As a form, the split release in general has its ups and downs. For someone discovering new bands, it can be a great way to get more than you otherwise might from a single track on a sampler, and for longtime fans, they make great collectors? pieces. Who doesn?t enjoy saying, ?Oh, I?ve already got all that,? when a compilation of non-album tracks is released years later? Hey, we all have to get our kicks somehow.

The drawback is that usually neither band (assuming there are only two) is able to fully develop a concept or explore a musical range as they otherwise might on an individual EP or full-length. In the case of the Violent Hippy Records split between Seattle doomers Brothers of the Sonic Cloth and angry artistes Mico de Noche, the issue is skirted and both bands manage to deliver quality work telling of where they?re at in their development and songwriting. Drawbacks need not apply.

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