ArtistInfo

Andrew Duke
Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should

Album CA 2004 on Cognition Audioworks label
Electronic (Abstract, Experimental, Ambient)

What if a city tore down a heritage building and put a parking lot in its place-but no one used it? What if gathered people stopped interacting--half talked on cellphones, the rest listened to loud music on CD/MP3 players? Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should expands on the themes first explored by Andrew Duke on his Physical and Mental Health album (Folding/Dial, San Francisco, California, 2002) and "Environmental Politics" EP (and/OAR, Seattle, Washington, 2003). Collaborations are also featured: "Non-Constructive Construction" uses field recordings by Cornucopia's Jorge Castro in his home town in Puerto Rico; "Paradise Paving" (ironically, there is a company in the United States with this name) uses sounds recorded by Sandro "Polmo Polpo" Perri at an abandoned house he stumbled upon while wandering about Ontario; "Vinyl Hiss Voice" was recorded with America's Loam; and "Container Anxiety (version)" reworks a lengthy telephone conversation between Andrew Duke in Halifax Nova Scotia and Kim Cascone in Pacifica California in which discussed were, among other things, contrasts in media, quality vs. quantity, and organic vs. synthetic. Some of the tracks on Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should are rhythmic, some are ambient, most are combinations that hide detailed treatments; some are quite challenging to the ears, others more contemplative and relaxing. The title is open to interpretation; for the artist, though, it refers to the attitude the Halifax Regional Municipality (the HRM referred to in Physical and Mental Health's "HRM H20") takes--Duke's municipal and provincial government totally misses the natural aspects of Halifax that need to be preserved and--because it can, not because it should--wantonly approves new construction while letting historic houses slip into dis-use/repair, builds more roads instead of needed bikeways, gives residents tax refunds (in an election year, no less) while crying "we're too poor to invest in health care and build sewage treatment plants", and ignores the un/under-employed, the homeless, and seniors. Unfortunately, these symptoms are not those of a disease unique to Halifax. Sonically, the juxtapositions in the pieces mimic the "growth" of a city and the noise of humanity and industrial "progress" that threaten to wipe out the sounds of nature. In this age of increasing bombast-not just in sound, but in the other senses as well-are we humans in danger of losing our subtlety?

Musicians

	Andrew Duke voc, CA album by
	Cornucopia , PR featuring
	Polmo Polpo , CA featuring
	Loam , US featuring
	Kim Cascone sampler, g, *1955 US featuring

ArtistInfo App

Acknowledgements

ArtistInfo for Mac, iPad, and iPhone