Cool Hunting

Andy Votel absolutely kills it with his mix tape CDs. There are four albums to check out: Music To Watch Girls Cry (2003), Songs of Insolence (2005), Vertigo Mixed (2005), and Songs In The Key of Death (2005). They’re all hands down my favorite rock dj mixes to date.

Each Album is an eccentric mix of vintage Psych, Prog, Folk, Krautrock, Tropicalia and other bizarre genres that every music geek wishes they knew more about. Votel claims to be dedicated and obsessed with the "pursual of obscure, obsolete, exquisitely obnoxious, unbelievable, underexposed and undeniably delectable discs of experimental pop music from the psyched-out sixties and seventies."

Manchester-based Votel has worked on the production side of Lamb and Death in Vegas but is know more for his friendship with Damon Gough or Badly Drawn Boy. They began the label Twisted Nerve which spawned the first Badly Drawn Boy EPs and brought the two major recognition worldwide.

If you’re in Manchester, check out dj sets by Votel and his friends every Friday night at Cornerhouse free of charge.

For an awesome, obscure record encyclopedia, see one of Votel’s record labels, B-Music and buy the records at another one of his phenomenal labels, Finder’s Keepers. You can also find the CDs and listen to tracks at Amazon.

by Sean Thomas