Cities and Memory - remixing the world

"I used the recording of Ground Zero in New York, I shortened it and manipulated the sound in Adobe Audition. I like creating noise."

Ground Zero reimagined by Matej Velkavrh.

"Hyena Signal (Industrial Drift) is an evolving piece born from a collaboration between Karhide and Deep Dive Sound, shaped around snippets of the recording “Maasai Tribe: Songs of the Widows.” The work emerged through a natural creative process, blending Karhide’s post rock and drone influenced textures with Deep Dive Sound’s nature immersed ambient layers and distinctive field recordings.

"Karhide created the first sonic foundations of the track through guitar driven textures and fragile harmonic movements, opening space for Deep Dive Sound to build a narrative through sound and atmosphere. Field recordings captured across Maasai lands allow elements of place, memory, and lived experience to become an integral part of the music itself.

"The result is an immersive sonic journey where ambient, drone, and ethnographic sound merge into a deeply organic listening experience that reflects both fragility and strength through landscape, memory, and voice."

Maasai song reimagined by Karhide and Deep Dive Sound.

Outside Oslo's impressive, somewhat brutalist town hall building, there is a large "staircase fountain" with many layers - here we record the sounds from this fountain from many different depths and angles, with the faint sounds of the city at 10.00pm on a quiret evening behind us.

Recorded in Oslo, Norway by Cities and Memory, May 2025. 

A naturally reverberant amphibian chorus with a wide stereo image.  Trumpeting frogs can also be heard throughout the composition.

Apenkwa is a new addition to areas in and around Koforidua where wetlands have been highly affected by building and construction activities.

Recording by Emmanuel Baffoe, Ghana.

Monitoring, Editing, and Mastering by Samuel Kudjodzi, Germany. 

Emmanuel Baffoe is one of 5 trainees selected for the Soundscape Ecology Education Ghana program organised by Samuel Kudjodzi, founder of CSEM (Center for Soundscape Ecology and Multimedia) @csem_official. This project is supported by earth fm with field recording equipment set.

Recorded in 2025. I recorded the sounds of the forest near my house.
This is a walking trail for the neighbours. There is running water side the path and you can hear the communication of birds. This is my first field recording work.

Recorded in Inokashira Park, Mure, Mitaka City, Tokyo by Minami Kamada.

Intense traffic noise recorded from directly under an underpass at Queen's Quay, next to the Lagan River in Belfast. 

Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"The amphibian music is complete and beautiful, including both melodic and rhythmic elements, so then what? What could I possibly add? 

"I kept the raw nature recording unaltered and layered on a variety of synth instruments, providing a tension and interplay that questions, what is natural?"

Ghana amphibian chorus reimagined by Heather Spence.

"I wanted to keep the original field recording intact, and juxtapose it against a treated version. I feel with a project like this that it's important the original field recording can shine through and be part of the music. 

"The piano is actually two improvised solos playing against each other and glued with a drone from a Serge modular system." 

Inokashira Park, Tokyo reimagined by Cole Dano.

"Breath, bodies, river, smog.

"When I first heard this field recording I immediately heard a melody. I imagined the river carrying layers of song, remnants of the past softened and polished by the water over time. 

"The imagery of an overpass with the river flowing beneath reminded me of a thread or rope twisting, starting from one point and ending up in another. The traffic sounds serve as a backdrop to the initial melody (and the percussive transition) before converging with the layered melody, creating a sort of echo of the past. Lineage, water, icebergs, ships and cities that leave a legacy."

Heavy bridge traffic in Belfast reimagined by Aemivore.

"The hypnotic sound of a fountain in Oslo becomes a moment of wonder, inviting the listener to enter another reality. Using recordings from UbuWeb, we were fascinated by what Lacan thought about Alice in Wonderland. 

"We combined the original sound of Oslo's fountain with music by Lazzaruolo/Villanova and Lacan's words creating a dialogue between voice, imagination, and atmosphere."

Oslo fountains reimagined by Giovanna Iorio (concept, research) and Lucio Lazzaruolo (music).