Jorge Verdin is a Pasadena-based designer, illustrator, and musician. Under the name Clorofila, he is known as a pioneer of the Nortec music style. The multidisciplinary artist has also created music and sound design for theater group Teatro Linea de Sombra, and collaborated with renowned Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz. Under the name Tremolo Audio, he is currently working on an album of tape loop-generated ambient music.

For his Zócalo Sketchbook, Verdin bridges the visual and sonic to document his impressions of the natural world on vintage audio cassette tapes. Capturing the sounds of his local environment in 30 second bursts—available to you by clicking on the play buttons below—the illustrations themselves recreate the iconic look of some of the audio tapes that first led Verdin to making music and manipulating sound in his youth.