This is the long overdue re-issue for Prehistory by No Wave band Circle X who originally came from Louisville Kentucky, but had gravitated towards New York's underground music scene in the late 70's. This debut album was originally released in 1983. Circle X were Rick and David Letendre, Bruce Witsiepie and Tony Pinotti, the album was engineered by David Lichtenstein who at the time was also guitarist in John Cales band.
The album opens with Current that has a congas and tablas intro, with some interesting rhythmic patterns, spoken word vocals taking us on a trip into the nether worlds of New York in the late 70's early 80's.
Prehistory Part I slowly fades in with different aspects being added, stray guitar notes, weird percussion, yelps and vocal interjections that get ever more intense, distended and colossal, screeds of sound becoming more apoplectic. Prehistory Part II is more dubbed out avant noise, stripped to its core the vocals are buried, so are rather indistinct, but the way the guitar slowly rises through it is quite effective.
Culture Progress sounds like the bastard son of This Heat and Glen Branca while it alternates between pummel your mind noise attacks and softer industrial clanging, with echo laden vocals of a sort normally only heard on Giorno Poetry Systems albums or records on Atavistic.
Underworld has long slow shifting tones for the words of wisdom about the Underworld, improvised guitar squiggles and a sense of darkness from the deep, until the drums add depth to the darkness, vocals are screamed and yelped at us, when it goes back the quiet introspective part it is like they have discovered the magic formula of quiet loud dynamics that alternative noise bands will adopt in the 90's.
The album closes with Beyond Standard whose guitar part sounds a lot like Lutz Ulbrich's early 80's guitar playing with Nico, while they transform the Swedish prog blues of Hog Standard into a whole new beast that is now Beyond Standard with it's minimal drum pattern and guitar sound that takes me back to seeing David Lichtenstein playing with Cale in 84, the way they get that buzz off the amps grabs my ears.
Find out more at https://www.dragcity.com/products/prehistory-lp https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068082834911
