"Working with a field recording of an air show has been deeply gratifying. On an emotional level, it has allowed for something like sublimation or integration. Having attended the 1988 Flugtag air show in Germany (in which 70 people were killed and hundreds wounded), I still tend to experience visceral reactions to the sound of fighter jets or aerobatics. Creating something of my own out of this field recording has ended up being a form of emotional processing as well.
"On a technical level, the original recording proved to be highly malleable source material, and it is the sole sound source I used in my track. As the sound of jets is effectively rhythmic noise (and thus full of frequencies), I decided to slow it down drastically, reverse and granulate a brief segment, and then pitch shift that result into additional notes to form a chord. I then pulsed various strains of that chord with looping envelopes and ran them through spatial and time-based effects that morph ever so slightly over the duration of the track. The result, I hope, is something of a meditative repetition that rewards close attention."
Red Arrows display in Southport reimagined by Jerome Veith.
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Take me back to Indonesia
"This work originates from a field recording captured in Madobag Village on the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia. In the recording, the sounds of children playing around an old well echo through the space. For me, this recording is not merely documentary material; it functions as a sonic memory that can transport me back to a particular moment and setting. It triggered my reflection on the gap between the fleeting serenity of travel and the pressures of daily life and became the starting point for the work’s narrative.
"The piece unfolds around the tension between two acoustic worlds. The opening section extends the calm atmosphere of the island from the original soundscape, using soft drones and drifting textures to form a dreamlike space situated between the external environment and internal perception. It's not a literal dream but rather a sonic reimagining of how memories emerge and rearrange themselves during times of exhaustion or yearning.
"The subsequent sonic rupture arising from the cold, piercing tones of phone alarms and everyday noise breaks apart this inner soundscape. This interruption not only signifies the collapse of the imagined space but also contrasts fond memories and apparent daily pressures. In the latter part of the piece, fragments of the field recording intertwine with real-world sounds, placing the listener in a blurred state between wakefulness and recollection, where attempts to re-enter the dreamlike space become increasingly unstable.
"Ultimately, the work sustains an open, unresolved narrative tension, oscillating between memory and the present, desire and helplessness, and revealing how memory, longing, and soundscape continually shape one another."
Indonesian village soundscape reimagined by Boyi Bai.
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Acoustic vision from beyond - a Vietnamese funeral
"This composition was created using exclusively a recording of a traditional Vietnamese funeral ceremony. Fragments were taken from the original track and subsequently manipulated.
"In particular, the resonances produced by the percussive instrument were extracted, thus creating long sound bands, onto which the distant dirge is grafted. The intent was to create an internal acoustic vision imagined from the deceased's perspective."
Funeral soundscape in Vietnam reimagined by Nicola Fumo Frattegiani.
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Red Arrows flypast, Southport air show
The Red Arrows display team flying over Southport at the annual air show in July 2024, with the sound of spectators in the background.
Recorded by Stewart Hoyle.
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Laugther by the ancient well
Immerse yourself in the joyful ambiance of Madobag village, Mentawai Islands, where children's laughter and playful shouts fill the air. This soundscape captures the carefree moments of youngsters gathered around an ancient well, their giggles and splashing sounds blending with the serene atmosphere of the surrounding environment.
Recorded in Indonesia by Farhan Boy.
Cities and Memory remixes the world, one sound at a time - a global collaboration between artists and sound recordists all over the world.
The project presents an amazingly-diverse array of field recordings from all over the world, but also reimagined, recomposed versions of those recordings as we go on a mission to remix the world.
What you'll hear in the podcast are our latest sounds - either a field recording from somewhere in the world, or a remixed new composition based solely on those sounds. Each podcast description tells you more about what you're hearing, and where it came from.
There are more than 7,000 sounds featured on our sound map, spread over more than 130 countries and territories. The sounds cover parts of the world as diverse as the hubbub of San Francisco’s main station, traditional fishing women’s songs at Lake Turkana, the sound of computer data centres in Birmingham, spiritual temple chanting in New Taipei City or the hum of the vaporetto engines in Venice. You can explore the project in full at www.citiesandmemory.com
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