Tony Pinotti (vocals), Bruce Witsiepe (guitar) and siblings Rik and David Letendre (both guitar/drums. There are no bass players here!) from Louisville, Kentucky formed Circle X sometime in 1978. This was actually the union of the members of two different bands from the same region, as Tony and Bruce had previously been in some Punk Rock band named No Fun while the Letendre brothers had been in I-Holes. The quartet would soon relocate to New York, and upon their arrival, are said to have been inspired by the nascent "No Wave" scene that was unfurling there. Just a year later in 1979, Circle X decided to take a trip overseas to France. During their limited stay in Dijon, they toured the place (with the aid of their manager, Bernard Zekri) and also recorded the first EP. It should be noted that in the early years, the band actually went under no name, but eventually came to be known as "Circle X", due to the spray painted symbol that's sprawled across the charcoaled cover of this EP (which was originally untitled as well. Yep, these guys didn't seem to care if they were deemed as "unmarketable"!).
Consisting of four tracks and a time span of eleven minutes, this EP is an interesting rarity, and was pretty abrasive for 1979 (despite that there were a couple other bands who were doing a similar thing around this time period). It also quickly becomes apparent that Circle X was a precursor to a number of the Noise Rock bands that came out in the 1980s. Take "Onward Christian Soldiers" for example: This is the track that stands out the most from the four (and the one that I like best). It's a nefarious dirge that's bogged down in sludge and peppered with a decent dose of noise (also featuring agonized snarls). Really almost sounds as if it could've been written and recorded by none other than SWANS..... except that at this point in time Michael Gira hadn't even founded the group yet! So I can see how Circle X might've potentially influenced them (and various others), especially the material from the harsh "Cop"/"Young God" era (although in all of the Gira/SWANS interviews that I've uncovered, not once have I ever seen Circle X being mentioned as an influence of his/theirs).
The other three tracks, while not necessarily as jarring as "Onward Christian Soldiers", still do a reasonable job of satiating one's hunger for some screechy, unhinged No Wave/Noise Rock. "Albeit Living" takes the spot for my second favorite tune with its psychotic energy and "Tender" is a mid-paced, scathing opener. "Underworld" isn't as remarkable, but it still appeals to me in some ways (I particularly find it amusing how Tony sounds like he's getting pelted with a barrage of dodgeballs by his band mates). Wrapping things up, Circle X's self-titled/untitled EP was ahead of the curve and is still awesome to this day. I'd strongly suggest this to anyone who can wolf down stuff like (early) SWANS, Big Black, Flipper and No Trend without having much trouble.
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