You're noticing now only because its extreme, but static electricity is always a problem, everywhere, and there is no resolution, only a series of things you can do to try and keep it down at an acceptable level- whatever that is for you.
My room never has gotten to the point of sparks zapping fingers yet I know its there because its so easy to hear the difference when its gone. Or should I say less, since its never really gone.
The simplest, fastest and most cost-effective solution I have found is Static Guard laundry spray sold in stores everywhere but priced best at Walmart. Don't spray directly over records but do spray it all around the turntable and all components. I like to spray over speaker cables just before listening. Having done this a long time now and by varying the frequency the improvement is noticeable after as little as 20 minutes. In other words if you haven't ever done this the improvement will be pretty big. But then if you spray again a half hour later it will sound better, but not as much. But let a lot of time go by and again it will make a big improvement. What this tells me is static charges are constantly building up and interfering with sound quality all the time, and remember this is even in my room, a room I don't think anyone would ever say even has any problem with static electricity.
There's other more costly and possibly more effective sprays you can find on Amazon. Haven't tried them because they are more in the nature of leaving kind of a film on fabric, like the office chair that zaps anyone sitting in it.
There are also some grounding type contraptions that track along the record helping static get to ground before it can build up enough to cause a problem.
Basically you're right, your new materials are more prone to static buildup, and a mat is likely to cause as many problems as it solves. Use the spray, use your Zerostat on the record, raise humidity if you can, and see where that gets you.
