Andy Votel - 'All Ten Fingers' (Twisted Nerve)
3/5
By: Matt Tomiak
In his ground-breaking evaluation of comic culture 'Understanding Comics', American writer/illustrator Scott McCloud makes the point that Western civilisation as a whole is 'a pretty goal-orientated culture': in our society, we tend to emphasise the 'being there' over the 'getting there'...
What this has to do with the latest LP from Andy Votel, the multi-talented boss of Manchester's none-more-indie label, Twisted Nerve..? Well, at its core 'All Ten Fingers' seems to contain the philosophy that the experiences collected along the journey are superior to the sum of their parts: thus, it illustrates McCloud's point ideally. Fittingly, this is not a conventional album - indeed, it's no surprise that such an unorthodox figure as Andy doesn't subscribe to the common notion that dictates a record should contain a coherent set of tracks which fit neatly together.
'All Ten Fingers' wanders through a 70-minute-long maze of just about every dance sub-genre known to man; listing them all would be pointless - resulting in an album that defies easy classification. A mixed bag, alright, and whilst some may consider its lack of focus frustrating, others will love its embracing of styles old and new, home-grown and exotic, conventional and innovative.
And why should everything these days make perfect sense..? Sit back and enjoy the ride whilst it's happening.
Artists in this article: Andy Votel
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