| $13.41
new to stock as of
august 25th, 2008
threads:
art-punk
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| | | blue chopsticks (usa) #bc 18 cd circle x “prehistory” compact disc - current (6:18)
- prehistory part i (5:13)
- prehistory part ii (5:18)
- culture progress (6:31)
- underworld (7:52)
- beyond standard (4:43)
| | may 2008 release ; cd reissue of the debut long-player by this louisville-by-way-of-dijon art-punk group ... |
| | blue chopsticks press release... |
| circle x, prehistory bc18
circle x were formed in 1978 from the remnants of no fun and the i-holes, louisville, kentucky's first two punk bands. (no fun, also featuring tara key of the babylon dance band and antietam, finally appeared on record in 2007 on the excellent bold beginnings: an incomplete history of louisville punk compilation.) circle x got the hell out of dodge quickly enough, settling upon new york, then dijon, france, and then back to new york again.
their self-titled ep is a lurching, squalling monster. prehistory is a tire-burning left turn. the pendulum arc of tony pinotti's vocals still contain throat-shredding howls, but expands to contain croons, moans, speech. bruce witsiepe's and rick letendre's lacerating guitars are dumped into a dubbish aquarium of reverb, and dave letendre worries polyrhythms nearly to death. the studio's gritty and cloudy. after the trash-compaction of their first ep, this is the sound of unhurried, committed exploration.
so where did circle x fit in among their peers? it's fair to describe them as a genre unto themselves. they came from punk rock and art school and sounded like none of their potential allies. they arrived in new york at the tail end of no wave, at the same time that equally ornery bands like swans and sonic youth were getting revved up. circle x are every bit as distinctive and attitudinal as throbbing gristle, pil, theoretical girls, dna, or mars, and yet they don't particularly sound like any of these groups. after prehistory, they resurfaced with four white-vinyl seven inches (later collected as the box set the ivory tower) and the 1994 celestial, an album for the then-fledgling matador label. bruce witsiepe passed away in 1995, marking the end of the group.
critic jordan mamone hit the nail on the head when he wrote: "every rare utterance from these unsentimental adventurers possesses a passion and a manifesto-writing fervor usually reserved for turn-of-the-century culture movements." |
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