''Prehistory'' is the debut studio album by American

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

band

Circle X Circle X was an American experimental rock band, formed in 1978 in Louisville, Kentucky. They were part of the late 1970s/early 1980s No Wave scene. Background Early career Circle X formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1978 when art students ...

. It was recorded in 1981 but was not released until 1983, jointly through record labels Index and Enigma.

Background

''Prehistory'' was recorded upon their return to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, after staying nine months in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Release

The LP went out of print rapidly, but was later reissued semi-legally by the French label Sordide Sentimentale, featuring the addition of a booklet of essay texts and skin disorder photos.

Track listing

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'', whilst calling the album "more ambitious" than 1979's ''

'' EP, wrote, "submerging energy in sloppy polyrhythms and echoey dub production, the album sometimes drags haphazardly and generally lacks its predecessor's field-plowing impact."

Personnel

; Circle X * David Letendre – drums, percussion, guitar on "Current", album cover concept * Rick Letendre – guitar, drums, percussion, tape operation, vocals, album cover concept * Tony Pinotti – guitar, tape operation, vocals, bass guitar on "Current", album cover concept * Bruce Witsiepe – guitar, tape operation, vocals, album cover concept ; Additional personnel * Jason Huang –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

on "Underworld" ; Technical * David Lichtenstein –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1983 albums