VACUUM SPASM BLOG September 2010

BLOGGER: charles s bravo
LOCATION: scottish borders
BAND WEBSITE: vacuum spasm babies
BAND MYSPACE: vsb myspace
BLOG: vsb blog
LABEL: shark batter records



Hats off to Hans Moretti

The summer is over and Vacuum Spasm Babies are back to work on what will at some time be a new record. Although dust sheets were thrown over the 'equipment', the plants watered, mail re-directed and VSB HQ decommissioned and locked up for the chaps annual summer sabbatical, it's not been just another long lazy summer of potentially fatal experimental cocktails. Charles S. Bravo curated a little music festival of sorts that saw Sharkbatter label mates The Stone Ghost Collective, Sarahjane Swan and The Stark Palace playing to packed venues, and Malcolm Spasm spend some time scratching his head and looking at stuff to do with computers, which eventually resulted in someone sending him another bit of paper to say how clever he is.

There has been some VSB activity over the summer months. Andrew Morrison featured three exclusive tracks on his superb show on Dandelion Radio, the internet station inspired by John Peel. Live version of MHz and Whipping Clowns recorded at Henrys in Edinburgh were played out on his show along with a brand new track 'Song for Jack'. Also, unknown to the band, the live version of MHz also appeared on YouTube with the contributor (who we think lives in Spain) tagging the video as a "Live version of the soon-to-be-classic instrumental, with photos I took out of my kitchen window. On Monday morning."

Other new songs that are in various stages of completion include a tribute to the German conjurer Hans Moretti, a sad tale about a boy called Joe who likes to rob banks dressed as a cowboy, and a re-recording of a very old song that the chaps used to play in their old band 'Hoopster' in the 1990s.

THE BIRD & THE MONKEY (Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian) single & videos

BLOGGER: shark batter records
LOCATION: scottish borders & brooklyn, new york
WEBSITE: sharkbatter.com
MYSPACE: myspace.com/sharkbatterrecords



BAND: The Bird And The Monkey (Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian)
LOCATION: Scotland
SINGLE: If Love's A Cure
RELEASE DATE: mon 26th july

IF LOVE'S A CURE free MP3 download
http://www.sharkbatter.com/thebirdandthemonkey/MP3SJSIfLovesACure.mp3

WEBSITE
http://www.sharkbatter.com/thebirdandthemonkey

SLEEVE ART
http://www.sharkbatter.com/thebirdandthemonkey/images/LoveSkulls04.jpg

Sarahjane Swan: vocals, bouzouki, melodica

Roger Simian: detuned guitar (d/g/d/a/a/e), bass, juno-6 synth

Sleeve art by Roger Simian and Sarahjane Swan. Skulls sculpted by Sarahjane.
Recorded, produced and mixed (with Mike Small) by The Bird And The Monkey on Garageband at Nockolaus Studios. Copyright Shark Batter Records, 2010.

***

Named by The Devil himself, The Bird And The Monkey are Shark Batter label-mates, Sarahjane Swan and Roger Simian.

Dunbar's Sarahjane Swan graduated from Gray's School Of Art in Aberdeen as a sculptor before learning guitar and becoming a songwriter. Her songs have been aired on Radio 1 by Vic Galloway, BBC 6Music by Don Letts and on New York's East Village Radio.

Edinburgh-raised Roger Simian, of The Stark Palace, writes occasional arts reviews for the Scottish edition of the homeless magazine, The Big Issue. He's been Paul Vickers' right-hand man in Dawn Of The Replicants since the start and was one of the founders of the '90s underground music mag, Sun Zoom Spark.


IF LOVE'S A CURE (Swan) - single




STIRRING IT UP (Swan) - from the forthcoming "Ossie Dean" LP




DAISY JAMES ON THE PINCUSHION (Swan/Simian) - from the forthcoming "Ossie Dean" LP




CHALKMARK CINDY (Swan/Simian) - from the forthcoming "Ossie Dean" LP

THE STARK PALACE The Werewolf Song video

BLOGGER: shark batter records
LOCATION: scottish borders & brooklyn, new york
WEBSITE: sharkbatter.com
MYSPACE: myspace.com/sharkbatterrecords

SHARK BATTER evening: Border Telegraph write up

BLOGGER: shark batter records
LOCATION: scottish borders & brooklyn, new york
WEBSITE: sharkbatter.com
MYSPACE: myspace.com/sharkbatterrecords

SHARK BATTER evening @ Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, wed 19th may

BLOGGER: shark batter records
LOCATION: scottish borders & brooklyn, new york
WEBSITE: sharkbatter.com
MYSPACE: myspace.com/sharkbatterrecords



SHARK BATTER RECORDS presents...
VOODOO ROOMS, SPEAKEASY, EDINBURGH,
WED 19th MAY

For one shiny pound of your stirling, Shark Batter Records presents a night of rampant frivolity, mild confusion and ebullient joy courtesy of The Stark Palace, Sarahjane Swan, Vacuum Spasm Babies DJ set, Sorensen Small & Brendan McAndrew + standup from Dawn Of The Replicants frontman Paul Vickers + the premier of the Shark Batter Videos compilation. It all kicks off at 7pm and like we said, ADMISSION PRICE ONLY £1!.

[7 - 8pm]

PREMIER OF SHARK BATTER
VIDEOS COMPILATION



Featuring videos from Kono Michi, Sarahjane Swan, The Stark Palace, Sorensen Small & Brendan McAndrew (Stone Ghost Collective) and Vacuum Spasm Babies.

shark batter videos

+++

[8 - 8.45]

VACUUM SPASM BABIES DJ SET



Vacuum Spasm Babies are a couple of like-minded blood-relatives with a love of guerilla recording, shouting and recorders. Malcolm Spasm (notoriously unemployable) fiddles with computer innards in his plush apartment on the edges of a rough Edinburgh housing scheme, where he hopes that one day his experiments will lead to the perfect wrong sound. Charles S. Bravo lives in a hammock in the Scottish Borders. He likes to watch the grass grow until the gin haze becomes too thick, then he writes songs.

vacuum spasm babies website


+++


[9 - 9.30]

PAUL VICKERS STANDUP



Heartwarming Dadaesque standup comedy from the Dawn Of The Replicants frontman in advance of his Edinburgh Fringe show.

paul vickers youtube


+++


[9.30 - 11]

* Shark Batter Unplugged Sets *

THE STARK PALACE



The self-titled debut album by The Stark Palace featured ex-psychiatric nurse, Roger Simian (Dawn Of The Replicants), and grave-digging paint-splasher, Cameron Jack, in cordial sonorous collaboration with various feel-good type alien individuals. The LP has already received great reviews, including 4/5 stars in The List, The Skinny & The Scotsman. Simian & Jack live in the Scottish Borders and greedily consume the produce of New York Punk, decadent Glam, Prog-era outsider Kevin Ayers, nasty-Funk screamer Betty Davis, dirty French hipster Serge Gainsbourg, plus a sackload of whackjob experimentalists including Beefheart, Eno, Wire and TV On The Radio. The pair have been joined for recent gigs by Dawn Of The Replicants veterans: drummer-turned 12-string strummer, Grant Pringle, and double bassist, Davy Coyle.

the stark palace myspace


SARAHJANE SWAN



Dunbar's Sarahjane Swan graduated from Gray's School Of Art in Aberdeen as a sculptor before learning guitar and becoming a songwriter. She has released two singles on Scottish indie label, Shark Batter Records, and has a forthcoming EP collaboration with Roger Simian (The Stark Palace, Dawn Of The Replicants). Her songs have been aired on Radio 1 by Vic Galloway, BBC 6Music by Don Letts and on New York's East Village Radio.

sarahjane swan website


SORENSEN SMALL & BRENDAN MCANDREW



A fine set by songwriters Mike Sorensen Small (Dawn Of The Replicants) and Brendan McAndrew who have been collaborating for many years on dark yet melodic love, death and metaphysics ballads as The Stone Ghost Collective. Their songs have been played on Radio 1 (Vic Galloway), Radio 3 (Lopa Kothari) and BBC 6 Music (Tom Robinson).

stone ghost collective myspace


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[11-12]

SHARK BATTER RECORDS DJ SET



www.sharkbatter.com

SARAHJANE SWAN & ROGER SIMIAN Daisy James On The Pincushion video

BLOGGER: shark batter records
LOCATION: scottish borders & brooklyn, new york
WEBSITE: sharkbatter.com
MYSPACE: myspace.com/sharkbatterrecords

THE STARK PALACE Napoleon Does Dallas video

BLOGGER: shark batter records
LOCATION: scottish borders & brooklyn, new york
WEBSITE: sharkbatter.com
MYSPACE: myspace.com/sharkbatterrecords

VACUUM SPASM BABIES Science Division video

BLOGGER: shark batter records
LOCATION: scottish borders & brooklyn, new york
WEBSITE: sharkbatter.com
MYSPACE: myspace.com/sharkbatterrecords

VACUUM SPASM BLOG March 2010

BLOGGER: charles s bravo
LOCATION: scottish borders
BAND WEBSITE: vacuum spasm babies
BAND MYSPACE: vsb myspace
BLOG: vsb blog
LABEL: shark batter records



Science EP and formation of the Science Division
 
The next record has been recorded, you could argue that for a four track E.P it's taken far too long, and you'd probably be right. People keep making us do stuff to do with work, there's the dishes to be done, and then there are the other hobbies we collectively engage in, mainly hurting computers, fondue cooking, international travel, phrenology, collecting tiny models of Scottish band The Stark Palace, chasing Norwegians through the park, listening to Radio Luxembourg, phoning Sultan Kosen for pointless arguments, watching La Cabina on DVD and learning the magic of Hans Moretti. But the record is made, the press release has been written, the artwork is back from the printers, the CD faces are in the process of being stamped, address labels are being written and our buddies at Sharkbatter Records have uploaded the songs on the free download section of their website. You'll be needing headphones, 15 minutes free time, and a friendly face to help pull yourself together at the end of it. Before having a listen, a few words about the Science Division.

Travelling home from Henry's Cellar Bar in the back of a mucky old van, winter 2009.....

Charles S. Bravo: "The Music that we have committed to tape and played tonight comes as a result of a rare musical gene present in both of us that means we really can't help ourselves."
 
Malcolm Spasm: "Yes brother, and now is the time to develop that wrongness, it's time for Phase 2 and the formation of the Science Division."
 
Science Division - "Rubber tubing wrong methodology, pull the curtain, big mistake. Simple children, dogs are burning, simmer beaker, clamps are turning."  Science Division is the club that everybody wants to be a member of.
 
Khz - "Cleanse the pallet against misinterpretation and ambiguous translation. Subtle adjustments of dials and switches, inner workings primed for reception of transmission." We are not quite sure.
 
Chemical Burns - "Put on your new lab coat, you've got to watch for chemical burns, acid stolen from the lab, takes the skin clean from your hands." If you plan to dispose of body parts in your bath, be sure to wear appropriate protective clothing.

Mhz - This live studio version features original Dawn of the Replicants drummer Grant Pringle, with additional guitaring and bass from labelmates The Stark Palace's Cameron Jack and Roger Simian.

STARK PALACE Album & Reviews

BLOGGER: shark batter records
LOCATION: scottish borders & brooklyn, new york
WEBSITE: sharkbatter.com
MYSPACE: myspace.com/sharkbatterrecords



The Stark Palace's debut album, The Stark Palace, featuring some creepy cover art by Cameron Jack, has been getting rather rave reviews verging on the rabid of late. Read a few of these below.

Here are four songs from the album free to download right here...

THE WEREWOLF SONG (simian)
A cheerful song about the compulsion to maim and kill whenever the moon rises and the Hombre Lobo curse kicks in.

ATTENTION SPAN (jack)
Some relationships are just trouble from the start.

HUNGARIAN MINOR (simian)
Named after the scale the tune's written in, rather than underage Eastern Europeans.

BRAKELIGHT CABERNET (words: jack music: simian)
An eventful trip Cameron once took to Avignon with friends.



THE SUNDAY HERALD (13/12/09)

What's the best Scottish album of the past 10 years? It's a question I was asked recently and it stumped me straight away: not just because it sometimes feels like 1999 was the day before yesterday, but also because, in this cold but hopeful dawn of the download revolution, it's more difficult than ever to visualise bands as being from anywhere other than a swirling digital vortex. Scottish? Belgian? Beamed on to your hard drive from somewhere to the left of Jupiter?

Actually, two of those would go a reasonable way towards describing The Stark Palace, a duo based in the Borders but sounding like ... well, what? From the scribbled notes I made on a first listen to this debut album - which brings together songs released in the past couple of years on three EPs - that would include Captain Beefheart, the Beta Band, 10cc, the Fall, an altered-state Dick Dale and (this last bit with several exclamation marks) Pop Will Eat Itself. In Jamaica.

You might have clocked "three EPs" and "Beta Band" there, and that's not a bad point from which to take our bearings: just as those east-coast oddities alchemised eclecticism into near-perfection, so The Stark Palace have a consuming passion for sound. There's a real wit at work here; an inventiveness that rewards you with constant surprises. Take Girl On Ghost: while the aforementioned PWEI-do-reggae thing would make it enough of a joy, it also has performance artist Hypnotique giving it an enchanting vocal about Egyptian curses and cunnilingus. And no sooner have you put your head (sorry) round that than we're into the sublime Your Face, which recalls The Fall with its cardboard-box beats and rudimentary fuzz for a bassline, yet boasts a melody that would make even Mark E Smith weep with joy.

Roger Simian - who, with Cameron Jack, makes up this beautiful little band - is also the guitarist with Dawn Of The Replicants, and a lot of that outfit's unabashed oddness is at play here. Yet what sets this apart is just how heartfelt - how poetic - it is. The exquisite Cybersonnet, which arrives half-way through, is the perfect example: unsure yet fascinated by the lyric, I Googled my way to Simian's blog, where the pieces fell into place and I realised that 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.

by Simon Stuart

***

THE SKINNY (2/12/09)
4/5 stars

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.

by Duncan Forgan

***

THE SCOTSMAN (28/12/09)
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.

by Michael Church

***

THE LIST (9/12/09)
4/5 stars

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.

by Martin C Strong

***

UNCUT (march 2010)
3/5 stars

Iain Banks-endorsed Scottish oddballs

The lo-fi, DIY likes of the young Beck, Jeffrey Lewis and Baby Bird have a lot to answer for. Skewed, beats-driven pop, punky surrealism and fractured psychedelia are often seen as an easy route to cultish acclaim, but it takes talent to make real eccentricity shine. Former Dawn Of The Replicants player Roger Simian is no stranger to weirdness, and this entertaining debut sees him team up with fellow freak Cameron Jack. The pair are clearly fans of Beefheart and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, but they try Bolan's glam funk on for size with the half-speed "Cybersonnet".

by Sharon O'Connell

***

CLASH (16/12/09)
6/10 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.

by Stephen Maughan