Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

By Cities and MemorySociety & CultureArtsMusicPlaces & Travel
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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • 2656: All the names we give the sun
    You can't hear the sunrise in this recording, but I'm sure a finely-tuned ear from the Turks & Caicos could identify these as early morning waves, as opposed to sunset or the middle of the day. Anyhow, imagining the sun breaking over the ocean, this could only be an uplifting piece that itself breaks out over the wave sounds. To set myself a thematic challenge, I've only used instruments from my library that contain the word "sun" - so here you can hear synths called Sunrise, Blue Sun, Eternal Sunrise, Coastline Sunset and Hexagon Sun. 
    Reimagined by Cities and Memory.
    6 min
  • 2654: A song for Mount Durmitor
    Black Lake choir, Montenegro reimagined by Cities and Memory. I tried several routes into this reimagined piece, focusing on bringing out and highlighting elements of the lovely vocal lines in this bright, open-sounding recording - but everything sounded too, well, obvious with vocal-focused approaches. So the approach was shifted to making the piece something more aggressive-sounding, in opposition to the positivity of the recording. Vocal snippets were cut up and heavily effected to be used as instrumentation, rhythmic effects and sonic decoration around the stereo field to complement what's going on elsewhere - there are actually six tracks of the original vocal in here, but there's barely a discernible word, as the vocals are used as a sound source and an instrument to build out the mix.
    6 min
  • 2651: Heartbeats and bells
    It's often said that the sound of a church's bells are like an auxiliary heartbeat to their local community - their individual, particular sound is unique and as identifiable as the back of one's hand. Particularly in pre-industrial times, bells were the heartbeat of the entire town in the sense that they would dictate the regularity of the day - time to wake up, time to eat, time to pray and time to retire. This piece takes that concept of the bell as the heartbeat of a community by blending those two sounds together - the bell sounds to the people of the Parisian Latin quarter, and is gradually overtaken by the sound of a heartbeat, until nothing remains of the bell and it is subsumed entirely by the body. Reimagined by Cities and Memory.
    5 min
  • 2648: Mentre Pellestrina sogna
    Speedboats on Pellestrina reimagined by Cities and Memory. When the speedboats pass you at close quarters on a very still day, in such an unspoilt, quiet place as Pellestrina, it's as if it's the loudest sound in the world - the roar of the engine takes on a sense of drama and dominates the soundscape in a way it just wouldn't in a busier environment such as the main Venetian islands, for instance. 
    For this reimagined piece, we're accompanied by some beautiful, quiet ambient sounds that represent the calmness of our state of mind on this baking hot August afternoon - but then strings warn us of the impending interruption to our peace. 
    The speedboats themselves come with a fanfare of trumpets, multiple synth lines and even a male singer hidden away in the mix, to emphasise, heighten and represent this experience in sound.
    7 min
  • 2647: Passing speedboats on Pellestrina, Venice
    Pellestrina is an idyllic, unspoilt little island in the south of the Venetian lagoon, much less frequented by tourists than the likes of Lido or Murano. Here we're sitting on harbour side of this unusually long, thin island, enjoying an unspoilt and peaceful view that's only interrupted by the roaring of passing speedboats and motorboats every few minutes. In the background you can hear lapping waves, children playing, the occasional dog bark - and then the right-to-left passing of 1, 2 and then 3 motorboats. Recorded by Cities and Memory.
    7 min
  • 2646: Drink din ding
    McSorley's Ale House in New York reimagined by Cheap Trip To The Moon.
    We wanted to express what we believe such pubs like Mc Sorley's help to generate: a sweet and gradual fraying of words understood as form and conscience. 
    That process that manages to silence the everyday logic of the world created by the limitations of human reasoning.
    That process by which the hubbub of the mind gives space to the whispers of emotions, of the feelings that give life to our lives without ever asking or expecting any reason. Rhythm and melody of voices and instruments intertwine and jam just like our minds when they kiss the edges of glasses wrapped in the clinks of toasts. All this in a place where those behind the counter, like a humble conductor, support and manage the time of the customers until the ceiling lights come back on. 
    That intrusive light declares the sinking of human clouds to the magic of their own mutated forms as well as the indefinite nature of the clouds requires and gives to those who know how to go forward and find their own personal objects before leaving the pub.
    7 min
  • 2645: The oldest bar in New York City
    McSorley's has been a bar since the 1800s, with apparently the likes of Abraham Lincoln and John Lennon amongst its more famous patrons. It's a proper - and I mean proper - spit 'n' sawdust bar that only offers you a choice of light or dark beer, and that is powered by the motormouth antics of its exuberant barstaff, from whom a constant flow of chatter and entertainment emanates. Here we can hear one of the barstaff chatting away to several of the patrons - listen out for his distinctive voice. Recorded by Cities and Memory.
    4 min

About Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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Cities and Memory remixes the world, one sound at a time - a global collaboration between artists and sound recordists all over the world.