Manchester-based Andy Votel (Andrew Shallcross) is renowned for his eccentric compilations of obscure folk, prog and psych: 2003's Music to Watch Girls Cry, 2005's Songs in the Key of Death, 2007’S One Nation Under A Grave and 2008's Brazilika. Label founder of indie imprint Twisted Nerve Records (with Badly Drawn Boy) and Finders Keepers, Votel is also a producer and sought after remixer.
 
Andrew Shallcross (b.1975) is originally from Stockport in Greater Manchester, and as a youngster in the early 90s, he was an avid hip-hop record collector. He started DJing in Manchester and has since held residences at a number of northern U.K. clubs, including Headfunk, Frying the Fat, Electric Chair and Missing Link.
 
Schallcross, who took the pseudonym 'Votel' in honour of a Manchester hip-hop crew around at the time of his earliest recordings, put out his first record in 1996 on Grant Central Records. Titled 'If Nine Was Six', the twelve-inch was the first in a series on various local labels. Votel's first album, Styles of the Unexpected (2000 Twisted Nerve Records), was a 40-minute mini-album influenced by surf, electronic, hip-hop, and cinematic themes. All Ten Fingers (2002 Twisted Nerve Records) was the follow up.
 
But Votel’s realm of activities extends far beyond production. After being involved in graphic design projects with several artists and labels including Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough), Votel teamed up with Gough to establish Twisted Nerve Records in 2000. In recent years, he has launched a second label called Finders Keepers to publish previously unreleased, rare psych-pop. Votel boasts an impressive remixography, too, consisting of more than fifty tracks including work by Ian Brown, Death In Vegas, Lamb, Texas, The Avalanches, Broadcast, BDB and Lamb. 
 
Votel’s most acclaimed works are his series of eccentric, themed mix albums,  beginning with 2003's Music to Watch Girls Cry.  Each instalment seamlessly mixes dozens of impossibly rare vintage records into hour-long musical collages. He now has regular offers from seminal vintage labels such as Vertigo and Brazil's Som Livre to mix their back catalogues. 
 
› myspace.com/andyvotel
› www.finderskeepersrecords.com
› www.twistednerve.co.uk
 
 
Appearances:
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