Cities And Memory

A game simulating what it takes to run the power grid for an entire city, featuring various alarm sounds, machinery sounds, incoming phone calls, and voiceover commentary. Part of an interactive exhibit at the Museum of Energy and Technology in Vilnius. Recorded in October 2026 by Cities and Memory. 

A busker plays a full-size harp in a square in Le Marais, Paris, including playing Wonderwall by Oasis in an attempt to charm passers-by. We can hear the sound of cafes, shoppers and other passers-by in and amongst the harp music. Recorded in April 2026 by Cities and Memory. 

The heavily-reverbed impressive interior of Hannover's Neues Rathaus, through which we walk, then exit outside towards two powerful fountains in the courtyard outside. Recordedd by Cities and Memory. 

"I really wanted to utilise various elements of this great field recording. There are people talking, of course the busker playing the harp, hammering noises, seagulls and so much happening. The harpist played so beautifully, so I took portions of what they were playing and then chopped them up. I saved the crowd sounds and played them underneath as the various elements: harp, seagulls, hammer noises play. "To go along with the elements above, I created some drum breaks, piano and more electronic dance sounding synth work. The whole track ebbs and flows. There are some subtle transitions and abrupt ones as well. It stays frenetic because I wanted to retain the hustle bustle of the original field recording. However, I have tried to create moments where the original elements can shine through. "When I reflected on this, to me, it really showcased life and how there is a mix of all these things happening (sometimes all at once). Lastly, I appreciate whoever submitted this field recording, it was so wonderful to

"I was immediately inspired by the reverbed wall of sound interspersed with tannoy vocalisations to create something that sounds a little more industrial than ambient. I wanted to sample some of the recurring sounds and create percussion out of them, which led me to an acid track I've been working on. "The sampled sounds fit perfectly into the beats of the track, and I was able to drop a few little acid squiggles early on in the field recording, too, to kind of foreshadow where it was going. I wanted the piece to have both that rigid kick and snare feel of a techno track, with the improvised twiddle of an acid piece."Vilnius Museum of Energy and Technology exhibit reimagined by Dominic Palmer Tazer McFictionzap.

"The new piece is composed entirely of audio from the original sound file. "I've always been a fan of the sound of rushing water, be it a waterfall, a babbling brook, a shower, or a fountain. The sounds are both turbulent and relaxing, and often endless."The original audio file begins without the sound of water. There are a few voices, but mostly atmosphere. As it goes on, the sound of rushing water builds, changes, then subsides. Slicing the audio into snippets gave me very short audio samples to work with, which I arranged like I would build up a drum track. The water and the voices gave me different pitches, and I controlled the length and placement of each sound. The end of the new track fades up the sound of the original near the end to combine the two versions."Hannover Rathaus reimagined by Christopher Grotke.

"When I first heard the recording of the Tesla coils, I immediately knew it would be my choice for the Autumn project. The sound possessed a remarkable inherent rhythm, making it an ideal foundation for a song built around a beat track. From there, I began thinking about the lyrical theme. Watching footage of active Tesla coils producing their distinctive violet, lightning-like arcs, I was struck by the image of electrical tendrils stretching endlessly towards something just beyond their reach. There was a sense of longing in their constant pursuit of the unattainable. This inspired the idea of writing a love song centred on a personified Tesla coil, waiting by the window for a loved one who never arrives."The original field recording remains present throughout 'Sparks', woven into the background of the arrangement. Its ever-shifting clicks, crackles, and low resonant hums provide an additional layer of texture, enriching the instrumentation and reinforcing the song’s connection to its source material."Tesla

A Tesla coil in the Museum of Energy and Technology in Vilnius. As we turn up the power and frequency dials, the speed and intensity of the sound increases, until the power charge runs out and the coil falls silent. Recorded in October 2026 by Cities and Memory. 

"The field recording features some nice percussive sounds of market dishes and tools. A specific percussive section caught my ears and I based the piece around it. I transformed the section into a two bar loop and improvised around it on an acoustic piano. "This led me into a somewhat melancholic chord progression, upon which the lyrics popped up spontaneously. Various piano tracks were recorder over an analog cassette recorder, some tracks recorded on a higher speed, and then played back in normal speed - yielding a warm and mellow sound space. "Additional percussion , bass and harmony was added later to form a meaningful musical progression. The original field recording comes and goes throughout the piece - sometimes it is in the front and sometimes hardly audible, lending itself into a varying emotional atmosphere."China Town streets sounds in Bangkok reimagined by Tal Yaniv.

"With the exception of some vocalizations by my daughter and myself, all sounds and patterns were derived from the source material - tuned, chopped, inverted."As the piece came together, I considered taking the listener from a churning sea from above, to the slow muted silence from below." Sea of Cortez soundscape reimagined by Will Hall.

Shoreline ambience recorded at mid-morning from a quiet beach on the Sea of Cortez, Mexico: gentle waves washing over sand and pebbles, soft desert breeze, distant gull and frigate bird calls, and long stretches of crystalline hush. Often called “the world’s aquarium,” this UNESCO-listed inner sea harbours exceptional biodiversity where desert meets ocean. Captured May 2025 near Bahía de los Ángeles with a Zoom H5 + ZDM-1 at 48 kHz/24-bit, no post-processing.Recorded by Maura Isabel Aguayo Alemán.

Hear the lively streets of China Town, one of the busiest spots in Thailands capital City, during the rainy season.Recorded by Jake Edwards. 

"The originating field recording is - frankly speaking - quite monotonous along its ten minutes... Thus my intention was/is to open up that monotony by overlaying various instruments. "Defining C major as fitting main root note, I stacked several VST midi instruments, mostly using the pentatonic scale, over the field recoding. The latter is doubled by itself at double speed (used two times in a row); both are regulated in volumes against the the instruments, but they never fade out totally. The midi instruments used are: two synth pads, church organ, and two choirs."Dartmoor streams reimagined by Andreas Pirner. 

A peaceful recording of a natural pool fed by flowing streams, where you can wild swim and immerse yourself in the sounds of the surrounding landscape.Located near Okehampton, Devon, this tranquil spot captures the gentle movement of water and the quiet atmosphere of the natural environment. One of nature’s simple gifts.Recorded by Jake Edwards. 

"There are memories in everything."In nature, in our voices, in all of the world."This field recording may sound like the memories of others, but at the same time it sounds like a shimmer of my own memories."In a shared landscape, individual memories accumulate to form a faintly sacred scene.People can access memories which can’t be touched but are nonetheless real, sometimes close sometimes distant."If we try to touch it, it may disappear, but like a wave, it ebbs and flows, approaches and recedes. These memories fall under my loving gaze."By varying the levels of the ambient sounds (such as the waves) throughout the piece, I sought to represent our continuously changing proximity to our memories. I recorded improvisations on the piano and keyboard, imitated the sound of the wind using my voice, and overlaid spoken word recitations."Depending on our state of mind, our impressions of even a single memory can wildly differ, so I processed the same material in different ways to reflect this, sometimes making i

Sound from the walk through Nature enclave Bobrowisko in Stary Sącz, Poland. Recorded by Dominik Witaszczyk.

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 without the use of dyes. Lithuanian black ceramics are one of the oldest in Europe. This technique was very common in the medieval Europe. Archaeological research in Lithuania has proven that already in the 14th century black ceramics were widespread in the area of modern Vilnius. The Modern Age saw enamel techniques gaining prevalence and black ceramics pushed aside. During the 20th century black ceramics became a rarity.

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.