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Es ist fast ein wenig gespenstisch, was sich auf "It"s Always Rock"n"Roll" abspielt. Zwar hat Richard Pinhas nichts von seiner charakteristischen Angriffslust eingebüßt, und auch die aus den ersten beiden Heldon-Alben bekannte sägende Gitarre ist neben den vertrauten Sphärenklängen seiner Synthesizer nach wie vor vorhanden. Doch dazu pulsiert durch dieses Doppelalbum eine düstere Energie, eine fröstelige Aura, die selbst den ruhigsten Stücken eine Art bebende Anspannung verleiht. "Zu diesem Zeitpunkt wollte ich aus Heldon eine düstere Band machen", gesteht Pinhas. "Wobei düster für mich nichts Negatives bedeutet." Es geht ihm auch gar nicht um die Düsternis an sich, sondern darum, das Verborgene zu erforschen und Althergebrachtes zu hinterfragen, unter die glitzernde Oberfläche zu tauchen, um dort Geheimnisvolleres zu entdecken. Was "It"s Always Rock"n"Roll" vielleicht aus dem Repertoire von Heldon heraushebt, ist seine Ausdehnung, sowohl was die Größe der Ideen als auch die Länge der Stücke angeht. Die meisten Tracks sind jedenfalls über sieben Minuten lang, zwei Werke nehmen sogar eine ganze Plattenseite in Beschlag.

Schon bevor Richard Pinhas Anfang der 70er begann, Musik zu machen, war er Fan von King Crimson. Bis heute hat ihn die Musik der britischen Band nicht losgelassen, aber am größten war deren Einfluss sicherlich ganz am Anfang. Auf dem zweiten Heldon-Album "Allez-Teia" wird das besonders deutlich. Es erschien 1975 auf Pinhas" eigenem Label Disjuncta. Der Eröffnungssong, eine schwebende Mischung aus Mellotronklängen und einer verwischten Gitarre, trägt den Titel "In The Wake Of King Fripp". Diese doppelte Anspielung bezieht sich einerseits auf den Bandgitarristen Robert Fripp und andererseits auf "In The Wake Of Poseidon", das zweite King-Crimson-Album. Das meditative "Omar Diop Blondin" mit seinen frei schwebenden Tönen über einer repetitiven Gitarrenfigur ist ausdrücklich Brian Eno und Fripp gewidmet. Ebenfalls großen Einfluss auf Pinhas übte Robert Wyatt von Soft Machine aus. Trotzdem ist "Allez-Teia" kein Tribut-Album. Die Stücke, die Pinhas zusammen mit seinem Partner Georges Grunblatt erarbeitete, erscheinen auf den ersten Blick freudig-schön, tragen jedoch alle eine angespannte Unterströmung in sich. Sie bilden ein Wechselspiel aus federleichter Akustikgitarre, Mellotron-Teppichen, Fuzz-Sounds und schweren, sphärischen Synthesizer-Klängen.

The fifth album, from 1976, originally out on Cobra. 'Intense, violent, bitter, abrasive, uncompromising prefigurations of Industrial and post-rock. It is easy to understand why Merzbow, Wolf Eyes and Oren Ambarchi all wanted to collaborate. Whilst run-of-the-mill comparisons between Heldon/Pinhas and King Crimson/Fripp are hitherto sustainable, Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale explosively busts open new ground.'

After Un Reve, second of the trilogy of LPs recorded at studios Davout during the heyday of punk: 'a guided tour through the ruins of a civilisation'; and an evilous, innovative prophesy of electro, industrial, post-rock and noise.

“An extremely dynamic and creative release — Roadhouse combines acoustic and electronic music with a strong balance to invoke the complexity and confusion of a growing planet earth.” - Delroy Edwards, 2021

“‘Supernatural XS' is more bombastic (than its predacessor, ‘Aladdin Sales’). Imagine if French prog-dogs Heldon grew up on a diet of Hip Hop and high fructose corn syrup, or a mid-point between early Blues Control and Foodman's blissful mutations of Footwork. This Southern Indiana self-identified producer shows no particular allegiance to any lineage and evokes a couple they potentially aren't even privy to. Like Footwork, this music feels new and unique without outwardly attempting to break new ground, or inheriting any technological innovation. While I’m stoked on new music every single goddamn day, Roadhouse makes me particularly excited for the future of creativity, even if the odds are against it. Contemporary "Fusion" at it's best!. Very, very recommended!” - Repressed Records

France's near-revolution of May '68 was the zenith of that generation's struggle for a new kind of life. It kicked the country's small, but vibrant, counter-culture into overdrive, and birthed a local underground music scene. The bands it spawned made music with much less rock purity than groups from the UK and US. Their musical and cultural influences foregrounded improvisation, disjunction, and genre-blending: Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, free jazz, and radical politics. The introduction of the synthesiser in the early 1970s added fuel to the fire.

This collection of French underground music inaugurates a series to accompany "Synths, Sax & Situationists", the first English-language book to investigate this movement. It focuses on the music of the second wave of bands that emerged in 1972/3, which saw radicalised psychedelic and jazz influences merge with the future-music possibilities offered by new technology. The next volume will investigate the politically-charged bands that erupted in immediate aftermath of May '68.

Issued on le Kiosque d'Orphée in 1979, Voyage aux fonds de la Mer is the only LP by Alain Meunier (not to be confused with French classical music cellist of the same name), and is one of the most elusive collector pieces of the 1970s electronic experimental French scene.

This rare sought after album starts with an instrumental guitar introduction but from the second track onwards it becomes a totally electronic experimental psychedelic trip that can be aligned with the most kosmische side of kraut rock, and of course also with other works by French experimentalists of the era like Pascal Comelade's Fluence or Richard Pinhas' production (including Heldon). Guitar comes in now and then showing also a certain Robert Fripp influence.

Instruments used according to the insert sheet that came with the LP are a Korg 800 DV synthesizer, a K.O. Welson Clavinet, effects like a Fender Echo or a Electroharmonix Small Stone phaser and a fuzz pedal, plus Meunier also used a Gibson Les Paul Custom Guitar, a 12 string acoustic Eko guitar and a 6 string Morris guitar.

First ever vinyl reissue. Limited edition to 500 copies only. Remastered sound.

Dieses Album mutet wie eine lange, nach innen gerichtete Reise an und ist wie eine Art Gegenentwurf zu den ausladenden Sci-Fi-Welten und des Prog-Bombas von Heldon; auf "Iceland" finden sich lange, erhabene Stücke neben kurzen, rohen Skizzen. Echogitarren, Rhythmusmaschinen und die verwaschenen Wärme analoger Synthesizer-Klänge erzeugen eine in ihrem Zusammenspiel eine ganz eigentümliche, unterkühlte Atmosphäre.

Pascal Comelade and Richard Pinhas met in Paris in 1974, when Pinhas was beginning to go on stage with his group Heldon. With Heldon and, afterwards, solo, Pinhas became the pioneer and accelerator of electronic music in France, and a fundamental reference throughout the world. Comelade's electronic period was much shorter, from 1974 to 1981. From 1983 on, he developed his policy of instrumental, strictly acoustic music. In 1975, Pinhas recorded the introduction to Comelade's Fluence album. In 1996, Comelade recorded 'Back to schizo' with Pinhas. In 1999, Comelade and Pinhas recorded their first duo album, a CD for the Les disques du soleil et de l'acier label: Oblique Sessions II. In 2012, they released a second CD album for the G3G label in Barcelona, Flip Side of Sophism. In 2018, Comelade again invited Pinhas on his album Le cut-up populaire. During the last few years, they have had several concerts as a duo in Paris (Cité de la musique, La Maroquinerie) and Barcelona (Sónar Festival). They met again in 2020 for this LP album, Le plan de Paris. It contains six titles that were either previously unreleased or completely revisited, developed, remixed.

2023 Restock

Within the elusive confines of this film awaits an unreleased album that defies categorisation by a musician who in a different time and space would be revered amongst some of the most important exponents of progressive rock, dark ambient, Krautrock and pioneering synthesiser composition - not to mention sound design and art-house film scores. As a protégé of François Bayle and Luc Ferrari who had studied classical music before immersing himself in found-sound manipulation and oscillators, Alain Pierre quickly became an enthusiastic go-to man for sound sculpture and technical studio proficiency in Belgium’s small film industry.

To the many generations of dedicated fans of the visual work of Philippe Druillet it might seem virtually impossible to adequately “score” the alien, futurist landscapes of the man who many called the “space architect” (on account of his space age reductions of Gothic cathedrals, Art Nouveau, and Indian temples), but once you have heard the sonic reactions of Alain Pierre on this the first-ever dedicated Druillet documentary, Ô Sidarta, complete with his own equivalent sound palette, it will be difficult to “hear” Druillet’s world via any other composer. Despite Druillet’s truly incredible record sleeve designs for projects like cosmic disco ensemble Black Sun, concept albums such as Attention by Jean-Pierre Mirouze (composer of Le Mariage Collectif), Parisian metal bands like Sortilège, gatefold portraits of Jimi Hendrix, later period albums by William Sheller and most relevantly on albums by Igor Wakhévitch (Docteur Faust, 1971) as well as separate releases by both Richard Pinhas and Georges Grünblatt (both from the cosmic prog outfit Heldon), it is fair to say that this criminally unreleased album by Alain Pierre would conjure up the closest synergy between sound and vision that either artist would come close to.

The almost twelve of continuous music that Alain Pierre supplied for Ô Sidarta in 1974 fortunately appears in its entirety, unedited, as it does here for the first time ever away from its original broadcasts. Broadcast on Belgian and French TV that autumn, the film received a warm reception from Druillet fans, prospective film producers and space rock fans lucky enough to catch the short feature.

Throughout his career Alain’s commitment to conceptual music excelled within both cinematic realms as well as with the live arena. Never shying away from the constraints of transporting heavy synthesiser technolog and unpredictable analogue equipment to public spaces, Alain took his self-initiated “live” work very seriously. It was within his lesser-documented performances that you would find the closest sound to the music on Ô Sidarta, proving that the Druillet collaboration was naturalistic and conceptually close to Alain’s personal stylistic agenda. A rare recording of a one-off concert at the Université libre de Bruxelles in October 1976 reveals a very similar set of movements and soundscapes found on Ô Sidarta. This rare artefact has been included on the second side of this record under its original title Notions de physique intérieure (Notions Of Interior Physics) and stands as a perfect companion piece to Ô Sidarta - complete with a very similar “kit list” including the welcome addition of an Arp Sequencer, a Korg Vocoder and a Theremin (a back line whose total would far surpass any stationary studio of the era never mind a live show!).

By looking back at his original composition for one of his very first solo soundtrack commissions, Ô Sidarta, you can hear that back in 1974 Alain had already successfully managed to combine more unlikely musical influences, experimental techniques, and previously unheard soundscapes and studio tricks in to one twelve-minute score than most musicians fail to cram in to a whole discography. But still there is so much music yet to be discovered and Ô Sidarta is just the tip of the iceberg in the middle of a cosmic sea. Much like a character from one of Philippe Druillet’s books, Alain Pierre is a rogue pilot, steering his own ship in to the unknown, uncharted, unnoticed and quite unbelievable.

Originally released in 1979, Iceland is Richard Pinhas' third solo album and his first following the breakup of Heldon. While moving away from the maximalism of his old band, paring down Heldon's hybrid of otherworldly sci-fi imagery and pummeling psych-prog riffs, the journey through Iceland is decidedly more inward.

Consisting of longer, brooding synth-based pieces as well as short proto-industrial études and interstitial sketches, Iceland features Pinhas' delay-ridden electric guitar, pulsating machine rhythms and analog synthesizer washes - all vivid in texture and timbre, notwithstanding an undeniably chilling ambience.

This first-time vinyl reissue includes "Wintermusic," an immersive 25-minute bonus track recorded in 1983 and appearing here on vinyl for the first time. Pinhas' excursions channel the season's stillness and sublimity, its majesty and its threat. Without a doubt, one his finest moments.

Recommended for fans of Cluster, Mica Levi and Fripp & Eno.

Under the alias of Zanov we find the works of French electronic pioneer Pierre Salkazanov, who had started playing guitar in the 1960s in a Shadows styled band, Les Ambassadors. Instrumental rock was not enough for Salkazanov, he was always looking for evolution, so when a meeting with French synth player Serge Ramses (of "Secret" fame) got him into the world of synthesizers he just dived deep into the bourgeoning world of electronic music. He got himself his first syths and started producing works into a 4-track Teac tape machine. French music was at its best, it was the time of Jean Michel Jarre, Didier Bocquet, Richard Pinhas and Heldon, Alain Meunier... Even Gong's Tim Blake was living in France at that time. And so Zanov soon caught the attention of Polydor, who released Green Ray in 1976. It is a work made with minimal equipment if compared to other French sythetists, not to mention their German peers, he worked on the EMS VCS3 synth and used a 4-track Teac and a Revox A77 Mk IV reel to reel tape recorders obtaining huge sound results. You can appreciate an influence from the Berlin school, Green Ray walks the same path of what artists like Tangerine Dream and the likes were producing at the time, Zanov had felt under the spell of Ricochet, but his head was boiling with ideas which gave the recordings a very personal, unique touch.

Zanov's three albums met with unanimous critical acclaim for the sound quality as well as for the originality of this very personal universe.

Under the alias of Zanov we find the works of French electronic pioneer Pierre Salkazanov, who had started playing guitar in the 1960s in a Shadows styled band, Les Ambassadors. Instrumental rock was not enough for Salkazanov, he was always looking for evolution, so when a meeting with French synth player Serge Ramses (of "Secret" fame) got him into the world of synthesizers he just dived deep into the bourgeoning world of electronic music. He got himself an EMS VCS3 and started producing works into a 4-track Teac tape machine. French music was at its best, it was the time of Jean Michel Jarre, Didier Bocquet, Richard Pinhas and Heldon, Alain Meunier... Even Gong's Tim Blake was living in France at that time. By the time of his second LP, Moebius 256 301, issued also on Polydor in 1977, Zanov had already gathered a small collection of gear, including an ARP 2600 and an ARP sequencer, his old VCS3, an RMI Harmonic and a PS 3300. Again under the influence of both first and second generation of Berlin school musicians the LP will appeal to fans of Klaus Schulze or Tangerine Dream, but they will also find a big deal of Zanov's own personal sound on it, since as the musician himself reckons he had little contact with other peers of his generation, so besides a general love for the electronic gear used and the sounds you could make out of them the creative ideas behind his works were all his own. On his second album a richer sound is found, not only due to the use of the new gear, since some of its tracks where recorded using only his old EMS, but also due to his won experience after having taken his works to the life stages in the Golf Drouot boite, the Lase Olympia venue (on the basement of the famous Olympia), the Paris Planetarium or those for planned one month tour (of which in the end only four dates were accomplished).

Zanov's three albums met with unanimous critical acclaim for the sound quality as well as for the originality of this very personal universe.