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** ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT 001b **

Sparks From The Mothership proudly presents

the "CROMAGNON MAN (2019)" EP
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

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.”

- Simon Stuart, Sunday Herald

"If only 3Oh!3 had spent some time at college 

hanging out with the weird kids, they might 

have accessed the trippy pop hinterlands 

on which the Stark Palace is built."

- The Scotsman (4/5 stars)

"...in a world of The X Factor, music needs 
The Stark Palace to challenge and inspire, 
and boy can these boys play."
- Stephen Maughan, Clash magazine (6/10)

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

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.”

- Simon Stuart, Sunday Herald  

"It’s been a long time since we heard from Scottish Borders outfit, Dawn Of the Replicants. Former psychiatric nurse turned zine-scriber, Roger Simian (and co), seemed to have just fallen off the musical map. But here with gravedigger, Cameron Jack (and a few other ‘Replicants’ in tow), The Stark Palace arrive. Experimenting clone-like via numerous avant/glam-rock idols (think Eno for ‘The Void Replied’, Beefheart for ‘Saw What Your Momma Did’, Ayers for ‘Cybersonnet’, Roxy for ‘The Werewolf Song’, Wire for ‘Brakelight Cabernet’, etc.), their schizoid sentiment for everything 70s and beyond is more than commendable."

- Martin C Strong, The List (4/5 stars) 

If only 3Oh!3 had spent some time at college hanging out with the weird kids, they might have accessed the trippy pop hinterlands on which the Stark Palace is built. Roger Simian, Borders-based psychiatric nurse-turned-fanzine writer and independent record company mogul, has more or less dedicated his DIY musical career to the barking memory of Captain Beefheart. He is joined in this latest venture by professional grave-digger Cameron Jack. Their debut album collects 13 tracks from their three EPs to date, some little more than tantalising sketches, which exhibit an almost throwaway talent for off-kilter pop – and dramatic Romany instrumentals.

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/music/album-reviews-the-stark-palace-benjy-ferree-woody-pines-aboriginal-soul-1-783762

"If only 3Oh!3 had spent some time at college hanging out with the weird kids, they might have accessed the trippy pop hinterlands on which the Stark Palace is built. Roger Simian, Borders-based psychiatric nurse-turned-fanzine writer and independent record company mogul, has more or less dedicated his DIY musical career to the barking memory of Captain Beefheart. He is joined in this latest venture by professional grave-digger Cameron Jack. Their debut album collects 13 tracks from their three EPs to date, some little more than tantalising sketches, which exhibit an almost throwaway talent for off-kilter pop – and dramatic Romany instrumentals."

- The Scotsman (4/5 stars) 

"The Stark Palace consists of Roger Simian (Dawn Of The Replicants) and Scottish underground musician Cameron Jack, who fondly embrace experimental noise with abstract poems, blended with spacerock synths and distorted guitars. So, it’s fair to say if you are looking for an easy ride of an album, this isn’t for you with its offbeat tunes, clashing guitars, and dada lyrics Simian could well have scribbled during his stint as a psychotic nurse. But in a world of The X Factor, music needs The Stark Palace to challenge and inspire, and boy can these boys play. You will keep coming back to this, if only to decipher Simian’s cryptic lyrics."

- Stephen Maughan, Clash magazine (6/10)

"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