Hocus Focus

Back in 1995 Andy Votel was knocked sideways by a latenight screening of obscure Czech fantasy Valerie And Her Week of Wonders, the tale of a girl whose first period heralds a sequence of strange and inexplicable goings-on. In the years since he has made his name as a label-boss, DJ, designer, musician and tireless vinyl archivist, and for most of that time he has been trying to track down the original masters of the Valerie soundtrack – a heady orchestral folk concoction by Lubos Fischer. Finally Andy released the full score on Finders Keepers late last year, and to mark this occasion he will be bringing a merry band of musical cohorts to the Electric for one night only…

Manchester’s Voice of the Seven Woods, aka Rick Tomlinson, spent 2006 hoovering up new fans all over the place with his beguiling use of guitar, sitar, oud and saz. Hocus Focus will see a rare outing for his rescore/re-edit of Armenian classic The Colour of Pomegranates. Broadcast’s latest album on Warp, Tender Buttons, got widespread thumbs-up as one of their best yet. The band have cited Valerie as a huge influence on their work (they even named a track after it), and tonight they’ll be wrestling over the decks with Messrs Votel and Thomas to play some appropriately otherworldly tunes. Then there’s the film itself, full of jaw-dropping imagery and weird erotic undercurrents. www.voiceofthesevenwoods.com www.broadcast.uk.net