Cities and Memory - remixing the world

In Vilnius we were grateful that the Black Ceramics Centre welcomed us into their studio for a behind the scenes close recording session of their manufacturing processes. Here, Ieva Paukstyte is kneading together a blend of wet and dry clay until it becomes usable for moulding her work, with the squelch and thump down onto the table. 

Black ceramics in Lithuania ― one of the types of black-smoked ceramics, produced using a special technology. It is also called: black-polished, black, grey, smoky, smoked ceramics. Such products have a black colour with a metallic, green or purple sheen, but wit...

Platforms 9 and 10 at Oslo central station, waiting for a train to depart, we hear arrivals and departures, loud train sounds, trolley bags, announcements and the general hum of a major railway station. 

Recorded in 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

The sound of the ocean on the beaches of Cabo Frio, Brazil - a cloudy day with little wind. 

Recorded by Patricio Lerma.

"The piece represents a busy few minutes on Track 9 of Oslo station. All the sounds are made up from sections of the original field recording - sampled, sequenced, pitched, grained, wave-tabled and just generally mashed up whilst the original recording runs in parallel."

Oslo train station soundscape reimagined by Simon Woods.

"I always thought that the waves have their own grooves. My piece follows, complements and builds upon the rhythm of the waves in the recording I have chosen. It aims to be straightforward and slightly hypnotic like the waves of an ocean. Incantations is based on a live jam and it was recorded with an eight track recorder, without the use of a computer."

Waves in Cabo Frio reimagined by Rin Kaseya.

"The original recording is processed through a series of tuned resonators and combined with granular based background sound."

Vilnius black ceramics kneading reimagined by Wolfgang Ludewig / Radialfilm.

I walk behind the flock as the ewes leave the barn after the morning milking. A lamb gets separated from its mother; she hears its plaintive baaing and comes back to find it. Down the road the shepherd opens the shed where the goats spend the night; they run down to join the sheep, walking beside and behind them like officers. Their bells are rectangular and have a harsher tone. With the sheep's round ones they make a whole orchestra, a ringing river of sound.

Recorded in Ano Pedina, Greece by Maria Margaronis.

Listen to the clanging of a pans and cutlery as a Pad Thai is prepared in Chinatown, Bangkok. Recorded by Jake Edwards. 

Aboard the U-bahn in Hannover, travelling to Kroepcke, leaving the station, close-up recording of the escalators, sounds of fellow passengers talking as they leave the station.

Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

" I used Jake Edwards’ field recording from Chinatown, Bangkok, capturing the sounds of pots and cutlery during the preparation of Pad Thai. I transformed these everyday sounds through cuts, repetitions and effects, combining them with generative musical processes using my own software, autom@tedMusiC 3.0.

"The software does not use artificial intelligence. It is the result of a long process of development through my earlier versions, based on algorithmic procedures and generative composition.

"The piece explores how everyday sounds can lose their original identity and become part of an ever-changing musical composition."

Street food in...

"I decided to work with this sound because it reminds me as a kid my easter and summer holidays at my village.

"A balance between the reality of the location and a musical atmospheric memory of it.

"The spatial decay reverb and the bouncing echoes from ping pong delay give the impression of cool air in an autumn pasture."

Greek sheeping going to pasture reimagined by Konstantinos.

"A recording of the U-Bahn in Hanover—a contemporary sonic trace of a place linked to Greek migration to Germany during the 1960s and 1970s. A recording from a *taverna* featuring Greek popular songs, which at times remain recognizable and at others dissolve into sonic fragments. Evangelia’s voice and oud, combined with electronic percussion, create a new sonic layer. The various sources coexist and undergo constant transformation, forging an imaginary space where different places and eras interpenetrate."

Hannover U-bahn reimagined by Orisonspells (Evangelia Tsaousidou and Dimitris Dimitriadis).

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 cars and 1400cc stock cars racing around a shale oval circuit, 11 September 2026. Stock car racing has been in the UK since 1954 - initially taking place o...

"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. Eventide’s Temperance Pro reverb then helps tune the recording into the key of the track.

"Beneath the processed audio, a sub-bass line from Moog Mari...

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 commoners’ voices is merely the echo of traffic resonating through the wide passage.

Recorded in Nanjing, China by Digimonk.

"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.

Birds chirping in the early morning while camping in Pignotti, Italy. Recorded by Francesco.

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 measured, shifting movement through the stillness."

Batan waterfall, Spain reimagined by Trevlad. 

Cascada del Batán - Bogarra, Albacete, Spain. Recorded by Antonio Sarrión (SoundRadar).

"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 , 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 Paul Wheeler.

Image credit: Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

"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."

Ducks on lake in Samara reimagined by Laurence Lillvik.

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, shaped the dynamics, and folded the original birdsong in as an overlay."

Birds in Kroepcke Passage, Hannover reimagined by David Petersen.

"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 Museum, provoking many a "what if?" fantasy conversation. 

"The hissing of the tanks forms the underbelly of the track, accompanied by a...

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 is from the much smaller group of 25-30 pro-Tommy Robinson supporters, who mostly seem to be there to get drunk - this recording is much quieter than the other protest recordings, with just a few...

"I listened to the original recording a few times to pick out some focal points I could use, notable the "Tommy Tommy" chant at the beginning and the "refugees are welcome" chant at the end. I also picked out some profanity used by a member of the protest directed at a female member of the opposition and pitch shifted a few other bits to use more as textures.

"It's quite an experimental piece, lots of synths, big reverb drums, metal guitars and hard auto tuned vocals and the song as a whole is a bit tongue in...

Cities and Memory:

"A special recording like this needed special treatment, so I had a collaboration in mind from the outset when starting on the music. Thinking about that, I set out to create a track that evoked the feeling of the dusk skies and the mellow heat of the African savannah. The field recording was full of different voices and tones, so using it as a bed for the track required some careful splicing and placement so that those voices appeared in the track in the right moments, complementing but not intruding. And of course, there's...

The microphones were set metres away from the lions as the light dropped off and the temperature shifted. The lions are close. This is by far the most dangerous recording I have ever done. Their voices hold weight, spreading slowly across the savannah, overlapping in uneven intervals. There is a sense of space in the gaps between each call. What carries first is distance, low frequency calls moving across open ground, travelling further than expected in the cooling air.

This was not a controlled recording. The position was exposed, visibility was low, and movement nearby could not...

Broadcast on BBC 6music, Sunday 26 July 2026. Cerys Matthews talks to Cities and Memory creator Stuart Fowkes about disappearing and obsolete sounds, and introduces the project.

Includes musical selections by Stuart from Can, Broadcast, Stuart Dempster, William Basinski & Janek Schaefer and The For Carnation.  

Woodland birds recorded during daytime in Nottinghamshire, England. Blue tits are very prominent in the recording.

Recorded by Tim Hills.

"I took a pice of birdsong I had recorded and played around with the Flextime function in Logic. I added stereo echo and then a couple of synth parts from Alchemy and this is the result.:

Birdsong in Bestwood, England reimagined by Tim Hills.

A few old men play a game of dice at the outskirts of the sprawling Osh Bazaar. They slap down small bills before rolling the dice on a wooden board and chain smoke cheap cigarettes. The smoke drifts into the pharmacy next door. They seemingly sell flooring at some point too. While bustling, the bazaar is more calm here; everyone is relaxed and kind.

Recorded by wwjd.

"A mix of the casual tumbling dice in their cup and the majestically remote mountains that cover the land outside of Bishkek."

Dice game at Osh Bazaar, Bishkek reimagined by wwjd.