Heldon

{{Short description|French band}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Heldon

| image =

| caption =

| image_size =

| landscape =

| background = group_or_band

| origin = France

| genre = {{flatlist|

• Electronic rock{{cite web |last1=Walcroft |first1=Justin |title=The Way Forward: An Interview With Electronic Music Pioneer Richard Pinhas |url=https://sr-mag.com/2019/05/richard-pinhas-interview/ |website=SR-Mag |accessdate=14 August 2019}}
• experimental rock{{cite web |last1=Mitchell |first1=Tony |title=Richard Pinhas: Electronique Guerilla – A Profile by Tony Mitchell |url=https://www.cyclicdefrost.com/2015/11/richard-pinhas-electronique-guerilla-a-profile-by-tony-mitchell/ |website=Cyclic Defrost |date=9 November 2015 |accessdate=14 August 2019}}
• progressive{{cite web |title=Album Reviews |url=https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/album-reviews/Content?oid=21140778 |website=The Stranger |accessdate=14 August 2019}}

}}

| years_active = 1974–1978, 2001

| label = {{flatlist|

• Cuneiform
• Bureau B

}}

| associated_acts = {{flatlist|

• Schizo
• Magma

}}

| website =

| current_members =

| past_members = Richard Pinhas
Patrick Gauthier
François Auger
Didier Batard
Georges Grunblatt
Philibert Rossi
Jannick Top
Michel Ettori

}}

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.{{cite web|title=HELDON|url=http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1302|publisher=Prog Archives|accessdate=7 November 2015}} The name of the band was taken from the 1972 novel The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad.{{cite web|last1=Keenan|first1=David|title=Reality Is For People Who Can't Handle Science Fiction: Gallic Futurism in the French Underground 1969-1985|url=http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/10/gallic-futurism-in-the-french-underground|publisher=Red Bull Music Academy|accessdate=7 November 2015|date=October 28, 2015}}

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.[http://www.allmusic.com/artist/richard-pinhas-mn0000852487/biography Richard Pinhas | Biography]. AllMusic. Retrieved on 2014-04-24. Jim Dorsch from AllMusic would later describe Heldon's seven albums as "groundbreaking."{{cite web |last1=Dorsch |first1=Jim |title=Biography |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/heldon-mn0000567183 |website=AllMusic |accessdate=14 August 2019}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/2508881-Ose|title = Ose|website = Discogs}} He was also associated with philosophers such as Gilles Deleuze (of whom he was a student).{{Cite news

| last = Masters

| first = Mark

| title = Richard Pinhas on lessons learned during a lifetime making experimental music

| work = The Washington Post

| accessdate = 2014-05-31

| date = 2014-05-29

| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/richard-pinhas-on-lessons-learned-during-a-lifetime-making-experimental-music/2014/05/29/835f1edc-e5ac-11e3-a86b-362fd5443d19_story.html

}} 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.