Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • 1917: Shariputra and Avalokitesvara (Sri Lanka)
    Unawatuna, Sri Lanka at night reimagined by Emmanuel Mieville.
    "The layer sound (cicadas, insects) is from S.Marin.
    All other sounds are recorded in Malaysia, in Batucave temple, near Kuala Lumpur.
    There is one sound (TV news) from Taiwan."
    18 min
  • 1915: "Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow"
    Interior of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, reimagined by Cities and Memory. We've constructed an imagined version of the actual soundscape inside the Sistine Chapel, in which a cry of "silence" is followed by a slowly-growing crescendo of noise. Here, the sounds of reverb, synths and guitars replace the sounds of chatter, and as the noise builds and builds, we can almost hear the sounds of angels' choruses up above us. 
    The title comes from Michelangelo's poem about the arduous conditions under which he painted the ceiling: 
    "I've grown a goitre by dwelling in this den–
    As cats from stagnant streams in Lombardy,
    Or in what other land they hap to be–
    Which drives the belly close beneath the chin:
    My beard turns up to heaven; my nape falls in,
    Fixed on my spine: my breast-bone visibly
    Grows like a harp: a rich embroidery
    Bedews my face from brush-drops thick and thin.
    My loins into my paunch like levers grind:
    My buttock like a crupper bears my weight;
    My feet unguided wander to and fro;
    In front my skin grows loose and long; behind,
    By bending it becomes more taut and strait;
    Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow:
    Whence false and quaint, I know,
    Must be the fruit of squinting brain and eye;
    For ill can aim the gun that bends awry.
    Come then, Giovanni, try
    To succour my dead pictures and my fame;
    Since foul I fare and painting is my shame."
    5 min
  • 1914: Inside the Sistine Chapel
    Recorded by Cities and Memory. The sound from the interior of the Sistine Chapel. Every so often a voice declares through a PA "Silenzio" and "Silence", followed by exhortations not to take photos. Each time silence is declared, the noise level dips respectfully, but over the course of the following minutes builds back up in a crescendo of chatter. And so it continues.
    8 min
  • 1913: Beach construction (Andrulian reimagining)
    Construction on Talpe beach, reimagined by Andy Lyon:
    "I've taken a slightly different approach with this one. I've used the whole sample, processed and layered with a number of effects in various samplers in Hollyhock 3 - blackhole; octavox; Specops; blackhole and Ultratap. I've also cut up part of the sample and processed in Glitchmachine's latest plugin Palindrome and processed with blackhole and Factory 3000 delay. (All Eventide effects)
    I've then layered some orchestral parts using Olafur Arnaulds Chamber Orchestra and Bernard Herrmann Composer Toolkit."
    11 min
  • 1911: The mechanical lagoon, Venice
    Torcello vaporetto dock reimagined by Cities and Memory. The sounds of speedboats zipping past forms a pulsing undercurrent, as the creaks and clanks of the dock are accentuated by various mechanical additions of creaks, clangs, chains and machinery - creating the mechanical lagoon.
    4 min
  • 1908: Thousands of bats, Indonesia
    Recorded by Marcel Gnauk in the bat cave at the Goa Lawah Temple, Bali, Indonesia. 
    "I was standing in front of the cave and couldn’t believe it, Thousands of bats sleeping, squeaking or flying around the cave! In the back of the cave is another room with even more bats. The bats leaving the cave at night and coming back in the morning. Maybe someday I come here again and wait until this happens but I think they close the temple before."
    "As a visitor, you are not allowed to walk on the stairs so I had to make the recording from down below! To get a better sound with less background sound from the street bring a boom or a long tripod."
    5 min
  • 1909: To the batcave!
    Bat cave in Indonesia reimagined by Cities and Memory. 
    We've hidden away the sounds of bats under low-pass filters, reverb and other effects, gradually unveiling them with slow-release envelopes over the course of the piece, to symbolise the bats emerging from their dark roosts at sunset. 
    The shimmering synth patterns represent the beating of their wings as they head out into the night.
    5 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.