Can I Get An Amen?

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 2004

Label: Not On Label

Original Acetate - Plays the same on both sides

Private pressing; only 10 of these acetates were pressed on the first pressing run (Edition #1)
Those acetates had the following information on the labels: _?_ of 10, ed, 1 ( meaning # out of 10 pressed, edition #1)

A second acetate pressing was made; but only 4 more copies were pressed on the second run (Edition #2)
Those copies had the following information on the labels: _?_ of 3+1 AP (meaning # out of 3 pressed, plus 1 "Artist Proof" (AP)
This second pressing was done for a German gallery.

All acetates were individually labeled, and had a unique number written on the labels. These were pressed in Los Angeles, CA. (See all images)

An Art gallery in Norwich, UK end up pressing 50 Vinyl copies (12") for their exhibition in 2006. Those were sold to the public, unlike the individual acetate that was made specifically for the actual display inside the galleries which exhibited his work.

A couple of more "one off" acetates were pressed; one which Nate Harrison donated to a friend who runs an non-profit organization in order to raise funds. (that copy was actually cut in Brooklyn, NY)

The second copy was made for a show he did in Berlin in 2011.

A related video was also made by Nate Harrison; in which he appears. A DIY project that was written and directed by him, but not to be part of that recording; he never intended to stand on its own right as an art work, but rather as documentation of the actual work (dub plate + speakers).
The actual set up for each Gallery display was a recording on acetate, turntable, PA system, and included some paper documents.


Notes by Nate Harrison:
"Can I Get An Amen? is an audio installation that unfolds a critical perspective of perhaps the most sampled drum beat in the history of recorded music, the Amen Break. It begins with the pop track Amen Brother by 60's soul band The Winstons, and traces the transformation of their drum solo from its original context as part of a 'B' side vinyl single into its use as a key aural ingredient in contemporary cultural expression. The work attempts to bring into scrutiny the techno-utopian notion that 'information wants to be free'- it questions its effectiveness as a democratizing agent. This as well as other issues are foregrounded through a history of the Amen Break and its peculiar relationship to current copyright law".

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