Heldon - Stand By (1979)

Take a whole bunch of Fripp-style guitar circa the Starless and Bible Black album, mix it with electronic, near-industrial soundscapes, and you have Stand By. This is pretty alien stuff. Basically each piece relies on spacy, sci-fi analog keyboards that alternate between monolithic repetition of patterns, and eerie echoes, screeches, and skronks. The guitar accompaniment is either "Fracture"-like creepy-crawly tension/structure, or "Starless and Bible Black" style howling chaos. Drums are somewhat intermittent; sometimes a martial aggressive drum beat drives things into semi-industrial mode, and other times the drums are nearly non-existent, letting the keyboards and guitars drift off into outer space.

The textures here are pretty intriguing. The guitars have a grainy, crunchy, jagged sound that suits the style well. The keyboards all have a cold, echo-y, overly electronic sound to them (as opposed to mimicking a natural sound); they always remind me of the soundtrack to a science fiction movie from the 70s. Maybe the music would fit with "Black Hole" or "Tron" or something like that...

The good thing is that Heldon can capture that KC/Fripp guitar pretty well; the downside is that it will never compare to the splendor of the real thing (for me, anyway). However, Heldon is no KC rip-off; they just take an element of that style, and apply it to something new.

King Crimson fans might like this, as well as anybody that enjoys the electronic side of prog. This might even appeal to those that also enjoy modern trance, techno, and industrial music. Also, some Magma members are present as well! All in all, Stand By is a very interesting CD. It is worth checking out if you want to feast your ears on something different. (source)

chronique en français qui dit à peu près la même chose, à croire qu'ils se sont donnés le mot. C'est vrai que le premier morceau prend bien la kiche. Et dire que je pouvais écouter ça en boucle quand c'est sorti. Ca n'excuse pas tout, mais ça explique beaucoup.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HIC4IMRN