Circle X

Circle X belongs to that rarer group of acts who locate their vision early and then refine it methodically, indifferent to outside attention. The group began with vocalist Tony Pinotti, vocalist and guitarist Bruce Witsiepe, guitarist Rik Letendre, and his brother Dave Letendre on drums. After coalescing in Louisville, KY, during the late 1970s, the four members moved to New York and aligned themselves with the no-wave scene that included Mars, DNA, and similar acts. Their approach produced steady growth in both sound and approach, folding performance art, synthesizers, and keyboards—particularly those handled by Pinotti—into jagged, frequently abrasive compositions. The album Prehistory surfaced quietly on Enigma in 1983; beyond scattered live documents, singles, and ancillary endeavors that included a book, the band stayed largely invisible to even devoted followers of fringe music until the early 1990s. At that point, after various side projects and personnel shifts, Martin Kob took over drumming duties from Dave Letendre while Rik Letendre moved permanently to bass. The revised lineup issued several singles that were later gathered into the boxed set The Ivory Tower in 1993, paving the way for Celestial, only the band’s second proper album, which appeared on Matador in 1994.