Loch Lomond/The Builders and the Butchers - Split 12"

As promised, I'm attacking my inbox and doing all that stuff I was meant to do ages ago, but forgot about.

I'm not going to claim this is a review, because I don't have an awful lot to say about it, but I will throw in a wee bit.
Before that i should really tell you what I'm talking about first, shouldn't I? Well, it's a slightly unusual release in that it's a vinyl split 12". It's hard to make a 12" CD or download after all, although if you buy the 12" you will get a CDr thrown in, which is handy for folk like me that don't have working record players anymore.
The bands involved are Loch Lomond & The Builders and the Butchers, each contributing four songs. Neither of them are Scottish (although with that name Loch Lomond can at least claim a connection), hailing instead from Portland over in the good ole US of A. Why am I covering the release then? Well firstly because I'm allowed to write about stuff that isn't Scottish if I want, I'm not under a trade embargo you cheeky git, but mostly because the 12" is released over here by Song, by Toad Records. So there.

Both bands featured here are new to me, but after hearing this I'll be doing a bit of hunting down of their other stuff now.
Loch Lomond's songs are both gentle and lovely yet also at times a bit creepy and sinister. In that way they remind me a bit of Lambchop, even though the two sound nothing like each other.
The Builders and the Butchers are a bit rowdier, but the songs are just as good. Their first songs throws a bit of a mariachi flair into proceedings, before Vampire Flair, which you can sample below, goes off in another direction, almost putting me in mind of The Pogues.
Any release that can make me think of both Lambchop and The Pogues is a sure fire winner in my book.

The 12" has a very pretty drawing by Matthew of Song, by Toad on the front too.

Downloads:
Loch Lomond - A Field Report
The Builders & the Butchers - Vampire Lake

Buy from Song, by Toad Records