Pinhas, Richard

L'Ethique

Label: Cuneiform Country: USA

"L'Ethique was Richard's fifth solo album, originally released in 1982. It was his final solo album before his musical retirement throughout the 1980s and it's one of his great 'classic period' works. It's also the only studio recording by the short-lived Richard Pinhas Band. This group featured a great cast of musicians who had all previously played in Magma: Clement Bailly (drums), Patrick Gauthier (synthesizer) (also of Heldon and Weidorje), Bernard Paganotti (bass) (also of Weidorje) and Richard on electronics, synthesizers and guitar.

L'Ethique has been unavailable on CD for several years and with the huge interest in analog electronics and the early days of synthesis, Richard's career in general and the music of Magma, there is a big potential market for this release.

Richard Pinhas has been at the forefront of new rock music in France since the early 1970's, when he founded the band Heldon. Heldon was one of the first bands to meld rock music and electronics, releasing a number of 'classic' albums during the 1970's. He was one of the first artists to fuse electronics and rock to create a pioneering, aggressive music that was a precursor to the industrial music and techno to come.

Heldon released seven groundbreaking, critically acclaimed albums between 1974 and 1979. In addition to his Heldon work, Pinhas released five solo albums between 1976 and 1982. All of the Heldon and Pinhas recordings from this period have been reissued by Cuneiform in a major Heldon/Pinhas CD reissue project that the label began in 1991. The reissues spotlight Heldon's significance as a forerunner of industrial music and verified Pinhas' role in rock's vanguard. The Wire noted that a 1976 Heldon recording "drew parallels with Throbbing Gristle," and that later works were "further step[s] into the industrial darkness," stating that "Heldon's music has always been shot through with an undercurrent of violence, a kind of glacial, metallic implacability, which gradually became more overt." Critics lauded these 30-year old recordings, remarking that Heldon's "trailblazing electronic pathways have rarely been eclipsed even today" (i/e).

Richard has long been recognized as a pivotal figure in the development of electronic rock music. His stature in France is roughly analogous to that of Tangerine Dream in Germany: the father figure of an entire musical movement.

Richard remains active performing both as a solo artist and collaborating with such contemporary cutting-edge artists are Wolf Eyes and Merzbow. He continues to perform all over the world at various festivals."-Cuneiform Records