Welcome in 2015 with the aid of the lovely folk from Finders Keepers and Cafe Oto. Label boss Andy Votel and Jane Weaver – one of tQ’s artists of the year – are manning the decks at the late night party in Hackney, London.
Andy Votel, a Twisted Nerve founder, set up Finders Keepers ten years ago with Doug Shipton "with the aim of introducing fans of psychedelic/ jazz/ folk/ funk/ avant-garde and whacked-out movie musak to a lost world of undiscovered vinyl artifacts from the annals of alternative pop history". And the label has long been a favourite at tQ HQ throwing up some of our favourite compilations and reissues of recent years. He will be applying this ear-boggling aesthetic to his DJ set with the aim of "making people dance without playing dance music".
Andy, who has spent the last 20 years DJing all over the world as part of his Finders Keepers lost-pop pilgrimage hasn’t actually played in London for almost five years, says: "I used to DJ in the smoke every other weekend, spending most Saturdays playing with DJ Cherrystones, Doug and Pete Fowler at places like 93ft East and 333 while holding down a regular spot at Fabric. Being a global label Finders Keepers has taken us all further a field in recent years…
"The last time I DJed in London on NYE was exactly ten years ago playing French Pop and krautrock with Bob Stanley at the St. Etienne Extravaganza at Shepherds Bush Empire.
"Out of the handful of trips I’ve made to London in the last 18 moths I’ve actually ended up in Cafe Oto every time. Once to see French free jazz pianist Francois Tusques… I really respect Oto for hosting that show, the audience consisted of about ten people including four Finders Keepers staff members and Thurston Moore. Nine out of ten gigs that make me jealous that i don’t live down here tend to be hosted by Cafe Oto. I came down to DJ at the recent Demdike Stare show but didn’t make it in time so on NYE i can make up with the first few records of our mammoth DJ set."
Jane Weaver runs a fab boutique label, Bird, as part of the Finders Keepers organisation and as well as putting out music by the likes of Eccentronic Research Council, Emma Tricca and Suzanne Ciani she also releases her own LPs. The most recent of these was the awesome Silver Globe, which was one of our albums of the year. She is the yin to Votel’s yang and will be playing party anthems all the way from pop to metal.
The singer, who is touring her Silver Globe LP with Laetitia Sadier this month also cites Oto as hosting one of her best gigs in recent years: "The Cafe Oto crowd made it one of the best gigs of the tour, i’m very happy to be returning there." Until recent years in which Jane has settled down to focus on her Bird Records imprint, she would often appear DJing in London and Manchester as Part of Sean Rowley’s Guilty Pleasures DJ team.
Bridging Jane’s Gary Numan/ Thin Lizzy selection and Andy’s Turkish Disco and Pidgin Inglish Korean Pop covers set will be their good friend and melodic mediator (tQ’s own) John Doran who for many years has been a vital springboard for the musical experiments of both parties, and literally the only person in the UK who can brave this slippery rope bridge.
Doran was chuffed to be asked along to DJ at the event and will be playing cosmic disco, bath house boogie, proto-house and stone to the bone funk, not to mention some Syrian and Iraqi wedding rave madness… plus some copper bottomed NYE classics.
In a night that will comprise Joe Meek Girls, Biker Psych, Top 40 flukes, Bollywood proxy-pop, metal, funk, disco-rap and synth pop this evening’s DJ booth solemnly promises to stay off-trend and on-fire with a lo-arty party to end a fantastic musical year!
You can read more details of the event here at the Oto website.
Here’s a mix from Votel:
And an excerpt from Weaver’s recent Silver Globe album:
