different way. The drums, vocals and bass are essential to the sound, so it’s not like we are dependent on our samples.”

The group’s transformation of electronica as a recorded art to live performance has influenced and impressed such musicians as Tricky. Laika earned a position as his opening band when he recently toured the United States.

“He asked us to come because he heard our debut and liked it,” Fiedler explained. “It was a really good tour, with somewhere between 500 to 1,000 people at each venue. There was a really good vibe to all of those shows. But at the time in America, there wasn’t as much attention to electronica that there is now.”

She claims that Tricky did not really influence her group all that much. In fact, she thinks that Laika influenced Tricky’s live performances in some way.

“I think he really learned a little bit from us about how to play live,” she said. “Which wasn’t something that he had done a lot of up to that point. He relied heavily on tapes and that type of thing. But we showed him how to make a lot from a little in music, like taping one loop and making it into one song. We also showed him how to use space and lots of levels in the music.”

Fiedler is originally from the United States, but she moved to England eight years ago. She has been watching the electronica scene explode in England for the last five years and is amazed that her home country is finally catching on to the craze.

“Everything is huge. It’s all going real well over here. I don’t know if it is a media thing in the U.S. or not,” she said from her telephone in England. “I grew up there and all, but the last time I was back was last Christmas. Electronica really hadn’t caught on there back then. But I’m out of touch with America; I really don’t know what is going on.

“I like England because it is so different,” she added. “Over here, we get free health care and that is very important. In fact, I think that is essential for a thriving society. The people here are very different, the humor is different and so are the expectations. But I think I will move back to America someday.”

In the meantime, Fiedler will have to be content with touring the United States as part of Laika. The group is currently opening for Fiona Apple and will play some headlining American concerts in the near future.

“I had this idea to make a snow dome,” Fiedler said. “We got them manufactured and sell them on tour. But they leak when we take them on tour and short out our electronic equipment. Right now, they are all in boxes sitting in the corners of my apartment. Would you please tell your readers to buy one? They are really nice and they are cheap.”

Check out Laika on tour with Fiona Apple when the odd couple hits Indianola’s Simpson College this Sunday.

The show will begin at 8 p.m. in Cowles Field House. Tickets are $17 and are available by calling (515) 961-1859.

And make sure to buy a snow dome — they’d make great Christmas presents.