Richard Pinhas
Heldon was a French electronic rock band originally active between 1974 and 1978, and led by guitarist Richard Pinhas. Other members included synthesizer player Patrick Gauthier and drummer François Auger. The name of the band was taken from the 1972 novel The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad.
Influenced by the work of Robert Fripp (and sometimes evoking his work with Brian Eno), the music of Heldon blended electronic and rock forms. The first releases under the name Schizo, and later Heldon, were self-produced and self-distributed. Jim Dorsch from AllMusic would later describe Heldon's seven albums as "groundbreaking."
Pinhas had previously led the band Schizo and also released six albums under his own name. Pinhas has worked with numerous collaborators, including musicians of the band Magma, and music journalist and multi-instrumentalist Hervé Picart. He was also associated with philosophers such as Gilles Deleuze (of whom he was a student). and Jean-François Lyotard, as well as writers such as Norman Spinrad and the essayist and novelist Maurice Dantec. Pinhas completed his PhD in Philosophy from the Paris-Sorbonne University in 1974, teaching for one year and beginning Heldon.
The Pinhas/Heldon catalog was reissued on CD by the label Cuneiform, and later Bureau B.
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