Richard Pinhas

French guitarist Richard Pinhas led the group Heldon from 1974-78, releasing seven albums with that group and six solo LPs, often featuring members of Heldon. Born in 1951, Pinhas earned a Ph.D. in philosophy at the Sorbonne and taught at that school. In 1972 he became a part of Schizo, a group whose music contained a great deal of electronics. After Schizo's demise, Pinhas formed Heldon, whose only constant was himself. Pinhas' solo work covered a lot of ground. His first solo LP, Rhizosphere, was performed entirely on synthesizers, except for drums on the side-long title track. Chronolyse ranges from simple sequencer pieces to Paul Atreides, a 30-minute piece performed by Heldon. The Iceland LP successfully captures the feel of an ancient, frozen land. East-West was Pinhas' most commercial work. L'Ethique, was a varied work with a more structured feel than some of his previous efforts. Pinhas retired from music until releasing DWW, which contained work from the period 1983-91. Pinhas released Cyborg Sally with John Livengood in 1994. Subsequent recordings include 1999's Fossil Culture and the following year's Schizotrope: The Life and Death of Marie Zorn. An album crafted from over 70 hours of guitar playing was put together over the next few years and was finally edited and released as Event and Repetitions in 2002.