Along with Christian Vander (Magma) and Richard Pinhas (Heldon), Gilbert Artman is one of the most important figures of the French music underground from the 70’s. Like Vander, Artman is a jazz formed drummer, while with Pinhas he shares that same philosophy forged in the facts of May ’68 that had so much influence on so many French artists of their generation. Precisely due to the May ’68 revolution, Gilbert quits his job as a decorator to concentrate all his energies into creating music. In 1969, working as a professional musician, he plays with Steve Lacy and Don Cherry. In late 1970 he forms Lard Free, a band that will go through many personnel changes and musical directions mainly due to Artman’s constant research in experimentation and innovation.

Wah Wah Records proudly brings you lavish reissues of the three Lard Free LPs respecting the original artwork’s full 70’s pop art glory and including inserts with liner notes. The pack of reissues is completed by a fourth LP, Unnamed, issued for the first time ever in vinyl format.

The first album bt Lard Free, simply titled Gilbert Artman’s Lard Free, is released in 1973 on the Vamp label. It has been recorded and mixed in April that year, the recording session taking place for only 36 hours in a London studio. But that’s ebough time for the band to showcase the adventurous spirit of Gilbert & Co. There’s drums and sax of jazzy, repetitive inspiration, free-rock guitar licks and an always present AKS synthesizer that produce one of the essential works of Europe’s musical avant-garde on its time.

After this brilliant recorded legacy, Lard Free split in 1978, with Artman dedicating his time to his more “successful” project Urban Sax.

Featuring : Gilbert Artman (drums, piano steinway, vibes), Herve Eyhani (bass guitar, arp synthetizer), Philippe Bolliet (all saxes), Francois Mativet (guitars).