Cities and Memory - remixing the world
Cities and Memory remixes the world, one sound at a time - a global collaboration between artists and sound recordists all over the world. The project presents an amazingly-diverse array of field recordings from all over the world, but also reimagined, recomposed versions of those recordings as we go on a mission to remix the world. What you'll hear in the podcast are our latest sounds - either a field recording from somewhere in the world, or a remixed new composition based solely on those sounds. Each podcast description tells you more about what you're hearing, and where it came from. There are more than 8,000 sounds featured on our sound map, spread over more than 140 countries and territories. The sounds cover parts of the world as diverse as the hubbub of San Francisco’s main station, traditional fishing women’s songs at Lake Turkana, the sound of computer data centres in Birmingham, spiritual temple chanting in New Taipei City or the hum of the vaporetto engines in Venice. You can explore the project in full at www.citiesandmemory.com
Episodes
The biggest race of the evening's race meet, as the Formula 1 cars battle it out in the final race - this is a recording of the entire race, including an interruption for a crash on the track, which means all the cars stop racing while the somewhat broken cars are safely removed from the arena, before the race can resume.
Double world final weekend at Northampton International Shaleway, featuring Brisca Formula 1 stock c...
"Built around a 14-minute field recording of the final "Grand National" race at Northampton International Shaleway, the 6 minute track tries to balances the raw noise and chaos of stock car racing by building the music around the recording.
"Working in Ableton Live, the sound of the trackside PA and racing engines are edited into rhythmic hooks, processed through Baby Audio’s HyperWarp and Super VHS for a tape lo-fi grit...
This recording was captured inside the main passage of Nanjing’s Zhonghua Gate. Outside lies a busy intersection, where the sound of traffic, churned within the passage, forms a pure urban soundscape with a rare reverberation unique to such city spaces. Yet, it lacks distinct regional character, carrying more symbolic weight in a textual sense. No human clamor, only passersby. In the history of emperors, the space for c...
"I listened to the file several times. The atmospheres are urban and dense. I tried to transform the sounds to create a sense of movement—a ghostly quality, as if the listener were in motion while remaining stationary. A kind of dreamy, ethereal contemplation."
Nanjing, Zhonghua Gate Main Passage reimagined by Philippe Neau.
"With its concrete sonic materials and spacial panning, Resistance Lovesong explores the friction between animate spirit and mechanical oppression; industrial noise collides with birdsong, evoking the image of a narrow strip of open sky trapped above an alienating factory: the birdsong resounds as a symbol of hope, a lovesong, a fragment of absolute freedom."
Birdsong in Pignotti reimagined by Carlotta Ferrari.
A recording made at 10.30pm next to the Marcus Brunnen fountain in Bremen, Germany - water spouts from the fountain above our recorder, with the night air otherwise punctured solely by the sound of the occasional passer-by. Binaural recording.
Recorded by Cities and Memory.
I combined the flowing water with a gentle drum beat and occasional sounds from a kazoo.
Marktplatz fountain in Bremen reimagined by Antje Bothin.
A display of two large Tesla coils, which are capable of playing music, including the sounds of several well-known songs created from electricity during the demonstration. In between these loud sounds, we hear an explanation of how the coil works, mostly in Lithuanian with a sprinkling of English. Recorded in the Museum of Energy and Technology.
Recorded in Vilnius, October 2026 by Cities and Memory.
" I worked on the sonic behaviour of the source and the noisy and rhythmic texture of the coil became connected through my electronic piece. Processing the behaviour of the Tesla coil gave rise to diverse sonic entities in my electronic piece."
Tesla coil show in Vilnius reimagined by Elnaz Behfar.
"The field recording was examined at an inn in the west of Sweden, near the border with Norway, and held the quiet of that threshold ground — an apt undercurrent for the piece that formed there. The title is the exact point of the composition's making, which can be found by entering it into What3Words.
"Four software synths rest upon the recording: a pad, a drone, and two motifs, the higher one in 5/8, bringing a m...
"A melancholic multi-layered ambient piece in A based against the backdrop of Paul Wheeler's recording of Hungerford bridge. My object was to intertwine the percussive character of the sample with the melodiousness of my track."
Hungerford bridge reimagined by Paul Soto.
Image credit: Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Recorded at night beneath this wrought iron railway bridge over the River Thames. The massively loud bangs, clattering and rumbles of trains as they pass overhead contrasts with the sounds of water gently lapping at the bridge supports, and people chatting as they walk along the South Bank.
The bridge, over 160 years old, is currently being refurbished, so these sounds may not last for much longer.
Recorded in October 2026 by P...
"I used a recording of ducks on a Russian lake with a plane flying overhead. It was a 6 minute track and I only used about 1 minute which I chopped up into my sampler. I then played the samples rhythmically using the plane as a drone and the ducks as an instrument. This was treated with delay. Behind this initial track I added two tracks of analog synth and topped it all off with a very simple and repetitive acoustic guitar."
...
A field recording captured at the Voronezhskie Lakes park in Samara, Russia, around 11:00 AM. The recording features ducks quacking and taking off from the water. In the background, you can hear ambient city sounds, distant airplane noise, and people's conversations.
Recorded by Vitaly Safarov.
Birds nesting in scaffolding at Kroepcke Passage shopping centre, along with street sweeper sounds.
Recorded in Hanover, Germany by Cities and Memory.
"After a few false starts, I decided to simply improvise a line for flute in my usual notation software while listening to the birdsong file. I then used this to create a line of counterpoint for a second flute, but quickly realized that the piece would be better served by a darker, contrasting instrument, and settled on the cello. Finally, I filled out the texture with a piccolo, reharmonized the whole score bar by bar, shap...
"The presence of science is a huge part of Oxford, but one that's often overlooked in favour of the more traditional side of Oxford University and of the city more widely, but science is hugely important to the city. This piece is a tribute to the scientific side of Oxford, as a reimagined take on the fascinating, huge tanks of liquid nitrogen that sit hissing away between the Department of Earth Sciences and the Pitt Rivers ...
On 17 June 2026, the Oxford Union debating society invited extreme right wing agitators Tommy Robinson and Laurence Fox to take part in an inflammatory debate titled "This house believe the West is right to be suspicious of Islam". The response was mass protests in the city centre, with up to 1,000 anti-fascist demonstrators surrounding the Oxford Union (and about 30 pro-Tommy Robinson supporters showing up). This recording i...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.