Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Minneapolis interstate bridge reimagined by JP Guerrier.

"The piece is a reflection on concrete, water, and the pace of travel in today's society. I was inspired by the juxtaposition of natural and man made elements in the original recording;
I was interested in representing the contrast between relaxed pace of nature and the rush of people and city life - I used a combination of frenetic drum beats and longer, washing tones in an attempt to represent these two opposite elements. 

"The wall of sound in the piece is representative of looming concrete buildings and brutalist architecture.

"I used a lot of granular synthesis to create the piece, and the majority of elements in the project are created from the initial recording. I was particularly interested in creating "natural" sounds from man made sources, such as creating tidal sounds from the noise of cars passing.

"The piece reflects on the co habitation of nature and humans in the same spaces, and how this can be resolved, as well as the ever growing distance between the human pace of life and the pace of the natural world around us."

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

Minneapolis interstate bridge recorded by Katharine Horowitz.

"The sounds of traffic from underneath the I35 bridge over Minnehaha Creek. A bit eerie, interspersed with metal pings as the cars hit the joint between the road and the bridge, underlaid the whole time with the creek."

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

Florence market reimagined by Michael Competielle.

"Florence Italy in 2030 along with most of the planet have reduced our forests and wildlife to near extinction. Artificial intelligence has rendered most humans obsolete as the world's governments pay people to be consumers in the post industrialized economy. 

"Bees and birds have disappeared from existence replaced by drones. Artificial Intelligence communicates amongst itself in a unique illegible language. 

"Electro Harmonic Frequencies drone all day and night disrupting the circadian rhythm of all surviving natural life. Only the strong have survived, the creatives, the programmers, the Oligarch."

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

Recorded by Keisuke Oki. 

The world famous Shibuya crossing.
https://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/shibuya-crossing/3016 

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

Echo Park reimagined by Jessie Brewer.

"In the original field recording - captured in Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA - it's clear that both man-made and natural sounds are occupying space. 

"According to the Future Cities info page, "More than two-thirds of us are predicted to be living in cities by 2030." This piece is a reflection on how human population growth, potential overcrowding, and our ever-expanding use of technology could affect the man-made-to-natural sound ratio within our cities. In this case, a more distorted, unsettling outcome is explored."

Part of the Future Cities project.

Penang Botanic Gardens reimagined by Studier. 

"This piece is an experimental augmentation of the recorder’s experience while listening to this event.  The slowing of pitch and tempo– time– of the recording was chosen to highlight qualities such as omnipresence that the recorder noted in a description of listening to the ‘hypnotic drone’ of the cicadas and orioles, as well as to highlight the stasis in this omnipresence– resilient in an otherwise dynamic urban environment.  

"This slowing also expands the senses, as sounds high out of the human range of hearing become audible.  Nine versions of the recording, with one introduced every two minutes, are added in ascending semitonal relation ranging from -55 to -1 semitones below the original recording.  

"The slowing of tempo and lowering of pitch follows the fibonacci sequence - a mysterious catalyst of biological creation and growth; the recordings themselves are otherwise minimally processed to preserve the qualia of the original recording."

Part of the Future Cities project.

Lisbon trams reimagined by Rafael Diogo.

"Nostalgia is a visceral urban soundscape of Lisbon in the near future. The sounds and vocal manifestos were inspired in the poems of the great Fernando Pessoa and tend to reflect a society that tends to neglect nature in order for capitalism culture. 

"The soundscape itself can raise emotions such as loneliness, anxiety and depression which naturally creates a quality of life disorder in the future. 

"The tonal qualities of the original recording (Lisbon Tram) offer me so many different pitches and textures that become a limitless sound source on the development of my piece."

Part of the Future Cities project.

Chiang Mai children's parade reimagined by Rebekah Ford.

"I didn't know where this was going to go except that it would be very loud. I cut up many parts of the original track and processed them several times to create what started to sound like a very formidable battle march. 

"Layer upon layer later, I kept processing through Cecilia and Logic until I got to where it is now. I think it reflects on the harshness of cities and on the recent increase in marches that have occurred in and around the world. 

"The title is based on a quote from Greta Thunberg and also refers back to the anti-smoking children's march of the original piece."

Part of the Future Cities project.

Penang Botanic Gardens, the oldest of its kind in Penang Island, is the home for faunas such as cicadas and orioles. And they make music, too: the hypnotic drone by the insects is omnipresent while melodies by the birds are occasional. 

Recorded by O.W. Chow.

Part of the Future Cities project.

The icons of Lisbon - we listen to the trams passing by in the Portuguese city.  Recorded by Marcel Gnauk.

Part of the Future Cities project.