After spending many years underground sucking on juices from tree roots, cicada swarms numbering in the millions (and even billions at times) suddenly emerge from the darkness and make their way to the nearest tree. Their sole purpose over the next few weeks is to reproduce. The males use a drum-like membrane on the abdomen to produce loud, mostly high frequency buzzing sounds to attract female lovers. This year, the cycles of two different broods will emerge at the same time, something that has not happened since 1803. So, if you live in the United States, it’s about to get loud. Real loud. To get you in the mood for this epic bug booty call, we put together a mixtape featuring cicada swarms from all over the world, including the ear-splitting African cicada (the loudest insect on earth), tornado sirens, synths, a satirical news story, a Scooby Doo episode, an old-school film with an updated soundtrack, radio transmissions, a roadside typist, zombie cicadas, hallucinogenic fungi and more.
TRACKLIST
Eerie Recording of Tornado Sirens – Recorded from a distance by Richard Devin in Atlanta, Georgia
Cicadas – Sidewalk in Caldwell, OH, West Branch State Park, Kendall Lake, Cuyahoga Valley National Park – Brad Bolton (Proftalon)
Frogs and Cicadas – Frap Tools Modular Synthesizer
Periodical Cicadas Overrun the Forest – Planet Earth – BBC
Borneo – Cicadas & Crickets – Jean Roché & Jean Thévenet
The Cicada herŋc:d - Dream Songs and Healing Sounds in the Rainforests of Malaysi – Marina Roseman (Folkways)
Frogs, Crickets, Cicadas - Jungles of Sulawesi – Jean Roché
Emergence of the Cicadas - Ambient Modular Synth Soundscape (Autotross)
Cicada Plague - Nature_'s Weirdest Events – BBC
Cicada Singing - Ketambe, Sumatra - Bartosz Grzyb
Taman Negara Park (Malaysia) – Cicadas & Crickets – Jean Roché & Jean Thévenet
Cicadas – Jungles of Celebes – Jean Roché
Cicadas, 2 Notes and a Furthrrrr Generator – Nerospantalones
Cicada (School Film) - United States Department of Agriculture
Cicada Close (New Zealand) – Fausto Caceres
Khao Yai Park (Thailand) – Cicadas & Crickets – Jean Roché & Jean Thévenet
Koh Phayam Cicada (Thailand) – Jesse Paul Miller
Cicadas - Music and Ambiences of Laos – Jerome Petit
Lonely Cicada & Street Typing – World Listener
Cicadas Sing for India – Ajmithra
Mont Omei Setchouan (China) – Cicadas & Crickets – Jean Roché & Jean Thévenet
Cicadas at Unknown Shrine – Ogikubo Tokyo, Japan – Jesse Paul Miller
France Haute Provence, three singing species) – Cicadas & Crickets – Jean Roché & Jean Thévenet
Underground transmission from Brood X - Cities and Memory
Cicada – Oribi Gorge, South Africa - David Phillips
Cicada Kgalagadi – Northern Cape, South Africa – David Phillips
Cicadas (Venezuela) – Cicadas & Crickets – Jean Roché & Jean Thévenet
Cicadas - The Songs Of Insects (Calls Of The Common Crickets, Grasshoppers And Cicadas Of Eastern United States) - Richard D. Alexander, Donald J. Borror
Brood X on a Gravel Radio – Stephen Bradley (Wave Farm)
Cicadas in Southern France - Shirley and Spinoza Radio
Radio Awakening - Jeff Gburek
Zombie Cicadas (VICE)
Periodical Cicadas Overrun the Forest – Planet Earth – BBC