Akousmata - Preorder

 

"Akousmata" : CD Special Edition

 

 Preorder: link

 

We've entered the age of dematerialization, the age of digital streams and files, occupying a few bytes on our hard disks or a little bandwidth in the network pipes.

Books, like music, have taken this turn.

But against this dominant trend, there are pockets of resistance that are giving pride of place to the material object, thanks to the know-how of artists and craftsmen, be they book publishers or music labels.

Just as a beautiful printed edition, on fine paper, in a fine format, with beautiful typography and binding, offers incomparable added value compared to a text read on the screen of a reading device, so a musical work in the form of a CD in unconventional packaging offers a specific experience and pleasure for the music lover. The limited editions of CDs, LPs or cassettes offered by independent labels are above all beautiful objects, where the materiality of the paper and cardboard, the originality of the packaging and the sophistication of the design bring an additional aesthetic pleasure.

Hand-crafted limited editions, where the music and its material envelope are inseparable, these CDs or vinyls are precious, personalized collectors' items, artisanal and artistic, which stand out from the mass production of cultural content.

They offer an unprecedented global, visual, tactile and affective experience when listening to music.

In a nutshell...

 

COMING SOON ON "DRIFTWORKS": AKOUSMATA

 

Meditative Music for Hectic Times...

 

Can you tell us about the Akousmata concept?

In my “real life”, I'm a classicist working on Greco-Roman antiquity. I've always been fascinated by this form of transmission of knowledge and wisdom, which didn't involve writing, but was transmitted orally, by word of mouth, from master to disciple. It was esoteric knowledge, reserved for the initiated, and accessed after various initiation rituals. The Pythagoreans, the Orphics, but also the philosophical schools of Plato and Aristotle, and later the Neoplatonists, were all familiar with this mode of transmission... But the same initiation practices can be found in Tibetan Buddhism, in the yogi traditions of the Himalayas, and in Taoism too.

I wanted to set this sacred, ritualized universe to music, oscillating between the words of the spiritual masters and the silence of the disciples, creating a harmony that goes beyond language.

 

My track "First Dawn" on this week Hearts of Space program!

 

French ambient and electronic music from the 1970s to now 

 

The story of French electronic music over the last hundred years is one of artistic and technical innovations that changed the course of contemporary music.

The late 19th century stylistic inventions of GABRIEL FAURÉ, MAURICE RAVEL, and CLAUDE DEBUSSY led to the emergence of Impressionism and Minimalism in the 20th century—while the revolutionary innovations of ERIK SATIE laid the foundation for ambient background music and personal music for solo piano.

At the same time, the invention of playable French electronic instruments like the "Ondes Martenot" in 1928, accelerated the arrival of live electronic performance, and the French brilliance in style and design produced exceptionally refined sonic and textural quality in recordings after mid-century.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a look at French ambient and electronic music from the 1970s to now, on a program called "AMBIANCE FRANÇAIS."

 

 

Link 

Coming Soon. AKOUSMATA

Driftworks next release is a more experimental album that explores the art of 'exciting' acoustic spaces with the sounds of prepared piano, electronics and voices. Akousmata by Christian Wittman, invites listeners to lose themselves in architectures and dimensions where voices and harmonies, ritual bells and gongs slowly fade into silence.

 Special Edition Cdr

Limited Edition Cdr

Digital

Pre-orders - 5th April 2025

Release day - 11th April 2025

 

Link

Cités Analogues. Review on Creatika Music Magazine.

 

 

Creatika Music. 

Electronic Neoclassical New AGe World Ambient 

Link

 

The French duo Lightwave, composed of Christoph Harbonnier and Christian Wittman, has left an indelible mark on electronic and ambient music since its formation in 1984. Their album Cités Analogues, originally released in 1988, has been reissued on January 10, 2025 by Bureau B. This album is a masterpiece of kosmische and concrète, combining elements of analog synthesizers and location recordings to create expansive, dreamlike soundscapes.

Lightwave has explored diverse musical styles throughout his career, from his early experiments in Modular Experiments (1987) to collaborations with artists such as Hector Zazou, Michel Redolfi, and Paul Haslinger. Their focus on concrete and ambient music has led them to create works that evoke poetic and sensual worlds. The album Cités Analogues is a sonic journey that invites listeners to immerse themselves in their complex and beautiful compositions.

Cités Analogues: Review by Paul Simpson

 

 

Review on ALL MUSIC

 

Cités Analogues Review by Paul Simpson

During the '90s, French electronic outfit Lightwave worked with Hector Zazou several times, and former Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger joined the group. 

 Cités Analogues, however, was one of Lightwave's early cassette releases, recorded soon after their core lineup of Christoph Harbonnier and Christian Wittman was established. Recorded and mixed live in the studio, then produced and edited soon afterward, the effort was made using modular synthesizers, Roland sequencers, and digital effects. 

Subsequent Lightwave efforts ventured into neo-classical territory, and with some of them appearing on Hearts of Space sublabel Fathom, they might've been found in the new age section at record stores.

 This recording is a bit too dark, cold, and collage-like to fit in such a category. The bustling sounds of a crowded airport are heard near the beginning of the album, segueing into radio airwave noises and trickling analog synths. "Le Parvis" establishes a sinister groove, with sneaking electronic drums and synth playing approximating wild flute trills. Another passage of sampled crowd noise segues into "Agora," an extended, ambient reflection that feels like an escape from society in order to seek a tranquil, meditative space. Following a few brief pieces consisting of uneasy, haunted textures and more found sounds, "Cités Analogues" makes greater use of the duo's sequencers and drum machines, recalling Tangerine Dream's rhythmic side while foreshadowing the type of cerebral ambient techno that would be much more common five years later, and adding a bit of analog crunch. 

Lightwave would go on to do bigger, more ambitious, and more accomplished things, but Cités Analogues is a set of promising early steps containing some innovative moments which sound slightly ahead of their time.

 

BLUESKY

 

It is no more possible to stay on "X"... Too much disinformation and conspirationism, and unacceptable political ideas (at least for me). 

You can follow me on Bluesky if you wish...

@cwittman-lightwave.bsky.social

COMPOSING MUSIC / WRITING TEXTS

 

Like many musicians of my generation, I experienced recording on analog tape, then on digital media, in stereo or multitrack. For the solo musician or band recording live, this meant a particular involvement in the session, and often the need to redo a track or the whole recording in the event of error or dissatisfaction.

Perhaps there was a sense of urgency among us, a desire to give our best and to surpass ourselves, in the very moment of recording and playing the instrument, individually or collectively.

Recording direct to disk, on a computer, with a multi-track DAW, has profoundly altered the process... Cubase, Logic Audio, Live and others have made it possible, especially for purely electronic music, to work in the home studio. The correction and editing of a recorded track, note by note, copy/paste operations, even remixes and metamorphoses of a track, from one project to another, have profoundly reconfigured the work of musical composition and its temporality.

The gains are obvious. But perhaps we've also lost the magic of a certain spontaneity and those “moments of grace” that every musician has experienced, whether solo or in a group, when something inexplicable happens and the first take is the right one. That's what makes the magic of live performance, whether it's a concert or a studio session.

In my experience with Lightwave, and my accomplices Christoph Harbonnier, Jacques Derégnaucourt, Renaud Pion and Paul Haslinger, we've known those magical moments, recorded on Revox tape or DAT cassette, where collective improvisation was accompanied by a live mix, where everyone controlled their levels and playing to better blend into the common sound flow.

Today, working with the infinite possibilities of computers and direct-to-disk recording, I feel like an assembler, retouching and adding one thing after another to arrive at a composition built step by step.

I see a parallel with the evolution of writing instruments. For a long time, I used a typewriter, first mechanical, then electric. You had to write a draft, sometimes several drafts, before typing the text. Corrections were complicated, requiring cut-outs, collages and ribbons of “tipex corrector”. The only way to type was to have a very precise idea of what you wanted to write, and usually a draft to reproduce, with changes in the margins.

Word processing on the computer has changed all that. Immediate correction and editing capabilities have made drafts obsolete. The computer has made the writing process more fluid and instinctive, perhaps at the cost of a step backwards in the process of thinking about and fine-tuning texts.

Projects...

 

Dear friends, 

 

Some news about my musical projects...

 

I have two albums scheduled for release between the beginning of April and the beginning of May.

 

The first, "Akousmata", will be released on Driftworks, the web label created by my friend Andrew Heath, as a CD in two limited editions, and as a digital download.

 

The second, "Views of Mind", has been accepted by Paul at Shimmering Moods Records, again with a limited-edition CD release. 

 

A third album project, "The Northwest Passage", is nearing completion and has been accepted by a no less prestigious label for release in late 2025 or early 2026. 

 

Entrusting my music to specialized labels, driven by a true artistic vision, with their network of contacts and fans, is a way for an independent musician like me to widen the circulation of my music, to make it live and breathe, to make it resonate with that of the artists featured on these labels: whoever is alike comes together, in the plural of sensibilities and inspirations, musical skills and personal histories...

I am infinitely grateful to these courageous label managers, guided by their love of music and their artistic vision, against all odds.

 

At the same time, I'll be continuing to add new musical projects to my Bandcamp page.

 

I've got several on the go.

 

I'm determined to pursue my path, my vision and the logic of my creative journey.

 

I will not bend to the injunctions of the guardians of the temple of well-tempered ambient who dismiss my music from playlists because it's too much of this, and not enough of that.

 

I'm trying, at my modest level, to chart a course for a musician of integrity and without compromise.

 

The recognition of a small circle of connoisseurs is more important to me than the statistics of Spotify's algorithmic circus, where my tracks are lost in the flux of fast listening...

 

Last but not least: deep thanks to all the podcasts and radio programmers, blogs and magazines reviewers who support my creative journey... You are so precious!

CASSIOPEIA IS RELEASED ON ALL PLATFORMS!

 

"This is one of his finest albums to date, possessing more of an exploratory nature, a cutting edge and a seriously early seventies electronic pioneering approach to the tracks, but still being cosmic electronic music of the highest order." (Andy G. / Inkeys)

 

https://open.spotify.com/int.../album/1a2wCoCWQlB6mZW6xwNh8o

GIVE AWAY: FREE DOWNLOAD CODES FOR "OURANOPOLIS"

As a thank you to my fans, and to allow new visitors to my blog to discover my music, I'll be offering download codes for some of my past albums from time to time.

If the first codes have already been used, don't hesitate to try the next ones!

Today, I invite you to discover Ouranopolis!

If you'd like to support me on my journey as an independent musician, I'd like to remind you that you can purchase my entire discography (67 albums) at an 80% discount, i.e. 63 € 80 (less than one euro per album!).  Link: https://christianwittman.bandcamp.com

fss3-7bm7
544w-vhk5
bes4-65gf
a74h-gfrm
rmsh-3qh6
arjs-czpy
k73a-5lws
u5xg-7edd
x8ey-57wc
4z7n-75lw
435x-jfps

cx6j-kp7d
c4zr-gnph
cc2a-3m75
shlg-h6af
p4sy-5gua

To download here:   https://christianwittman.bandcamp.com/yum

 

 

 

CASSIOPEIA: REVIEW BY INKEYS (ANDY GARIBALDI)

CHRISTIAN WITTMAN – Cassiopeia Album

 

Link

 

"Brand new album from the French cosmic music pioneer, this time with 11 tracks between 5 and 7 minutes long, all of which are their own unique universes of sound. It starts with “Stellar Eternity” that hearkens back to what Tangerine Dream were doing on albums such as “Zeit” and the quieter passages of “Alpha Centauri”, possessing a remarkable analogue feel and takes you right back to the early seventies German synth explorers, a superb opener that sets the mood.

 

 “Tycho Brahe's Supernova” continues from there with a more top end brew of floating cloud music, this time less overtly “deep” at the bass end, with more of a shimmer to its higher register electronic excursions through the universe, slowly unfolding like some emerging galaxy in slow motion. “Schedar” is, if anything, slightly more minimalist, with a much more unnerving feel to its pastoral pleasures, as you stare into the blackness through slowly moving layers of synths. “Open Cluster” is initially more in your face with blasts of sound before settling back into a continuously shifting, eerie electronic realm that is now almost totally devoid of light and I wouldn't want to listen to this one in the dark. 

 

By contrast, “Northern Sky” adds extra layers courtesy of a strange sea of piano ripples set to what sounds like piano strings being struck and the whole track is veering close to avant-classical. “Radio Source” is string-like cosmic electronic that hearkens back to the Germanic, harsh and bleak yet strangely serene and addictive, while “Cosmic Dust” goes through a variety of textures and soundpools as it travels, more vibrant now, with almost percussive bursts of background, but still the sound of the universe unfolding in all its electronic glory.

 

With four further excellent and similar tracks to surprise and delight, this is one of his finest to date, possessing more of an exploratory nature, a cutting edge and a seriously early seventies electronic pioneering approach to the tracks, but still being cosmic electronic music of the highest order."

 

Andy G.

 

Lightwave Interview in Beyond the Horizon (Fall 1995)

 

Abstraction, Minimalism, Experimentation

Is the music I create determined by the music I like to listen to, as well as by the shape of my mind, everything I've written, thought and imagined over the course of my life?

Yes, without a doubt...

I feel drawn towards abstraction, minimalism, experimentation, and a form of free writing that could be expressed in visuals, words and sounds alike...

I try to follow threads of thought, uncontrolled, open, following the bifucations of certainty and risk-taking...

Intuition, making decisions in the moment, is what allows me to choose a path among others at the crossroads...

To create, to immerse oneself in creation, is in a way to accept losing control...

My music follows a thread that excludes multiple possibilities in order to get to the heart of an idea, a concept...

I don't like to follow the paths traced by others...

I want to draw my own roadmap, against all odds...

Those who love me, follow me...

A LIGHTWAVE INTERVIEW (1996)

I am currently exploring the archive of my musical activity through the years, and LIGHTWAVE, of course, is a major part of it.

 I will post in my blog a few documents belonging to this history....

 French or English language... Italian perhaps too...

 Music without frontiers!

    

 

 

 

 

CASSIOPEIA (SPACE MUSIC RELEASE)

 

BANDCAMP 

 

Cassiopeia is a celestial constellation visible from the northern hemisphere, named after an Ethiopian queen from Greek mythology, who was the mother of Andromeda, another neighboring constellation.

Between large stars and nebulae, supernova and Milky Way, this celestial region inspired this new space music project, under the sign of fluidity and expansion, meditative contemplation and cosmological curiosity.

On this album, I use a renewed sound palette, reviving the organic experimentation of analog and modular synthesizers, in a spirit that would like to situate itself in the continuity of the abstract soundscapes of early Tangerine Dream.

"Par vents et marées" Review

Review par Ly Luan pour Houz-Motic Magazine

Lien

 

 

Andrew Heath et Christian Wittman nous plongent dans un voyage sonore immersif et organique. Paru le 25 octobre 2024, Par vents et mar​é​es célèbre l’alchimie terre mer

Andrew Heath et Christian Wittman s’inspirent d’un motif de piano, d’un chatoiement électronique ou d’un son trouvé et traité… Leur musique dérive en créant de nouvelles cartes. Cette collaboration immersive est une exploration musicale des thèmes des grandes marées, qui montent et descendent, et des courants d’air qui circulent entre les terres et les mers. Paysagiste sonore et compositeur, Andrew Heath produit une musique calme, ambiante, basée sur le piano, l’électronique et le Field Recording. Christian Wittman est l’un des membres fondateurs du groupe français Lightwave qui, depuis les années 80, trace un chemin créatif unique dans le domaine des musiques électroniques, au croisement de la musique ambiante et du « classique atmosphérique », avec un fort accent sur le design sonore et les climats. Leur rencontre est sublimée avec cet album, découvrez Par vents et mar​é​es…

 

 

 

« J’aime les sons qui évoluent d’une manière que je ne peux pas toujours contrôler, je recherche la juxtaposition aléatoire de petits bruits et je les oppose à des notes de piano soutenues qui dérivent en phase et en déphasage, ou à des chemins de modulation complexes qui produisent des sauts de filtre imprévisibles. Je cherche à créer des textures sonores et de la musique en minuscules. Un point où la musique et le son sont en suspension dans l’air, des particules et des éléments en constante agitation autour d’un thème ou d’une pensée à demi remémorée » (Andrew Heath).

Dans Par vents et marées (Stroud – 2024), paru le 25 octobre, Andrew Heath et Christian Wittman tissent un univers sonore unique, inspiré des mouvements naturels des marées et des courants aériens. Ce projet explore la rencontre entre des nappes de piano, des textures électroniques subtiles et des enregistrements de terrain minutieusement intégrés, créant une œuvre immersive à la fois aérienne et sous-marine. Le piano, tantôt électrique, tantôt acoustique, se mêle aux sons imprévisibles de percussions et de bruitages modulaires, tandis que les notes de guitare flottent au-dessus d’un maelström sonore. Heath exprime sa recherche d’une juxtaposition de sons aléatoires et de textures en évolution constante, pour suspendre la musique dans l’air comme des particules en mouvement autour d’une pensée, subtile et fugitive.

 

Christian Wittman DR

 

Cette collaboration entre les univers musicaux de Andrew Heath et de Christian Wittman est une véritable alchimie, chacun apporte ses sensibilités et ses textures sonores pour créer un voyage évocateur. Leurs approches complémentaires fusionnent pour capturer l’essence des paysages marins et aériens, offrant une expérience sonore aussi poétique que profondément sensorielle. Tantôt léger, tantôt sombre – évoquant le contraste entre le calme apparent de la mer, et les dynamiques et flux qui se déploient, à la fois en profondeur et dans l’air, ces paysages sonores organiques et immersifs nous maintiennent habillement en voyage.

 

A Dystopian Landscape? A new review of "Cités Analogues"

 

If you find white noise – or field music – relaxing, then this album, originally recorded and released way back in 1988 by the French duo Christoph Harbonnier and Christian Wittman, would definitely scratch that itch. However, I can’t promise you that your dreams will be sweet ones for its entire duration…

It’s something of a pioneering work, the gentle electronica of ‘Le Parvis‘ like an embracement of the soul, akin to a woozy, back seat of a taxi ride through the lights of the city at three in the morning. This comes after the ‘field music’ of ‘Intro‘, ‘Airport‘ and ‘Correspondance pour ailleurs‘ (effectively ‘Mail For Elsewhere‘), being, let’s not forget, a good six years before The Future Sound Of London’s seminal classic Lifeforms. Whether or not the latter act knew of, or took inspiration from, Lightwave, I am unsure, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

The otherworldly feel of much of this record is partly due to its sparsity, yet that somehow gives it an unexpected gravitas that is eerily beautiful – I guess in the same way that Vangelis‘s soundtrack to Blade Runner was – particularly on the thirteen and a half minute ‘Agora‘.

A night-time album if ever there was one, Cités Analogues sometimes has a creepier, ghostly feel about it, not least on the short ‘Cités de miroires‘ and the subsequent ‘Polycentre‘, which would absolutely work as incidental music in a psychological horror movie.

This is most definitely not an album for connoisseurs of ‘pop’ music or lovers of the contagious refrain. Instead, it requires the listener to use their imagination, or to lose themselves in the artists’ created world, though I would think fans of The Orb, at least, or of Brian Eno‘s ambient works, would be able to see the appeal in these recordings. The title track is arguably the only one that flirts with any kind of commercial bent, however – a 14-minute piece that feels like a carefree journey through stunning exotic landscapes. It’s odd how it often makes me feel like I’m a passenger, relaxing in one type of vehicle or another, but that, in itself, is strangely appealing.

After that, things become even more minimalistic, with the empty sky meanderings of ‘Ophelia‘ and the final void of nothingness that is ‘Lunar Parking‘.

Cités Analogues certainly feels like an important work anyway, and while I’m unlikely to be taking this to accompany you on many car journeys, it undoubtedly has a unique appeal, particularly if you’re a devotee of Dystopian soundscapes.

Cités Analogues is out now on Bureau B.

 

Loz Etheridge, God is in the TV Zine.

Memories from the '80s

 

 

Found on the web... A pic of me in the Lightwave studio around 1988... It was "Malibu Studio", not in Los Angeles, but in Parmain ... We gave this name to our studio because we drank some Malibu the night we recorded "Nachtmusik" (does it explain why we recorded these crazy tracks that night?)...

Cités analogues — Review on Rough Trade

"Cités Analogues is a mesmerizing album by Lightwave, released by Bureau B / Indigo. This ambient electronic masterpiece takes listeners on a journey through ethereal soundscapes and hypnotic rhythms.

Each track on the album is carefully crafted to create a sense of otherworldly beauty, blending intricate layers of synthesizers, pulsating beats, and haunting melodies. The music ebbs and flows, creating a dreamlike atmosphere that invites the listener to lose themselves in its immersive sonic landscapes.

Lightwave's attention to detail is evident throughout Cités Analogues, with each composition unfolding like a sonic tapestry rich in texture and emotion. The seamless integration of organic sounds with electronic elements gives the music a unique depth and warmth that sets it apart from other ambient works.

From the opening notes to the final crescendo, Cités Analogues captivates the listener with its evocative soundscapes and innovative approach to electronic music. It is a must-have for fans of ambient music looking for a truly transcendent listening experience."

 Rough Trade

"Cités Analogues" — Review on Groove.nl

Link

 

In the story of electronic music – and especially that with a more experimental, ambient viewpoint – the name of Lightwave will not be known to many. Christoph Harbonnier and Christian Wittman released their first album, Modular Experiments, in 1987, after which they recorded Cités Analogues in April and May 1988. It was released as a casette.

Their relative neglect is a mystery, but the restoration of this album should ensure their profile is raised. Bureau B have done the duo proud with a reissue on LP, CD and download. Their press release lists an inventory of RSF, ARP, Roland and Oberheim modular systems, mixed on A&H 12/2 and recorded to tape on a Revox B77 tape machine – a complex set-up but one aimed at what they describe as ‘a concept album, comprising of a series of discrete compositions and atmospheres assembled into two continuous tracks. The tracks are split out a little by dividers, with field recordings and tape processing softening the join between sections.

This is a fascinating listen, and if you didn’t already know you might suspect that Cités Analogues had been recorded in the last year, such is its reach and originality. Whether they work in long or short form the duo make subtly shifting soundscapes that are unexpectedly intense in their realisation.

On occasion they hit some winsome grooves, as in the slow but elastic Le Purvis. Agora is lost in thought, musing over a slowly shifting bass, while the eerie Polycentre and activity of News are at once complementary. Cités Analogues itself is an effective long form piece, its quarter-hour duration packed full of ideas and fragments that are given an assured and compelling development. As the album evolves Lightwave create soundscapes with industrial roots but with added splashes of instrumental colour. These are especially evident on Ophelia, a dream sequence with feather-light textures, suspended in mid-air.

 

"Cités Analogues" — Review on babyblaue-seiten.de (German)

 

 

Review by Achim Breiling in Babyblaue-seiten.de

(English translation below) 

 

Lightwave aus Paris, 1985 entstanden, veröffentlichten 1987 mit "Modular Experiment" ihr Debütalbum, erschienen in kleiner Auflage auf Tonbandkassette. Da war das Projekt ein Trio, mit Serge Leroy neben dem Gründungsduo aus Christian Whitman und Christoph Harbonnier. Bei den Aufnahmen zum Nachfolgealbum "Cités Analogues" war man dann nur noch zu zweit. Dasselbe erschien 1988 wieder als Kassette, und gilt nach dem recht experimentellen Erstling als erstes Album mit dem typischen Lightwave-Sound.

Im Januar 2025 haben sich nun bureau b des Materials angenommen und "Cités Analogues" erstmals auf CD veröffentlicht. Das Album wurde dazu von Christoph Harbonnier höchstselbst neu abgemischt und gemastert. Vergleicht man die Spielzeit der CD mit im Weltweiten Netz zu findenden Angaben zur Kassettenversion, stellt man fest, dass Harbonnier das ursprünglich etwas über einstündige Werk offenbar um rund 7 Minuten gekürzt hat. Vor allem das ursprünglich fast 10-minütige "Pour Ailleurs Le Parvis" ist davon betroffen. Beim Hören stellt man keine sonderlichen Brüche fest, so dass ich einmal annehme (ich kenne die Kassettenversion nicht), dass das Werk von der leichten Straffung profitiert hat. Der Sound ist exzellent.

Zwei lange Suiten (nach "Agora" gibt es eine kurze Pause – davor und danach gehen die Nummern ineinander über) aus Elektronikspielereien, Tastensounds, Tonbandkollagen, Geräuscheinspielungen und Stimmfetzendurcheinander (in "Airport" z.B.) und nur selten elektronisch-perkussiven Mustern (vor allem im schon erwähnten "Pour Ailleurs Le Parvis" - vielleicht ganz gut, dass die Nummer gekürzt wurde - und im Titelstück) ist auf "Cités Analogues" zu finden, die sehr farbig instrumentiert dahin wogt, ohne direkt Bezug auf irgendwelche Vorbilder oder Inspirationsquellen zu nehmen. Eher frei schwebend arbeitet sich die Musik voran (von "Pour Ailleurs Le Parvis" abgesehen), voluminös hallend, klangvoll rumorend, getragen schreitend, mysteriös flüsternd oder experimenteller klangbastelnd. Berliner Sequenzermuster sind eigentlich nur sporadisch im langen Titelstück auszumachen. Ansonsten erzeugen die beiden Franzosen durchaus eigene, sehr kreative Tongebilde.

"Cités Analogues" ist ein interessantes Album mit progressiver französischer Untergrund-Elektronik, das erfreulich wenige typische 80er-Jahre-Verunreinigungen aufweist (bis auf das Bisschen E-Perkussion – glücklicherweise wird man von Plastikklatschen verschont), und es schafft, im Gegensatz zu den meisten damals noch aktiven Begründern des Stils, den progressiven Geist der 70er auch gegen Ende des darauffolgen Jahrzehnts am Leben zu halten. Die Scheibe hatte es durchaus verdient durch die Neuauflage vor dem Vergessenwerden bewahrt zu werden. Elektronikadepten können bedenkenlos zugreifen. Nun bleibt noch zu hoffen, dass bureau b auch den schon erwähnten, nicht weniger interessanten Lightwave-Erstling ("Modular Experiment") neu auflegt.

 --------

 Lightwave from Paris, formed in 1985, released their debut album “Modular Experiment” in 1987, published in a small edition on tape cassette. At the time, the project was a trio, with Serge Leroy alongside the founding duo of Christian Wittman and Christoph Harbonnier. For the recordings of the follow-up album “Cités Analogues”, it was just the two of them. The same album was released on cassette in 1988 and, after the rather experimental first album, is considered the first album with the typical Lightwave sound.

In January 2025, Bureau B took on the material and released “Cités Analogues” on CD for the first time. The album was remixed and mastered by Christoph Harbonnier himself. If you compare the playing time of the CD with the information on the cassette version found on the worldwide web, you will notice that Harbonnier has apparently shortened the original one-hour work by around 7 minutes. The originally almost 10-minute “Le Parvis” is particularly affected by this. Listening to it, you don't notice any particular breaks, so I assume (I don't know the cassette version) that the work has benefited from the slight streamlining. The sound is excellent.

 Two long suites (after “Agora” there is a short break - before and after that the numbers merge into one another) of electronic gimmicks, keyboard sounds, tape collages, noise recordings and vocal shredding (in ‘Airport’, for example) and only rarely electronic-percussive patterns (especially in the aforementioned “Pour Ailleurs Le Parvis” - perhaps it's a good thing that it was shortened - and in the title track). )  can be found on “Cités Analogues”, which undulates along with very colorful instrumentation without making direct reference to any role models or sources of inspiration. The music (apart from “Pour Ailleurs Le Parvis”) is rather free-floating, voluminously reverberating, sonorously rumbling, striding along, mysteriously whispering or experimentally tinkering with sound. Berlin sequencing patterns can only be detected sporadically in the long title track. Otherwise, the two Frenchmen produce their own, very creative soundscapes.

“Cités Analogues” is an interesting album with progressive French underground electronics, which has pleasingly few typical 80s impurities (apart from the little bit of electric percussion - fortunately you are spared plastic claps) and, unlike most of the founders of the style who were still active at the time, manages to keep the progressive spirit of the 70s alive towards the end of the following decade. The album certainly deserved to be saved from oblivion by the reissue. Electronic fans can pick it up without hesitation. Now it remains to be hoped that bureau b will also reissue the aforementioned, no less interesting Lightwave debut (“Modular Experiment”).

 

 

"Cités Analogues". Review by Paul Simpson

 

 review by Paul Simpson on AllMusic.

 

During the '90s, French electronic outfit Lightwave worked with Hector Zazou several times, and former Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger joined the group. Cités Analogues, however, was one of Lightwave's early cassette releases, recorded soon after their core lineup of Christoph Harbonnier and Christian Wittman was established. Recorded and mixed live in the studio, then produced and edited soon afterward, the effort was made using modular synthesizers, Roland sequencers, and digital effects. Subsequent Lightwave efforts ventured into neo-classical territory, and with some of them appearing on Hearts of Space sublabel Fathom, they might've been found in the new age section at record stores. This recording is a bit too dark, cold, and collage-like to fit in such a category. The bustling sounds of a crowded airport are heard near the beginning of the album, segueing into radio airwave noises and trickling analog synths. "Le Parvis" establishes a sinister groove, with sneaking electronic drums and synth playing approximating wild flute trills. Another passage of sampled crowd noise segues into "Agora," an extended, ambient reflection that feels like an escape from society in order to seek a tranquil, meditative space. Following a few brief pieces consisting of uneasy, haunted textures and more found sounds, "Cités Analogues" makes greater use of the duo's sequencers and drum machines, recalling Tangerine Dream's rhythmic side while foreshadowing the type of cerebral ambient techno that would be much more common five years later, and adding a bit of analog crunch. Lightwave would go on to do bigger, more ambitious, and more accomplished things, but Cités Analogues is a set of promising early steps containing some innovative moments which sound slightly ahead of their time.

 

https://www.allmusic.com/album/cit%C3%A9s-analogues-mw0004412360

"Cités Analogues" Review by Cal Cashin (The Quietus)

Re-issued from a 1988 limited-run cassette, this piquant slab of progressive Parisian electronics simultaneously looks back to 1970s kosmische and forward to the uncanny tones of the Ghost Box label.

Since its invention, the synthesizer has been a powerful tool that has allowed artists to harness feelings of utter loneliness and detachment in their music, often to match feelings of disenfranchisement and disassociation with a technologically transforming world. Alongside the rise of Kraftwerk, the emergence of Britain’s alienated synthesists in the 1970s’ tail end is one of electronic music’s most widely documented happenings and for good reason. As synthesizers became commercially accessible, a collective of rogues and eccentrics used them for a series of experiments and projects that had a profound impact on popular music. The analogue antics of Daniel Miller, Chris Carter, and Cabaret Voltaire have been deservedly mythologised, and generations have taken influence from those synth experiments of Sheffield basements and London warehouses past. As we hurtle closer and closer to a technology-driven extinction, this kind of music feels more prescient than ever.

The 1980s saw a period of refinement and fragmentation for synthesizer music. Its enthusiastic embrace at the hands of pop music, and its dominance of dancefloors and discotheques, probably live longest in the popular imagination. But on the fringes, the world over, the limitless possibilities of the instrument were being explored, its limits were still pushed by a cast of fearless experimentalists.

One such group was Lightwave. A Parisian progressive electronic ensemble formed around the core duo of kindred dabblers Christian Whitman and Christoph Harbonnier, Lightwave’s discreet and novel synthesizer pieces place them somewhere between the industrial alienation of the late 70s British pioneers and the meditative textural works of The Berlin School adventurers like Klaus Schulze and Manuel Göttsching.

Freshly reissued for the first time this month, 1988’s Cités Analogue is the first album that Whitman and Harbonnier collaborated on, the project’s true inception. Largely recorded live, it’s a rich tapestry of disjointed melodies conjured up on an arsenal of synthesizers, of clunking percussion and disembodied vocal fragments. One vast liminal space.

The end result is an album that sounds, surprisingly, so thoroughly modern in its execution that it could easily slip under the radar as a new release.

The title track is the record’s centrepiece. A stirring composition that sees the duo slowly adding, and adding to an undulating synth texture that slowly evolves into a mechanical colossus over its fifteen-minute runtime. It’s a collage that sees the group wide-eyed, excitedly adding layer after layer with joyous aplomb; juddering arpeggios, soaring string-sounds, the track is punctuated by everything from percussive slams and scrambled vocal samples.

‘Airport’ and ‘News’ are two of the album’s more discreet tracks, but a duo that see Whitman and Harbonnier’s vision perhaps best realised. Skeletal, eerie textures meld with samples of airport chatter and a fading-in-and-out English language radio signal respectively, creating the cold, urban sound that Lightwave strive for in perfect microcosm. There’s something of the uncanny, of the Ghost Box, about the group’s presentation of different spaces here, a machinelike coldness that is only drawn into sharper focus by the addition of human chatter.

In contrast stands ‘Le Parvis’, which was put out as a single last year, a real stomper that leans heavily on a phantomic low-end bass groove, which, whilst not necessarily out of place, is way more pummelling, writhing, grooving than the rest of the album. It sees the group channel the same urban soundworld, but into something that sounds more optimistic, all fizzing and crackling, automaton joy.