Sunday, February 3, 2019
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
002
** ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT 002 **
Sparks From The Mothership proudly presents
MOON MOTH, a reissue of the 2015 LP by
THE BIRD AND THE MONKEY (Scottish Borders)
THE BIRD AND THE MONKEY (Scottish Borders)
WHO: The Bird And The Monkey
WHAT: Moon Moth (album)
WHEN: Throughout February 2019
FORMAT: Free Digital Download
LABEL: Athene Noctua Records / Sparks From The Mothership
NEW RELEASE or REISSUE: Reissue (first released 2015)
DESCRIPTION: "Post-Punking the Eurythmics on a Lunar Trip..."
WHAT: Moon Moth (album)
WHEN: Throughout February 2019
FORMAT: Free Digital Download
LABEL: Athene Noctua Records / Sparks From The Mothership
NEW RELEASE or REISSUE: Reissue (first released 2015)
DESCRIPTION: "Post-Punking the Eurythmics on a Lunar Trip..."
For further enquiries on this & other releases, email us at: sparksfromthemothership@gmail.com
"I swear at one point I heard them chanting 'gonorrhea ooh ooh'...
Why this duo aren't all over your iPods like a rash I'll never know."- Paul Kerr (The Devil Has The Best Tuna)
"The Bird and the Monkey live and breathe music,
and I, for one, am very glad they are around."
- Alastair Braidwood (Scots Whay Hae)
"Blood On Our Hands: It's angular, it's obtuse and it packs
more into 3 minutes 47 seconds than
Beady Eye packed into their entire career."
- Paul Kerr (The Devil Has The Best Tuna)
Why this duo aren't all over your iPods like a rash I'll never know."- Paul Kerr (The Devil Has The Best Tuna)
"The Bird and the Monkey live and breathe music,
and I, for one, am very glad they are around."
- Alastair Braidwood (Scots Whay Hae)
"Blood On Our Hands: It's angular, it's obtuse and it packs
more into 3 minutes 47 seconds than
Beady Eye packed into their entire career."
- Paul Kerr (The Devil Has The Best Tuna)
Download Moon Moth by
The Bird and The Monkey in various
formats, including MP3, WAV & AIFF:
The Bird and The Monkey in various
formats, including MP3, WAV & AIFF:
(01) Bowery Bums
(02) Moon Moth
(03) Blood On Our Hands
(04) Meet The Maelstrom (Temples Of Grandeur)
(05) Eat Your Star
(06) We Sing Ourselves To Sleep
PRESS RELEASE:
Moon Moth is a 6-track mini-album by Scottish Borders based duo Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian, aka The Bird And The Monkey. Originally released in 2015, on Swan & Simian's own Athene Noctua label, this collection of songs shows a more experimental edge than those on the pair's debut album, AMPLITUDE-one (2014), with frantic detuned guitars, crackling electrical buzzes, screwdrivers jammed through guitar strings, mysterious lyrics and wordless voices, layered effects and unconventional time signatures all explored in the BirdMonkey labs.
Moon Moth's title track was featured in BBC2 teen drama, The Cut, and picked as one of the Top 100 tracks of 2015 in the Glasgow Herald. As well as making music together as The Bird And The Monkey, Sarahjane Swan (a Fine Arts Graduate in Sculpture from Gray's School of Art) & partner, Roger Simian, create underground films, installation art and experimental writing under the banner Avant Kinema, which you can check out on their Vimeo page.
OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR
BLOOD ON OUR HANDS
BLOOD ON OUR HANDS
LINE-UP / RECORDING NOTES:
All songs written, played, engineered and mixed by Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian at B Plus M Equals?, Scotland. Mastered by Steve Muzzaman Murray at Mix2Master. Published by Sentric Music. Cover Art by Sarahjane Swan. © Athene Noctua Records 2015.
PRESS PICS
The Bird And The Monkey - Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian
FULL PRESS QUOTES:
"Bowery Bums is a tribute to Lou Reed, a song about the Velvets, the Voidoids, CBGBs, the Amercian Punk scene and all the boozed up romantics who called the Bowery home. It sounds like three brilliant songs melded into one amazing whole. This one song has more ideas than the entire career of The National and Vampire Weekend put together. I swear at one point I heard them chanting "gonorrhea ooh ooh" which would be brilliant although I think I may have misheard. Why this duo aren't all over your iPods like a rash I'll never know. I just hope that the rest of the world catch on in 2014." - Paul Kerr (The Devil Has The Best Tuna, December 2013)
"I always have time for The Bird and the Monkey as they never fail to surprise and delight, and their tribute to Lou Reed, Bowery Bums, is no exception. It certainly channels Reed and Bowie from round about the Berlin adventures. But just when you think you know what’s going to play out, trumpets and piano come in, and it goes in another direction entirely, and what starts off as a tribute becomes a celebration. The Bird and the Monkey live and breathe music, and I, for one, am very glad they are around." - Alastair Braidwood (Scots Whay Hae, December 2013)
"Blood On Our Hands - The new song from Devil's favourites the Bird & The Monkey sounds like Pink Military Stand Alone. It's angular, it's obtuse and it packs more into 3 minutes 47 seconds than Beady Eye packed into their entire career. In the video Sarah Jane dons a blonde wig and ends up looking like Debbie Harry after an incident involving an industrial tub of strawberry jam. " - Paul Kerr (The Devil Has The Best Tuna, November 2014)
"If true originality was as lauded as c list celebrity in the shallow, superficial world of 2013 pop then The Bird & The Monkey would be unbiquitous. Meet The Maelstom is yet another track from the Bird & The Monkey conveyor belt of quality alternative pop that deserves pride of place on your itunes playlist or whatever medium you young hipsters use to consume your music these days. Why this couple are not mega stars I'll never know. Clasp them to your bosom world and revel in the knowledge that you have exquisite taste." - Paul Kerr (The Devil Has The Best Tuna, May 2013)
LINKS:
Monday, January 7, 2019
001b
** ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT 001b **
Sparks From The Mothership proudly presents
the "CROMAGNON MAN (2019)" EP
by THE STARK PALACE (Scottish Borders)
by THE STARK PALACE (Scottish Borders)
WHO: The Stark Palace
WHAT: CroMagnon Man (EP)
WHEN: Throughout January 2019
FORMAT: Free Digital Download
LABEL: Shark Batter Records / Sparks From The Mothership
NEW RELEASE or REISSUE: Reissue - tracks originally released 2008 - 2009
DESCRIPTION: 21st Century Schizoid Glam
WHAT: CroMagnon Man (EP)
WHEN: Throughout January 2019
FORMAT: Free Digital Download
LABEL: Shark Batter Records / Sparks From The Mothership
NEW RELEASE or REISSUE: Reissue - tracks originally released 2008 - 2009
DESCRIPTION: 21st Century Schizoid Glam
For further enquiries on this & other releases, email us at: sparksfromthemothership@gmail.com
"...their
schizoid sentiment for everything 70s
and beyond is more than commendable."
- Martin C Strong, The List (4/5 stars)
"Thank God there are still people making albums like this.
Straddling the divide between avant-garde lunacy
and controlled madness" - Duncan Forgan, The Skinny (4/5 stars)
"...there's more art, heart and soul going into this stuff than...
well, far too many of the so called classic Scottish albums
of the past 10 years... Simply outstanding.”
and beyond is more than commendable."
- Martin C Strong, The List (4/5 stars)
"Thank God there are still people making albums like this.
Straddling the divide between avant-garde lunacy
and controlled madness" - Duncan Forgan, The Skinny (4/5 stars)
"...there's more art, heart and soul going into this stuff than...
well, far too many of the so called classic Scottish albums
of the past 10 years... Simply outstanding.”
TRACK LIST
CroMagnon Man (simian)
The Void Replied (simian)
Attention Span (jack)
Hungarian Minor (simian)
Download the CroMagnon Man EP
by The Stark Palace in various formats,
including MP3, WAV & AIFF:
PRESS RELEASE:
The self-titled album by The Stark Palace - aka Roger Simian and Cameron Jack plus friends - prompted rave 4/5 star reviews in The Scotsman, The Skinny and The List and a radio session recorded for Tom Robinson's BBC 6 Music Show when it was released in 2009 on Shark Batter Records.
This EP, featuring four tracks from the album, has been compiled as part of Sparks From The Mothership's series of archival re-releases
LINE-UP / RECORDING NOTES:
Roger Simian: vocals & music
Cameron Jack: vocals & music
+ extra instrumentation / vocals from Mike Sorensen Small, Hypnotique & Grant Pringle
Recorded & Mixed by The Stark Palace
Mastered by Dave Coyle
Cover Art by Cameron Jack
Originally released by Shark Batter Records
Cameron Jack: vocals & music
+ extra instrumentation / vocals from Mike Sorensen Small, Hypnotique & Grant Pringle
Recorded & Mixed by The Stark Palace
Mastered by Dave Coyle
Cover Art by Cameron Jack
Originally released by Shark Batter Records
PRESS PICS
FULL PRESS QUOTES:
"Thank God there are still people making albums like this. Straddling the divide between avant-garde lunacy and controlled madness in a way that would make Captain Beefheart proud, Roger Simian and Cameron Jack have produced a work of near-genius. Eschewing the received wisdom that a unifying theme is a good thing, the Borders-based duo veer stylistically from palette to palette to daub their way to a kaleidoscopic musical work of art. Influences are many and varied. The shadow of the aforementioned Captain looms large over opener CroMagnon Man with Simian doing a fine impression of his Delta growl as shrieking guitars and crunching beats bring up the rear. You can hear the influences of Can on the spacey jam Las Mujeres Perdidas while the vicious wit of Frank Zappa is detectable in the barbed couplets of Napoleon Does Dallas. While not every idea that is thrown at the wall sticks, the philosophy of gleeful abandon is only to be encouraged. - Duncan Forgan, The Skinny (4/5 stars)
“What's the best Scottish album of the past ten years?... There's a real wit at work here, an inventiveness that rewards you with constant surprises... what sets this apart is just how heartfelt-how poetic- it is... I realised there's more art, heart and soul going into this stuff than... well, far too many of the so called classic Scottish albums of the past 10 years, put it that way. My own choice of the decade, incidentally, is Aereogramme's Sleep and Release. But - with less than a month to go - the Stark Palace is already right up there. Simply outstanding.”
"There’s a real sense of adventure present here, a wonderful sense of being taken on some kind of magical mystery tour deep within the confines of the warped minds of the creators. In that respect, it’s a very Scottish kind of a disc. There’s a kind of ruggedness here which you just don’t get within English guitar pop – the forcefulness, the venom, the fire and the brimstone – all are present and correct. They’re here to serve a purpose and they damned well know it. Every lyric serves the listener with either an uppercut or vocal gut punch that leaves a long and lasting impression. The music has a nimbleness and quickness. Every note has been pored over to give maximum impact. They’re all here to play their sweet little hearts out. If you like the sounds they produce when they do so, fine, if you don’t then to hell with you – these guys don’t give a damn."
- Jonathan Muirhead, Is This Music? (4/5 stars)
"This 'Lost Women' EP a the place where pounding rock rhythms meet with exquisitely weird melody and story lines. The style is harsh, unpolished, thoroughly underproduced, but, no, it's no mess; it creates its own subterranean realms and echoes.
The Stark Palace are even sufficiently proud of their Scottish heritage to end their EP with sounds from a tubetrain leaving a Glasgow station."
- Maarten Schiethart, Penny Black Music
001a
** ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT 001a **
Sparks From The Mothership proudly presents
"BLOW OUT THE CANDLE" a new collaboration between
THE BIRD AND THE MONKEY (Scottish Borders)
& JUSTIN LAVASH (Prague)
THE BIRD AND THE MONKEY (Scottish Borders)
& JUSTIN LAVASH (Prague)
WHO: The Bird And The Monkey / Justin Lavash
WHAT: Blow Out The Candle (single)
WHEN: Throughout January 2019
FORMAT: Free Digital Download
LABEL: Athene Noctua Records / Sparks From The Mothership
NEW RELEASE or REISSUE: New Release
DESCRIPTION: Blistering Indie Blues
WHAT: Blow Out The Candle (single)
WHEN: Throughout January 2019
FORMAT: Free Digital Download
LABEL: Athene Noctua Records / Sparks From The Mothership
NEW RELEASE or REISSUE: New Release
DESCRIPTION: Blistering Indie Blues
For further enquiries on this & other releases, email us at: sparksfromthemothership@gmail.com
"If
the Most Haunted team went looking for the ghost of
Captain Beefheart, this is what they’d hear as the lights
went out." - Kerry JK, Fresh On The Net
Captain Beefheart, this is what they’d hear as the lights
went out." - Kerry JK, Fresh On The Net
"...a bracing shot of Caledonian Yankee blues..."
- Paul Kerr, The Devil Has The Best Tuna
Download Blow Out The Candle
by The Bird and The Monkey / Justin Lavash
in various formats, including MP3, WAV & AIFF:
by The Bird and The Monkey / Justin Lavash
in various formats, including MP3, WAV & AIFF:
PRESS RELEASE:
For their first official single since 2015, Scottish alternative musician / filmmakers, Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian - aka The Bird And The Monkey - have collaborated with Justin Lavash (an expatriate English bluesman who has been living in Prague for the past 14 years), for a rocked up cover / reworking of his bluesy supernatural anthem, Blow Out The Candle (from the Justin Lavash: Live in Prague 2015 LP). Hard-rocking drums provided by long-time Lavash collaborator, Frazer Watson.
Blow Out The Candle had its first airing on Ian Hales' Sunday Evening Service on Acacia Radio, with further plays from Donald Strachan on TD1 Radio / Views From The Edge, Jim Gellatly on Amazing Radio and Bob Osborne's Aural Delights 307.
The track was one of the ten Fresh Faves picked by Tom Robinson's followers on the Listening Post for review by Kerry JK in Fresh On The Net batch 297. Long time supporter of Sarahjane & Roger's music, Paul Kerr of The Devil Has The Best Tuna MP3 blog (the man who suggested Swan & Simian call themselves The Bird And The Monkey) describing the song as "easily the best collaboration of the year... pitching for a place in the Devil's favourite tracks of 2018".
OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR
BLOW OUT THE CANDLE
BLOW OUT THE CANDLE
LINE-UP / RECORDING NOTES:
composer:
Justin Lavash
line-up:
Sarahjane Swan (vocals), Justin Lavash (vocals, slide & acoustic guitars), Roger Simian (lead guitar, bass, electronics), Frazer Watson (drums)
Justin Lavash
line-up:
Sarahjane Swan (vocals), Justin Lavash (vocals, slide & acoustic guitars), Roger Simian (lead guitar, bass, electronics), Frazer Watson (drums)
location:
Scottish Borders & Prague
Scottish Borders & Prague
mixed by:
The Bird And The Monkey at BPlusMequals?, Scotland, 2018
mastered by:
LANDR
cover art by:
Avant Kinema
JUSTIN LAVASH JANUARY
2019 TOUR DATES:
January 9th - Hard Rock
Cafe, Prague, Czech Republic
January
11th - Žižkovšiška,
Prague, Czech Republic
January 18th - Teplice Jazz Club, Teplice, Czech Republic
January 24th - Dada Club Kasper, Jindřichův Hradec, Czech Republic
January 25th - Cafe Galerie Zeleny dum, Prague, Czech Republic
January 26th - Blues Bahnhof, Prague, Czech Republic
January 30th - Studio Pamět', Prague, Czech Republic
January 18th - Teplice Jazz Club, Teplice, Czech Republic
January 24th - Dada Club Kasper, Jindřichův Hradec, Czech Republic
January 25th - Cafe Galerie Zeleny dum, Prague, Czech Republic
January 26th - Blues Bahnhof, Prague, Czech Republic
January 30th - Studio Pamět', Prague, Czech Republic
PRESS PICS
The Bird And The Monkey - Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian
Justin Lavash
Frazer Watson
FULL PRESS QUOTES:
"Devil favourites The Bird & The Monkey are back with a new track, a collaboration with guitar genius Justin Lavash. Blow Out The Candle, a bracing shot of Caledonian Yankee blues, is a reworking of a track from Lavash's Justin Lavash : Live in Prague 2015 album and the duo's first non festive new track since 2015. It's more muscular than the duo's usual fare. It sounds like their traditional ethereal alt rock has been pumping the iron and consuming industrial quantities of protein pills in the last three years. For the vegan duo working with the incredible Lavash has brought out their meaty beefy side.
It's the duo's best track so far, I know I say that every time they release a song, but it's true this duo just get better and better with each release. Blow Out The Candle is pitching for a place in the Devil's favourite tracks of 2018 and is easily the best collaboration if the year, so don't be surprised if it pops up again in the blog's end of year review."
- Paul Kerr, The Devil Has The Best Tuna
"Apparently named by our very own Paul Kerr, The Bird and The Monkey are Sarahjane Swan and Roger Simian, a duo of Scottish musician-filmmakers whose work has been featured on Radio 1, 6 Music and even as part of a BBC 2 teen drama. Here they have collaborated with Prague-based guitarist and songwriter Justin Lavash, whose fierce slide guitar combines with their cinematic sound to create a dirty, psychedelic blues rock rich in atmosphere and attitude. If the Most Haunted team went looking for the ghost of Captain Beefheart, this is what they’d hear as the lights went out."
- Kerry JK, Fresh On The Net
LINKS:
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