Circle X - Biography
Louisville, KY seems to have produced more than its fair share of strikingly original music. Especially in the years after the first wave of punk rock broke and redefined the musical landscape with revamped aesthetics and an energetic rash of DIY basement genius. Tons of Louisville bands, from The Endtables to Slint to Crain, have taken punk’s initial spark and bent the sound into new shapes. Possibly none more so than Circle X. Formed in 1978, Circle X is one of art-rock’s best kept secrets and one of Louisville’s most daringly original bands.
The group’s history is slightly fractured and links Circle X to the no wave scene of late ‘70s New York City. Singer Tony Pinotti and guitarist Bruce Witsiepe were in the legendary band No Fun. No Fun is widely considered to be Louisville’s first punk band. The group recorded a demo in the summer of 1978 and promptly split up. Rik and Dave Letendre were in the I-Holes, another early Louisville punk band, and in late 1978 the brothers joined with Pinotti and Witsiepe to form Circle X. The new band performed countless legendary shows in Louisville before relocating to NYC.
Upon arrival Circle X immediately converged with post-punk no wave bands like DNA and Mars. The group played tirelessly around New York, building a reputation for sonically daring shows that mixed angular riffs with free form noise and dubbed out rhythms. Circle X’s manager, Bernard Zekri, took the band to France for nine months of touring. Europe received the group with interest and French label Celluloid Records released the group’s debut EP in 1980. These four early tracks show a band in utterly original form, melding minimalism, noise and fractured song structures for a unique, powerful sound. The EP was reissued on CD by the Dexter’s Cigar label in 1996. Like DNA and Mars, Circle X was bent on deconstructing rock and roll down to the atomic level.
The band returned to New York and set to recording its first full-length. 1983’s Prehistory is a seminal collection of blasted noise-rock and art-damaged songs that took no wave’s squall into industrial-tribal territory. Released on the tiny Index label, the LP quickly disappeared. Fellow Louisville art-rocker David Grubbs reissued Prehistory in 2008 on the Blue Chopsticks label. Pinotti’s savagely intense vocals and Witsiepe’s reverb-drenched guitar textures snake around the Letendre’s dub-inflected polyrhythms on tracks like “Current” and “Beyond Standard.” Prehistory proves that Circle X had just as much visionary sonic experimentation and agro post-punk attitude as any of its better-known peers from the era. It’s clear why the album has been cited as an influence on Swans, Sonic Youth and many others from the noise rock scene of the ‘80s.
During the ‘80s the group’s members entrenched themselves in New York’s art underground, performing at galleries and clubs alike. The performances often involved elaborate elements like giant custom-built machines, puppets and films with likeminded visual artists. The group also incorporated electronics like synths and samplers, lending further layers of processed textural noise to its sound. Witsiepe, along with help from the other members, produced a limited edition art book series called ANTI-UTOPIA in the early ‘90s.
While recording during this time was rare, the group, along with new drummer Martin Koeb, released four white vinyl seven-inches in 1992. They were collected and released as a box set titled The Ivory Tower in 1993. The music is as powerful as ever, with pronounced ambient, industrial and abstract noise leanings.
In 1994 Circle X released its second full-length for the Matador label. Celestial finds the group in stunning, classic form. The sound is razor sharp, with angular grooves, dubwise production and passionate vocals augmented by sizzling electronics. Alternately pulsing with live-wire raw energy or distant and haunted ambience, these eleven songs remain true to the spirit of no wave while marking Circle X as a band nearly impossible to classify. Sadly, Celestial would be the group’s final statement due to Bruce Witsiepe’s death in 1995 from HIV related complications.
While Circle X’s music is not as well known as that of peers such as DNA, Suicide or Liquid Liquid, the band’s albums remain a great testament to its vision, power and passion. Even though the group migrated to New York early in its career, Circle X left its stamp on Louisville, arguably igniting that city’s great tradition of innovative, daring bands. Prehistory and Celestial endure as vital documents of experimental rock.
