Mr. Scruff

Mr. Scruff is the recording name of Andy Carthy (born in 1972 in Macclesfield, England), a British DJ and artist. He is a native of Stockport, England and studied Fine Art at the Sheffield College of Art.

His DJ name was inspired by his spotty facial hair, as well as his trademark loose-lined drawing style. He has been DJing since 1994, at first in and around Manchester then nationwide in the United Kingdom. He is known for DJing in marathon sets (often exceeding six hours), his eclectic musical taste, his love of a "nice cup of tea" and the quirky home-produced visuals and animations that are projected on large screens during his gigs.

Career

Scruff's debut album, Mr. Scruff, was released on the small Manchester-based label Pleasure Records. He soon moved to the larger Ninja Tune label, and subsequently released the albums Keep It Unreal and Trouser Jazz.

His most notable hit "Get a Move On" is built around "Bird's Lament (In Memory of Charlie Parker)" by Moondog, and has been used in several commercials ranging from Lincoln and Volvo automobiles to France Télécom and GEICO insurance. The song also samples Shifty Henry's "Hyping Woman Blues" and led to a renewal of interest in Henry's compositions.

All of his albums contain tracks about fish, whales and other sea-life, which cut up recordings of voiceovers from children's stories and nature documentaries to create surreal and silly stories. His album artwork and music videos are noted for their whimsical cartoonish look; many of the cartoons are drawn by Scruff himself, in what he calls "potato style."

In 2004, Mr Scruff released Keep It Solid Steel, Volume 1, the first of what is intended to be a series of four DJ-mixed compilation CDs for Ninja Tune's Solid Steel series of artist mixes. These mixes are designed to recreate the eclectic genres one would expect to hear at a Mr. Scruff club night. In November 2006, Ninja Tune confirmed that the 8th Solid Steel record would be mixed by J Rocc and the 9th would be Volume 2 from Mr. Scruff. Other Solid Steel mixes have been released by fellow Ninja Tune artists including The Herbaliser, Hexstatic, DJ Food and Amon Tobin.

He has a wide array of remixes to his name, and has also produced tracks for others — notably "Echo of Quiet and Green" for sometime-collaborator Niko for her 2004 album Life on Earth. Niko returned the favour, appearing on the track "Come Alive" from the Trouser Jazz album.

Having performed regularly at The Big Chill Festival in Eastnor Castle deer park, Ledbury, Herefordshire, he was asked in 2006 to select the tracks for their compilation album, Big Chill Classics. Mr. Scruff is expected to release his fourth studio album in late 2007.

Discography

Albums

• Mr. Scruff (Pleasure Records, 09 May 1997)
• Keep It Unreal (Ninja Tune, 14 July 1999)
• Heavyweight Rib Ticklers (DJ mix album, Unfold Recordings, 11 February 2002)
• Trouser Jazz (Ninja Tune, 16 September 2002)
• Keep It Solid Steel Volume 1 (DJ mix album, Ninja Tune, 01 January 2004)
• Mrs. Cruff (re-release) (reissue of Mr. Scruff, 05 May 2005)
• Big Chill Classics (compilation album, Resist Music, 21 August 2006)

Collaborations

Mr. Scruff with…

• DJ Spooky - "Murderah Style" appeared on the compilation album Tribal Gathering 96 (Universe, 1996)
• Mark Rae - "How Sweet It Is" and "Gotta Have Her" both appeared on the compilation album Central Heating (Grand Central Records, 25 November 1996)
• Tony D - "Flavour" featuring Mark Rae, Mark 1 and Mr. Scruff, from the album Pound For Pound (Grand Central Records, 15 September 1997)
• Mark Rae - "The Squirrel" appeared on the compilation album Central Heating 2 (Grand Central Records, 17 April 2000)
• Peter Nice Trio vs. Mr. Scruff - "Harp Of Gold" from the compilation album Out Patients (Hospital Records, 30 May 2000)
• Fingathing - "Just Practice" featuring Mr. Scruff, from the album The Main Event (Grand Central Records, 20 November 2000)
• Quantic - "It's Dancing Time" from the compilation album Shapes One (Tru Thoughts, 2003)
• Quantic - "Giraffe Walk" from Quantic's album, One Off's Remixes and B Sides (Tru Thoughts, 06 February 2006)
• Swell Sessions - "No No" from the album Swell Communications (due for release 2007)

Cover versions

• "Get a Move On" was covered by Will Holland's side project, the Quantic Soul Orchestra on the album Pushin' On (Tru Thoughts, 09 May 2005)

Song appearances

• Last segment called "Full Circle" from documentary movie Scratch features Spandex Man with various extra samples added.
• Episodes of the hit UK TV comedy show Spaced featured the tracks "Spandex Man", "Chipmunk" and "Blackfoot Roll" from the Keep It Unreal album.
• "Spandex Man" was also used on the BBC series Top Gear and is often used on The Real Hustle on BBC Three
• The song "Ug" from the album Trouser Jazz is used in numerous Weebl and Bob cartoons, including the very first one entitled "Pie". The pie as a motif later recurred in one of Scruff's videos (Sweetsmoke).
• "Get a Move On" was used in a Volvo commercial and subsequently used for ads for Lincoln automobiles, the BBC for snooker highlights and in The Apprentice, and the Adio Footwear in the skateboarding video One Step Beyond for Kenny Anderson's part.
• "Blackpool Roll" is being used in New Zealand by television network TV ONE as background music as part of their branded channel advertising and show listings.
• "Spandex Man" features in and is used on the DVD Menu of the film SW9 and the film "Gumball Rally 3000".
• "Fish" was used by Nexus Productions for the Virgin Atlantic safety video, which features the voices of Vic Reeves and Dani Behr.

Music videos

The music videos by Mr. Scruff have a distinct aesthetic of simply line drawings and two-dimensional graphics; the characters have very simple shapes of their bodies and sticks as hands and feet.

External links

• Mr. Scruff's offical "Pie Space" from MySpace
• Interview with Mr Scruff from BBC Blast

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