Before I start you'd better know that the limited edition cassette version of this release has already sold out. You can still download it from the Small Bear bandcamp site, however, and, even shorn of its deeply attractive packaging, it's one hell of great fantastic release.
It's a split, of course, but a split with a difference: rather than sharing space of the length of a standard album (if that means anything these days), you get a complete album-length 'side' from each band. As both of the bands are wonderful, that means a two for the price of one deal of some considerable quality.
The two bands concerned offer pretty distinctive sounds: this is not one of those split releases that offers you two bands that appear to be aiming to sound like each other. The Bordellos (who you may have heard a damn fine session from in my Dandelion Radio show last year) offer some of the best things their endearingly ragged guitar sound has ever conjured up, including 'Temperature Drop', which made the Festive Fifty in 2013, and the laid-back stab to the brain that is 'Hit It', which appeared on the EP sampler release for this album last year and which I play in my Dandelion Radio show this month.
I play a track from the SFA side too - 'Make A Stand', an intoxicating, woozy slab of off-kilter sub-psychedelic magnificence. The contrast between the two bands' styles makes it an easy and almost natural thing to flip from one album to the next to get two opposing slices of what makes great music so great both between and through the ear lobes.
As you may have guessed, I like it. If you needed an additional reason to grab a copy yourself (which you shouldn't) every penny generated goes to Save The Children. Get a copy from the Small Bear bandcamp site here.
Thanks Mark. Good vibes. Love, Jet Schizo
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