with my latest fascination for bongripper and with the already existing fondness for u.k.'s mighty conan, it was pretty clear that i couldn't get pass ordering their split release from two years ago. it was originally released via holy roar records from london. back then on 180gr black vinyl only and out of 500 copies. i believe they did this split in occasion of their united kingdom tour 2013.
in early 2015 both bands decided that this long sold out pearl should recieve a vinyl re-issue. as conan and bongripper both have labels on their own, black bow records on the conan side and great barrier records as the bongripper equivalent, what could be more apt to re-release the split as a collaboration on both labels? the re-press consists of two colours, dookie brown and translucent beer splatter. i snagged my copy from the finest doom label of the netherlands, burning world records.
musically there are just one song per band on this split and still the record clocks in at over twenty-five minutes. it's pretty rare for split releases that i find it hard to decide which side is the better one. in this case, i think bongripper takes the lead, but only by a hair's breadth. check out conan's 'beheaded' and bongripper's 'zero talent'. i love both bands and so this split is an absolute winner to me. both colour-ways are out of 500 copies and some still available at burning world.
now it's time for some nerd alert. this split is always listed as the 'bongripper / conan' split lp. this re-issued version was pressed to physical format by pirates press and reading the matrix run-out of this platter, it appears that the conan side is side a and the bongripper side is the b-side. even the sleeve is glued in a way that the conan cover is the front. i don't know for the holy roar pressing but for this re-press the correct title is actually 'conan / bongripper' split. do i nerd out too hard here? black bow records. great barrier records. 2015.
