Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Reimagined by Danielle Toronyi.

"Experimenting with how we might describe Anthropocentric changes to the landscape - specifically places we are from, and how extractive practices deplete the living systems that unconsciously inform the ways in which we define ourselves and our communities. When we've depleted all potential resources from the land, what remains, who remains? I selected the Appalachian Trail birdsong field recording because I've lived in the Southern Appalachian mountains, and it is without a doubt my favorite place on earth. The smell and sound of the mountains tell me when I am home. These mountains continue to be under ecological threat due to mountaintop removal, natural gas pipelines, fracking, coal ash ponds, and chemical spills which are devastating to rivers, biodiversity and human health. Despite the best efforts of countless activists over hundreds of years our land and communities are violated as the protection and conservation work enacted in Appalachia continues to erode."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Photo by Isaac Wendland on Unsplash

The insects, reptiles, and birds vocalizing as the sun sets on a wetland area. Recorded by Nic Stage. 

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Photo by Kal Loftus on Unsplash

Reimagined by Mark Taylor. 

"Having just watched the 1956 Forbidden Planet film, I decided to go for a weird sci-fi soundtrack vibe with this one!

Everything in the reimagined version was created from the original field recording; no extra sounds were added.

It was put together using granular sampling / synthesis techniques in various Reaktor 6 modules."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

This is a brief excerpt from an overnight recording at Green Lake in midcoast Maine. This segment is just over a minute long but contains a great deal of vocal activity from the common loons that inhabit this lake. In the recording there are two birds very close to the microphone on the lakeshore, and a third loon call echoes from all the way across the lake.

Recorded by Luke Pearson. 

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Reimagined by Alexander Köppel.

"The piece acts as an answer or some sort of counterpart to the original material. Since ice seems to be something very static, I found it stunning how the recording proofs us otherwise - ice is very alive and dynamic. I wanted to react on this and tried to wrap this dynamic into a rather lively state of water, namely waves; who then again come to shore in a very continuous rhythm.

The tonal utterances of the ice reminded me of creatures of some sort, calling out, hence the darker atmosphere. The piece plays with this and in the end it became a short prélude let's say, for something greater to follow."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash

Recorded by Charlie Cooper. "Hydrophone recording of ice in Belmont Marina in downtown Chicago. The ice is stretching and squeaking."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash

Recorded by Paul Virostek: "Waves, Secret Beach, Sand, Rocks, Fast, Steady - some slight fizz."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Photo by Maxwell Gifted on Unsplash

Reimagined by Michael Lawrence. 

I like to point out the similarities between nature and human ingenuity--man-made things. After the original soundtrack plays all the way through as an exposition, the development begins with a recording of traffic driving through light snow that I had from last winter. Then the composition moves on to a coffee maker. Both of these sounds in my opinion mimic the randomness of waves coming ashore. A listener caught off guard might also mistake the coffee maker for thunder, at least at first. Even seeming randomness has order, though. So I found rhythms first in the Thai waves, then in the traffic noise and looped them in the development in order to highlight them. In the conclusion, the original file plays again in full as the coffee maker wraps up. My hope is that at this point the previously highlighted rhythms will now stand out more to the listener. A small gong, a part of the Wanamaker organ, the largest pipe organ in the world, articulates the transitions from the exposition to the development and from the development to the conclusion. I included a gong since it's an instrument I readily associate with the Far East. I've called it Mimesis, which in Greek means imitation, a reference to the way man-made things often imitate nature. 

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Photo by Maxwell Gifted on Unsplash

Reimagined by Gregory Kramer: 

"Inspired by the vocalizations of the sea birds, I imagined another presence in the cave, attempting to speak with the birds. The percussive, squawking electronic sounds have some similarities to the bird vocalizations, but are generally different and sometimes drown the birds out. I performed the electronics in response to the bird recordings.

The title of the piece refers to the conversation between the sea birds and electronics. It’s a kind of conversation, as in a type of conversation, but it’s a “kind of” conversation as in kind of/not really. And, ultimately, it isn’t a conversation since the sea birds weren’t actually there, only their recorded voices captured in time."

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature

Cackling calls from Fulmars within a sea cave, recorded on 28th May 1984 in Durness, Scotland by Richard Savage / British Library.

Part of the Sounding Nature project - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sounding-nature