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"Dead C vs. Rangda"
This unusual split is basically just an excuse to release a handful of lost songs from around the time of Dead C's Eusa Kills album (1989), but that is just fine by me (particularly since I like Rangda too).  It is an inspired pairing for a number of reasons, but the primary one is that the two bands could not possibly sound more wildly different: the Rangda half sounds like a trio of skilled musicians intuitively improvising together, while the Dead C half is an endearingly shambling mess.  Despite that yawning stylistic chasm (and a two decade span between the sessions), both bands offer at least one song that beautifully highlights what they do best.
The whole idea of "lost" Dead C songs is very amusing to me, as this split makes it very clear that the line between an actual Dead C song and a recording of them aimlessly messing around in rehearsal is probably a very blurry one indeed.  That is not to say that these four songs are not likable, but things like hooks, structure, melody, fidelity, and tightness have never been the trio's greatest talents.  Rather, they seem to have been put on earth solely to sound gloriously wrong at all times and to seem extremely cool while doing it.  Both "Eusa Kills" and "Tomorrow" are ideal testaments to that unique brand of genius, as the former is basically an avalanche of over-the-top distortion and half-mumbled vocals propelled by a skeletal drum machine beat, while the latter unleashed some impressively ugly and anti-virtuosic guitar squall over a jazzy shuffle.  The remaining two pieces, however, fall a bit short, amounting to little more than prickly lo-fi ambiance and something that sounds like a decontextualized live guitar solo shorn of the surrounding song.
For their side, Rangda offer up just two pieces: the lengthy "Gracilaria" and the shorter "Sancticallist," one of which highlights everything wrong with the trio and one which highlights everything right.  Sadly, the longer one is the misfire, as Sir Richard Bishop and Ben Chasny do a whole lot of sleepy noodling before eventually erupting into a woefully unearned crescendo.  Chris Corsano gamely tries to inject some excitement into the proceedings by bringing his usual intensity, but he has virtually nothing to work with–it just sounds like two boring guitar solos over the top of a good drum solo rather than anything coherent.  Curiously, "Sancticallist" is not overtly all that different, but everything somehow locks together beautifully into a condensed, simmering, and oft-explosive whole.  It is remarkable just how dramatic the difference between improvisations can be with no clear reason, as the magic is either there or it is not, regardless of the strength of the underlying motifs: "Sancticallist" is simply great, while "Gracilaria" is clearly not.
Naturally, there is no getting around the fact that this is a very minor release within both bands' discographies, but that does not diminish it at all, as it does not pretend to be anything more.  Essentially, Ba Da Bing located a handful of Dead C songs that no one has heard, then decided to make them available in a stylish and inspired way (a limited vinyl-only release with striking cover art and a similarly cool band on the flipside).  As such, this is kind of a perfect release: casual fans can safely pass it by knowing that there is nothing truly essential or revelatory to be found, while more devout fans will undoubtedly be very pleased with both the music and the physical object.
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