Cities and Memory - remixing the world

"A shortwave transmission renders distant numbers folded in mystery. We hear them over and over again, unable to decipher them. Repetitive as they may be, the sound of these numbers is never the same, changing according to the spaces and perceptual practices through which they are heard. Thinking of number stations and the notion of repetition as an impossibility, this piece places a shortwave numbers station transmission in conversation with other “repetitive” sounds. Crafted, traveling sounds, and the aural qualities of shortwave transmissions are intersected by these puzzling numbers. The “repetition” is also subject to interruption, being invaded by imagined spaces and distant shortwave sounds that speak of other cyclical enigmas, other revolutions and other forms of listening. In returning to sounds that can only evoke similarity, each moment of listening is acknowledged as distinct and unrepeatable. 

Additional shortwave sounds courtesy of:

ArchivoSonoro.org

FreeSound.org (https://freesound.org/people/therabidfrog)"

Composition by Berenice Cancino.

Part of the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio - find out more and see the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/shortwave

"I started by mangling the source material and extracting small snippets of sound to create much of the rhythm of the composition.The spy station numbers run throughout the piece to create a complex random ever evolving pulse to the piece.The big dubbed out bass line and supporting melody came from a modular system."

Composition by Alex Hehir.

Part of the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio - find out more and see the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/shortwave

"I caught and recorded the numbers station often referred to as the English Man. He was found in the pirate radio watering hole (of 6,925-6,990 kHz) on 6,949 kHz. After sifting through more spectrum recordings taken the following evening by the Microtelecom Perseus, I realized that I caught him once again at the exact same time and frequency."

Recorded by Thomas Witherspoon, courtesy of the Shortwave Radio Archive.

Part of the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio - find out more and see the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/shortwave

"This is a spy numbers station I recorded in the summer of 1993 but I forget the frequency. I used my Kenwood TS-690S transceiver and I believe the time was around 05:00 UTC."

Recorded by Bruce Atchison, courtesy of the Shortwave Radio Archive.

Part of the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio - find out more and see the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/shortwave

Xiuwu County, China village fireworks reimagined by Cities and Memory. 

"Distant fireworks are always kind of hazy, kind of dreamy. Cascades of synth notes in clustered arpeggios circle in the sky above the village, and as we get closer to the fireworks, more layers of piano notes and other synths join in, matching the booms and bangs of the fireworks display. A mournful, stately celebration." 

The sound of fireworks, the sound of birds, and talking in the village - 河南省焦作市修武县(Xiuwu County, Jiaozuo, Henan, China). Recorded by Dicaprixin.

Young people drink wine, eat cichetti and chat excitedly outside Cantina Do Mori in Venice in the late afternoon. 

Outside Cantina Do Mori, Venice reimagined by Cristina Marras.

"Field recording feels sometimes like stealing from people's most intimate moments."

Suffolk beach waves reimagined by Karhide. 

"The idea at the start of the track was to create a dark slow call and response with the guitar line and sound of the waves. It was built around an initial clean guitar line and then I add lead and rhythm guitar along with bass and drums."

Thailand night market reimagined by Karhide.

"This is based around the nighttime recording of Koh Phangan Market in Thailand and filtered using fab filter volcano and then used the eventide crystals to create octaves from the filtered sound. Then added a Lounge Lizard riff as the main theme through the track along with guitars, bass, and drums."