Dekmantel Podcast 201 - Andy Votel

Last month, Andy Votel put out his Midlife Crisis Disco Mixtape on limited cassette and it sold out in minutes. However, the English producer, designer and DJ has very kindly given us the exclusive honour of releasing the mixtape digitally, for the very first time, through our podcast series. He is, of course the man behind reissue label Finders Keepers as well as Twisted Nerve, and has released a wealth of music under various pseudonyms on labels like XL. He is someone who is utterly free from categorisation having mixed jazz and hip hop at The Hacienda, documented the history of Welsh protest music on BBC Radio 4, collaborated with Demdike Stare, Suzanne Ciani and Gruff Rhys, and produced for Badly Drawn Boy amongst a lifetime of other dizzyingly diverse projects such as presenting radio shows for Gilles Peterson and NTS. As the title suggests, his latest mixtape is focussed on outsider disco, and is made from original vinyl pressings only. Like the tens of others he has done over the years, it’s a masterclass jam packed with heat, propped up by funky drums and run through with boogie baselines or soaring strings. The tape brims with squelchy synthesiser colour and features vocals in a range of languages that lend it a worldwide feel and global appeal. It’s one for the ages, that’s for sure.