Bernard Szajner: Visions of Dune

A very welcome re-issue of the album Visions of Dune by Zed a, very much a forgotten classic of French
electronic music of the late 1970s.

Zed was an alias used by  electronic music pioneer Bernard Szajner, who amongst other things was one of the inventors of the iconic laser harp instrument, popularised by Jean Michel Jarre.

Visions of Dune was released in 1979, a work inspired by the science fiction work of Frank Herbert. It remains a genuinely strange and richly other-worldly work,

It's a more abstract work that much contemporary electronic music, less aimed at the dance floor and more targetted at the darkened room and intense listening experience.

It's east to understand why the album is something of a holy grail for vintage analogue synth fans.

The new release of the album comes out on InFine Music next month, and features two bonus tracks that were recorded at the time of the original album.

Szajner wasn't the only French musician of that era fascinated by Frank Herbert's Dune, with Richard Pinhas, of Heldon a band that were very much at the intersection of science fiction and progressive rock, looked to it for his solo 1978 Chronolyse album.

The re-issue of Visions of Dune is a timely one, as it coincides with the release of the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, a documentary about the poroposed film of the Dune book in the 1970s by visionary French/Chilean director Alexander Jodorowsky.

The unmade 18-hour long film  would have starred David Carradine, Orson Wells, Salvador Dali and Mick Jagger.

While much work was done in pre-production, it never made the screen. However, members of  the production team would later work on films like Star Wars and Alien where some of the ideas that were originally intended for Dune found a new home.

The music for the un-made Dune film would have been by Pink Floyd and Magma. That would certainly have been an interesting prospect.

Magma vocalist Klaus Blasquiz contributes some processed vocals to that track Ibad on Visions of Dune, as well as having designed the sleeve.

Perhaps this album should itself be seen along with the other better known artifacts created in the wake of one of cinema's most ambitious failed projects.

Richard Pinhas and Etienne Jaumet: Vents Solaires EP

A new EP has emerged featuring the combined talents of Richard Pinhas and Etienne Jaumet.

Pinhas has been a legend in the underground music scene since the 1970s, with a long solo career and groundbreaking work with the electronic progressive band Heldon.

He's also collaborated with some very interesting musicians over the years, including the likes of Merzbow.

Jaumet was previously a member of French electronic act Zombie Zombie, who I've featured previously on this blog over the years.

Pinhas has always been a pioneer exploring the area where electronics and guitar meet, at times complimenting each other, at other times confronting.

There are few artists who have maintained a position at the forefront for so many years as Pinhas has. This new release shows he has lost none of his experimental edge.

The new release came out on December 9 on Versatile records

Rétro: THX - Telstar (Richard Pinhas)

A track today by THX, a pseudonym used by Richard Pinhas for this single, a cover of 60s instrumental Telstar.

It sounds to me like what the Joe Meek instrumental - performed originally by the Tornados - from 1962 would sound like if it was beamed into space on the communication satellite of the same name, and a group of aliens heard it and sent their own version back to earth.

It's a more commercial proposition than much of Pinhas's other work, and could easily be enjoyed by those with no knowledge of his more progressive and experimental work.

It was released in 1978, a fertile time for Pinhas, the same year as his Chronolyse solo album and betweeh Heldon's interface (1977) and Stand By (1979)

Telstar was a space rock tune well before the term had any currency in the hands of bands like Hawkwind, Meek - an early pioneer of the possibilities of the recording studio - consciously attempting to make a record incorporating sound effects to evoke a space-like sound. It was the first single by a British act to get to number one in the USA.

Meek was subject to a plagiarism claim from French composer Jean Ledrut who claimed that the tune had been copied from a piece from the 1960 film Austerlitz. The claim was resolved in Meek's favour, although the judgement came after his death.

Of course, the French connection with Telstar runs deeper, with the actual Telstar satellite, which was launched in 1962, carrying TV pictures across the Atlantic from the USA to Pleumeur-Bodou in Brittany.

The THX track is available on the Japanese CD Richard Pinhas: Single Collection 1972-1980 on the Captain Trips label.

I'll have on Richard Pinhas on the website very soon.

Rétro: Heldon - Le Voyageur

Heldon were an extraordinary act, a progressive rock band from the 1970s whose music embraced ideas of philosophy, science fiction and radical politics to an alien soundtrack influenced by experimental electronics and the guitar explorations of King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.

The band made a powerful sound, quite unlike others that were using synths in that period, their aggressive and dark style mixing earthy guitar with a strange and unearthly electronics, predating and influencing much of the industrial and electronic music genre that emerged at the end of the 70s and in the 80s.

The band centred on guitarist Richard Pinhas, who was a student working for a Philosophy Phd in Paris in '68 where he became influenced by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. This track Le Voyageur sees the band collaborating with Deleuze, reciting work by Nietzsche.

The track was originally released as a seven inch single in 1970 under the name Schizo, the band's original name, and given away free. A version also appeared on their debut album, 1974's Electronique Guérilla with the title Ouais Marchais mieux qu'en 68

There would be seven albums released under the Heldon name in the 70s, Allez Teia in '74, It's Always Rock 'n' Roll in 75, Agneta Nilsson in '76, Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale in '76, Interface in '77 and the final being 1979's Stand By, which featured the extraordinary 22 minute Bolero suite.

Pinhas would also release two solo albums (Rhizosphère in '77 and Chronlyse in '78) before the final Heldon album. Subsequent releases would come out under his name, and his solo material is no less interesting than his Heldon releases.Personal favourites are 1980's Iceland and 1992's DWW. The Heldon name was resurrected for 2001's Only Chaos is Real.

Pinhas remains active, recent work includes material released under the Schizotrope name that saw him working with cyber-punk author Maurice Dantec and more recent collaborations with Japan's Merzbow. He has also continued to release solo works - most recently Metal/Crystal released in autumn 2010, and he continues to perform live with North American dates scheduled for May 2011.