A few months ago a private record collector invited me to his house down in the OC to hang out, listen to records, and buy a couple LPs from him. I spent the better part of a day there, mostly just scanning his shelves for titles I didn’t recognize and looking them up on the web to see if I needed to own them. The whole time he was in the other room cueing up different records that he thought might blow my mind. The first two were by far the most far-out of the bunch: Brast Burn’s “Debon” and Karuna Khyal’s “Alomoni”. The third record he played was Lard Free’s “I’m Around About Midnight.” Not as jaw-dropping as the other two (in the ongoing battle between Japan psych versus French prog the Japanese normally win) but still really cool.
Lard Free was masterminded by Richard Pinhas (of Heldon fame) and “I’m Around About Midnight” was the band’s second album. It saw Pinhas (along with Gilbert Artman on piano/drums/sax and Alan Audat & Antoine Duvernot on sax) drawing more influence from their German progressive peers. I can definitely hear a bit of Faust at different points during some of these songs. Maybe it’s just the Pinhas connection, but it’s also reminiscent of Heldon’s second album but a bit more percussive? There’s also a good amount of synth for all you Schulze/Tangerine Dream fans. “I’m Around About Midnight” is simply a solid record from start-to-finish. I’d put it up there with some of Heldon’s best recordings, and it’s kind of awesome because how many bands other than Lard Free did France produce that pretty much played German Krautrock? I can’t think of any, can you!? Name ’em!
Lard Free
I’m Around About Midnight
Vamp, 1975
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01. Violez L’espace de son Refrigerant
02. In A Desert-Alambic
03. Does East Bakestan Belong To Itself
04. Tatkooz A Roulette
05. Pale Violence Under A Reverbre
06. Even Silence Stops When Trains Come
