Jay Critchley
BOSTON'S BIG DIG SINGS ! BIG TWIG TUNNEL TAPES CD RELEASED BY JAY CRITCHLEY; FEATURES ORIGINAL FIELD RECORDINGS AND PRODUCED TRACKS FROM THE $15 BILLION HIGHWAY PROJECT, RECORDED BEFORE OPENING FOR TRAFFIC; INCLUDES OPERA, DANCE MIXES, A RAP SONG, TUNNEL VISION, AND THE ROSE KENNEDY GREENWAY COMPOSITION.
On three occasions shortly before Boston's Big Dig opened the I-93 southbound tunnel to traffic in December 2003, Critchley, Timothy O'Keefe and a small cadre of singers, musicians, photographers, videographers and curios descended into its depths 125 feet below the city to record their voices, song, music making and ambient and sampled sound. The artist was supported by Big Dig artist Etty Padmodipoetro, but ultimately needed the clout of Governor Romney, Senator Kennedy and US Representative Bill Delahunt to access the underground roadway.
Performers include opera singers Rachel Smith and Stephanie McGuire, students with Donna Roll at Longy School of Music in Cambridge, singer Serena Andrews, viola player and singer Jonah Rapino and Critchley. Video and photography credits go to Roberto Ugalde, Lydia Eccles, Kathy Chapman, Timothy O'Keefe and Critchley. Jeffrey Alexander, Ryan Rooney, Andrew Sawtelle, Adam R. Wadsworth and Chris Warren and O'Keefe, all from Providence, Rhode Island, produced the mixed tracks composed mostly from the field recordings in the tunnel. The web site and CD graphics design were created by O'Keefe, who is also Associate Executive Producer and Engineer. The CD was produced at AS220 in Providence, Rhode Island and is partially funded by the LEF Foundation.
Vehicularly-challenged
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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SFV (Sports Futility Vehicle)
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Friendly Fired
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Horsepower
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Drive-by Polluting
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Spider Hole
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Crude
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Futures
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Bunker Buster
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Canary
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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sraW ratS (Star Wars)
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Avon Calling
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Rogue Rage
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Mad Kowtow Disease
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Cooked Books
Big Twig Tunnel Tone For Cellphones
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Blue Green Hills of Earth
written by Kim Oler, performed by Jay Critchley, produced by Timothy O'Keefe - Jay thanks brother-in-law Kim Oler for use of his well known song
[ tags: boston political green ] [ genres: found sound song ] [ info: 4:00 min mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Exhausting
written and performed by Jonas Rapino
[ tags: boston viola ] [ genres: composition instrumental ] [ info: 1:29 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Beatrice & Benedict
written by Berlioz, performed by Stephanie McGuire & Rachel Smith - this operatic duet combines a performance by Rachel and Stephanie, students at Longy School of Music in Boston, with an environmental tunnel recording of water sounds
[ tags: water boston opera berlioz ] [ genres: classical found sound ] [ info: 3:32 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Shawmut Highway
produced by Andrew Sawtelle
[ tags: boston processed ] [ genres: avant garde composition ] [ info: 4:00 min mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Mercury Rising
produced by Ryan Rooney - a soundscape composed of overlayed and manipulated recorded tunnel sounds
[ tags: soundscape tunnel boston ] [ genres: found sound collage ] [ info: 5:56 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Mission Creep
produced by Adam R Wadsworth
[ tags: boston ] [ genres: electronic *none* ] [ info: 4:36 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Rose Kennedy Greenway
produced by Jeffrey Alexander - this piece combines sampled and processed recorded tunnel sounds with an overdub of acoustic guitar
[ tags: guitar tunnel boston processed ] [ genres: instrumental found sound ] [ info: 2:53 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Gridluck
produced by Jeffrey Alexander
[ tags: boston strings ] [ genres: composition instrumental ] [ info: 2:52 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Drinking Alone
written and performed by Jonas Rapino - recorded in one of the emergency exit stairwells within the tunnel during our second expedition
[ tags: boston viola stairwell ] [ genres: composition instrumental ] [ info: 2:07 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Road Not Taken
produced by Timothy O'Keefe
[ tags: boston aria ] [ genres: electronic found sound ] [ info: 4:53 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Die Holle Rache, Queen of Night, The Magic Flute
written by Mozart, performed by Rachel Smith
[ tags: boston mozart aria opera ] [ genres: classical vocal ] [ info: 2:37 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Compassionate Toxins
written and performed by Jonas Rapino - this track combines two seperate tunnel recordings of solo viola
[ tags: tunnel boston viola ] [ genres: instrumental composition ] [ info: 1:31 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Faith-based Energy
produced by Jeffrey Alexander
[ tags: singing tunnel boston viola ] [ genres: vocal composition ] [ info: 4:03 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Green House Mix
produced by Adam R Wadsworth - a dance mix using processed tunnel sounds
[ tags: dance tunnel boston ] [ genres: house found sound ] [ info: 2:04 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Tunnel Vision
written and performed by Jay Critchley, produced by Timothy O'Keefe - Jay's first stab at rap reflects on the state of politics and the planet (see lyrics)
[ tags: rap oil boston politics planet ] [ genres: rap found sound ] [ info: 3:26 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Pipeline Dreams
produced by Chris Warren - this composition is an eerie yet beautiful soundscape. It combines the ambient tunnel sounds intermixed with manipulated extracted tunnel sounds and processed overdubbed guitar
[ tags: soundscape guitar tunnel boston ] [ genres: ambient psychogeography ] [ info: 1:53 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Ruminant Roadway
a field recording of the tunnel ambience including sounds of construction, passing trucks and distant voices of the the Big Dig
[ tags: tunnel construction trucks boston ] [ genres: field recording psychogeography ] [ info: 1:07 mp3 ccbysa2.0 ]
Jay is a conceptual, visual, and performance artist whose provocative work responds to the natural, built, and social environment. His initial Big Twig proposal, an ecological response to the Big Dig won top prize in the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian competition in New York City. (check out his Rose Kennedy Greenway proposal, and related ecological projects: C.A.R.S. - Weapons of Gas Destruction, and the Cape Cod Sagamore Bridge "Flyover".) He founded the patriotic Old Glory Condom Corporation - worn with pride countrywide - and won a three-year legal battle with the US government for it's trademark. He is the winner of the HBO Audience Award in 2002 for his first movie, Toilet Treatments, filmed partly in his backyard septic tank where he has created the Theater in the Ground@Septic Space. Jay is a civic artist who seamlessly weaves aesthetics and politics, humor and solemnity, treating categories and boundaries as artistic and political fodder. Jay runs the annual Provincetown Harbor Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla (www.swim4life.org), a benefit for AIDS and women's health that has raised over $1.3 million since 1988.
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