We’re all familiar with the experience of looking through old photographs, but sound waves literally get inside us in a way images don’t; allowing us to travel through time and memory.

Thanks to the Music Modernization Act, tens of thousands of recordings made before 1923 will enter the public domain for the very first time on January 1, 2022; recited poetry, turn-of-the-century exercise tapes, and opera performances recorded by the ‘Grandfather of Bootlegging’ Lionel Mapleson are all included in the forthcoming release.

We teamed up with producers Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett from The World According to Sound to bring you a sonic tour of these century-old recordings: obscure, random, and beautiful things made for the future us.

A full transcript of this episode is available here.