TIP OF THE TONGUE 23 MAY 2010
The Dead C
Clyma Est Mort/Tentative Power
Ba Da Bing Records Bing-066
2xLP + CD
£26.99
Reissue of this classic and much sought after 1992 ‘live’ album from The Dead C, recorded in the band’s practice space and originally released as a fake bootleg. Clyma Est Mort features some of the most radical and formally fucked improvised rock/noise of the group’s career. Robbie Yeats’ drumming is incredible, reformulating concepts of time as definitively as Sunny Murray or Milford Graves while playing with all of the primitive ferocity of the most feral rock/roll. Russell and Morley’s guitars sound completely destroyed - hovering over amplifier feedback, twisting like tortured metal, defying time, breaking down heavy metal chord progressions into quanta of mainlined drone – and they have all of the dynamic range of a fleet of bulldozers. Morley and Russell’s glorious dual vocals are the most wasted of their career. The version of “Power” remains a staggering free rock peak, still *the* greatest protest song to come out of the underground. Hell has come, indeed. And the ‘hardcore’ tracks are ferocious. Clyma is also the most cryptic and specifically nuanced of the Dead C albums: taking obsessive inspiration from The Fall’s Totale’s Turns; dubbing in audience applause, dropping weird, almost indecipherable references into the titles and sleeve notes, jump cutting from here to there – there’s as much to decode here as there is on John Fahey’s Voice Of The Turtle. The addition of a second disc that bundles a bunch of key 7” sides - a bunch of versions of “Power”, “Hell Is Now Love”, “Bone”, “Mighty”, “Peace” and “Radiation” – is just gravy. For a complete dissection of the mechanics of the recording and the arc of the times check out Tom Lax of Siltbreeze’s compulsive eyewitness account in his exclusive VT column. Also comes with a CD version of Clyma. Highest possible recommendation.
