Andy Votel
Styles of the Unexpected EP
[Twisted Nerve/XL/Beggars]
Rating: 5.6
Andy Votel has been knocking around the UK blunted beatz scene for a while
now, and for the most part, he's not been just another stoner stinking up
post-production studios with antique Adidas purchased online from a
Shibuya-based retro-chic boutique. Since his 1995 remix of Mr Scruff's "Sea
Mammal," Votel has achieved acclaim for turning Badly Drawn Boy from a
thrift-store Jamiroquai into an award-winning George Harrison substitute.
Setting aside the arrogance of the title, the seven tracks on this EP offer no
great leaps in form, no turning of the tables of the money changers, no brave
new vistas for the rest of us cloth-eared schlubs to follow on wide-eyed. The
blunted beats here have long since made their way into the vernacular of
TRL-pop and high-cost consumer durable commercials.
After a brooding start, the rinky-dink Rosemary's Baby melody of "Urbanite
Rocks" rides through a devastated cityscape where malformed infants cruise
around in leper-pushed carriages in search of parents, sources of nourishment,
and sunlight. "Girl on a GoPed" renews Votel's partnership with Jane Weaver
in a Pram-for-Dido-fans style. Weaver kittenishly purrs about a "slinky little
number" while Votel frames her in chiming glockenspiels, the revving sounds
of Vespas, and dollar-store organ lines.
The conservatoire-trained, romantically swollen pianist who drops in and out
of "Return of the Spooky Driver" is stubborn against the blasting surf guitar
punks that intend to rid the planet of such academic prettiness. Can the two
reconcile their differences? Is this track big enough for both styles? Votel
fades the song out with the punks. Who knows where the pianist's body has been
dumped?
If the Coen Brothers feel like following up the bluegrass adventures of
Ulysses Everett McGill, what better theme song could they wish for than the
jaunty banjo twang and xylophone clank of "Pickpocket?" And the ostentatious
production of "Diode" allows us a glimpse of what Tortoise might sound like if
they recorded for Grand Central. Along identical lines, "Doe-Eyed" is the
fuzzy gamelan of Macha packaged for the sneaker-conscious. Styles then
closes with Lee Gorton's world-weary, work-shy, cello-accompanied vocals on
the oddly constricted "RiderBrow."
Styles of the Unexpected does little to rid me of the notion that
Votel's sole intent behind it was to release something-- anything-- on
10-inch vinyl. Having been recently discovered as God's preferred format
for the storage of musical information, Votel likely thought he'd give the
Old Man something new to stroke his gray beard to. Knowing that Speaka's far
more worthy Bespoke album couldn't be fit on anything less than a 12",
Votel felt as though these seven tunes would ring out as sound as a pound. I
don't want to speak for God in this matter-- after all, he has his own unique
ways of displaying favor or annoyance-- but I'll keep Bespoke spinning
long after the so-called Styles of the Unexpected have worn out their
meager novelty.
-Paul Cooper