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 third and last Lard Free LP is released in 1977 on the Cobra label simply titled “Lard Free”, recorded in two different studios between January and March that same year. Besides some new musicians, another step forward in Artman’s constant evolution is the use of the recording studio as an additional instrument that offers a whole lot of possibilities to creative expansion. The results are amazing : under an apparently lineal structure there’s thousands of sound brushtrokes that feed themselves back to create a strange and provocative post-industrial picture.

Gilbert Artman (orgue, piano, arp synthetiseur, vibraphone, drums premier), Xavier Baulleret (guitares), Yves Lanes (synthy-ems), Jean-Pierre Thiraut (clarinette).