DJ Cruze

So the inevitable countdown to my stag weekend has begun and I’ll level with you. I’m petrified! When you’re in control of your life and you’re making your own decisions then life is good. You know where you’re heading. You can avoid life’s pitfalls and life’s strippers! When your best man, your brother and 13 other guys know what is going to happen to you and you don’t then you start to worry.

My stag weekend will begin with us meeting at Manchester airport at 10 am on Friday morning to start the weekend of drunken debauchery that only a stag weekend can fulfil. A short flight to my regular airport of choice, Frankfurt am Main, and then off to the glorious city of Mannheim for who knows what!

If you’re in the country and you’d like to join us then here’s the plan:

Friday 2nd June
We’ll be in Teledisko @ Soho in Mannheim from about 10pm. No doubt the boys and I will have sampled a few of the local German beers so I hope we’re still standing by then. We aim to start the weekend off with a bang with some funky electro and tech house supplied by our able hosts, Luke45 and Alex Harmony. I believe they have Mr Hardy Heller on the decks too. A top DJ and all round top guy! Looking forward to seeing you there for a dance and some beers. I won’t be DJ’ing so don’t expect me on the decks.

Saturday 3rd June
After a morning of sleep, and a hopefully hearty breakfast, we’ll be heading off somewhere for an afternoon of Fussball, beer and Frankfurters. I’m not sure where this will be but hopefully it’ll involve a grillplatz (a BBQ) and some meat. After that we’ll be heading out to a few bars in the early evening before the night begins in a big style. My best man, DJ Vuish, and I invite you to a night of drunken debauchery and house music at the legendary Loft Club in Ludwigshafen. Expect funky house, dirty electro, Manchester house classics, some dodgy mixing (if I am really drunk) and a massive party vibe. The lads from sunny England won’t know what’s hit them!

In between these things I’m sure that a few suprises will occur and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens. If you see me tied to a lamppost then please help me to get free!

1. Armand Van Helden - My My My - (Stonebridge Mix) - Southern Fried Records
2. Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child - (James Ash Remix) - Ariola
3. Supermode - Tell Me Why - Data
4. Danielle Bollinger - When The Broken Hearted Love Again - (Soul Seekerz Mix) - EsNtion Records
5. Nelly Furtado - Man Eater - (DJ Cruze Funkfinders Mix) - CDR
6. The Shapeshifters & Chic - Sensitivity - (Nocturnal Mix) - Positiva
7. Fatboy Slim - The Greatest Remixes Part One - Skint
8. DJ Steve Forest vs The King - U Can’t Stop - (DJ Pedro Twister Mix) - HIT! Records
9. Danii Minogue - So Under Pressure - (Soul Seekerz Mix) - AATW
10. Lorraine - Transatlantic Flight - (Axwell Mix) - Waterfall
11. Sonique - Tonight - (Haji & Emanuel Mix) - Azuli
12. Ferry Corsten - Fire - (Robbie Rivera Remix) - Positiva
13. Cajmere - Say U Will - (Andy Van Remix) - Data
14. India Arie - I Am Not My Hair - (Wigged Out Mix) - Motown
15. Asle - Golden Sun - (Haji & Emanuel Mix) - CR2
16. The Similou - All This Love - (The Young Punx Club Mix) - Direction
17. Andy Cato - La Luna - Azuli
18. MYNC Project - Something On Your Mind - (Soul Seekerz Mix) - Apollo
19. Jamiroquai - Space Cowboy - (Mayhem & Musaphia 2006 Reconstruction) - Columbia
20. Avalon Superstar - All My Love - (Soul Seekerz Mix) - Avalon Superstar

I’ve had quite a few emails asking me where you can download my remix of Nelly Furtado’s “Man Eater”. It’s great that you all love the funky house mix so much but unfortunately it’s not available in the shops. The version I played on podcast episode #16 came straight from my studio and wasn’t even finished! I’ll hopefully be finishing it off and mastering at the weekend so I’ll have promotional versions available for people in the next few days. Obviously I won’t be charging for it as I don’t own the copyright* on Nelly’s vocals. I’ll let you know when I’m done with it and then you can get a copy. But only if you make sure you that pass it on and spread and share the DJ Cruze funky house vibe!

Edited on 10th June 2006: You can now find the full mix here. Enjoy!

* This will be used as a promotional item only to showcase the funky house sounds of DJ Cruze. The download will be removed if it causes any problems with the artist, publisher or record company.

Sorry I’m a bit late with the podcast this week. We got there eventually though. Here is episode #16 of the DJ Cruze podcast. It’s filled with plenty of funky house music for your listening pleasure.

UPDATE: The MP3 has now uploaded properly and you should get the full 54 minutes!

[podcast direct download] | [podcast RSS feed]

Here is the tracklisting for the show:

• Big tunes:
  • Rihanna - S.O.S. (Moto Blanco Vocal Mix) - Def Jam
  • Sugababes - Follow Me Home (Soul Seekerz Remix) - Island
  • Armand Van Helden - My, My, My (Stonebridge Mix) - Southern Fried Records
• DJ Cruze exclusive:
  • Nelly Furtado - Man Eater (DJ Cruze Funkfinders Mix) - CDR
• DJ Cruze chart rundown:
  • Supermode - Tell Me Why (Raul Rincon Mix) - Data
  • Danii Minogue - So Under Pressure (Soul Seekerz Mix) - AATW
  • Danielle Bollinger - When The Broken Hearted Love Again (Soul Seekerz Mix) - EsNtion Records
• Cruze classic from 1995:
  • Wildchild - Renegade Master (from Legends of the Dark Black Part II) - Hi-Life Recordings

Don’t forget to rate this podcast so I know what you like and don’t like. Run your mouse over the stars underneath the title of this podcast and it allows you to rate it. If you like it then give me a big phat 10. If it’s terrible then give it a 1. Go on… you know you want to vote!

As always I love to hear your feed back on the show. Contact me using the form provided and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. I’m always looking for new tunes to play on the show so if you’re an up and coming producer who’s looking for some exposure then let me know and if I like the tunes, I’ll play them.

Damn you NTL! It looks like my FTP upload for the latest podcast got cut short last night and it’s only managed to upload 34 minutes of the show. I’ve temporarily taken the feed down until I can sort it out. It will go live again tonight once I can re-upload the full show. Sorry about that.

1. Danii Minogue - So Under Pressure (Soul Seekerz Mix) - AATW
2. Danielle Bollinger - When The Broken Hearted Love Again (Soul Seekerz Mix) - EsNtion Records
3. Ferry Corsten - Fire (Robbie Rivera Remix) - Positiva
4. Nelly Furtado - Man Eater (DJ Cruze Funkfinders Mix) - CDR
5. DJ Steve Forest vs The King - U Can’t Stop (DJ Pedro Twister Mix) - HIT! Records
6. Armand Van Helden - My My My (Stonebridge Mix) - Southern Fried Records
7. Andy Cato - La Luna - Azuli
8. India Arie - I Am Not My Hair (Wigged Out Mix) - Motown
9. Asle - Golden Sun (Haji & Emanuel Mix) - CR2
10. Sonique - Tonight (Haji & Emanuel Mix) - Azuli
11. Jamiroquai - Space Cowboy (Mayhem & Musaphia 2006 Reconstruction) - Columbia
12. MYNC Project - Something On Your Mind (Soul Seekerz Mix) - Apollo
13. Avalon Superstar - All My Love (Soul Seekerz Mix) - Avalon Superstar
14. The Shapeshifters & Chic - Sensitivity (Nocturnal Mix) - Positiva
15. Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child (James Ash Remix) - Ariola
16. Flanders - By My Side (Callea & Rispoli Mix) - Gusto
17. Til West & DJ Delicious - Same Man - Data
18. Supermode - Tell Me Ehy - Data
19. Freeloaders - Now I’m Free (Freefalling) (Raul Rincon Mix) - AATW
20. Mousse T vs The Dandy Warhols - Horny As A Dandy (Alex Gaudino & Jerma Mix) - Feverpitch

There’s an interesting article on Wired’s Web Monkey site about a guy called Francis Preve who talks about his experiences with laptop production. The speed of laptops has now meant that you can have a portable production environment which is fast enough to run VST instruments on the go. He’s quite a successful producer so it’s nice to know that you don’t need a big studio to make tunes any more. I knew this anyway but it’s nice to have it confirmed.

So after reading this article I was a naughty boy and splurged some money on a new Dell laptop. It’s an Inspiron 9400 and it’s hopefully going to be super fast for doing my music on. I’ve not installed any of my music apps on it yet as most of my time has been spent removing the rubbish that Dell put on it. I mean, who really needs three different installs (AOL, Tiscali and Wanadoo) for your internet connection? I’ll get my music software on there at the weekend and then I’m looking forward to plenty of producing. I’d also like to get myself a little MIDI controller keyboard rather than the larger one I have in my studio so I can make music on the go. There would be nothing better than getting some funky house beats produced in my lunch hour.

My latest mix is sounding hot (and much better than “Cease!” which I’ve ended up not being so happy with) so I’m looking forward to tweaking it on a new, faster PC. It’ll save me from the pain of having to disable any other applications whilst trying to render the tune out from Cubase! I’ll make some copies of the remix available for people to download once it is finished. 2006 is going to be my year for production!

How cool does this look?

I got into DJ’ing because I wanted to scratch so this really intrigues me. It looks like that VJ tools are now catching up with turntablism and allow them to make some crazy visuals. There’s also a cool link to some software called Ms Pinky which allows you to cue and scratch both MP3, AIFF or WAV files along with Quicktime movies. I can’t wait to see this sort of stuff live in a club. I wonder whether they’ll hook it up to the turntables or whether we’ll have to teach the VJs to scratch? I want to have a go!

The podcast is going to be a bit delayed this week because I’ve been mad busy with work. I’m going to try and get it sorted tonight but it might not go online until the weekend. Sorry about that. It will contain plenty of funky house this week though so you’ll be happy about that I’m sure.

On this week’s podcast you’ll get an exclusive new house remix that I’ve been working on. It’s a funky house mix of Nelly Furtado’s “Man Eater” which I’m sure you’ll like. It’s very much in the Miki Moto and Bobby Blanco vein of production with funky rhodes piano, some cheeky synth action and some great strings. Nelly’s vocal works really well with it so I’m looking forward to playing it for you. After that I’ve got plans for another dirtier remix of her tune for the electro floors. Alex hates the chorus so I’d better do a new mix without it for him and the electro boys and girls!

1. Flanders - By My Side (Callea & Rispoli Mix) - Gusto
2. Til West & DJ Delicious - Same Man - Data
3. Danielle Bollinger - When The Broken Hearted Love Again (Soul Seekerz Mix) - EsNtion Records
4. Danii Minogue - So Under Pressure (Soul Seekerz Mix) - AATW
5. Supermode - Tell Me Why - Data
6. India Arie - I Am Not My Hair (Wigged Out Mix) - Motown
7. Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child (James Ash Remix) - Ariola
8. Freeloaders - Now I’m Free (Freefalling) (Raul Rincon Mix) - AATW
9. Mousse T vs The Dandy Warhols - Horny As A Dandy (Alex Gaudino & Jerma Mix) - Feverpitch
10. Stargazer - Feel Good (Macz Mix) - Nebula
11. Loletta Holloway - Love Sensation 06 (Freemasons Mix) - Gusto
12. Gustavo Santaolalla - The Wings (Gabriel & Dresden Organized Nature Mix) - Universal
13. Solu Music - Fade (Bimbo Jones Strings Mix) - Hed Kandi
14. DJ Steve Forest vs The King - U Can’t Stop (DJ Pedro Twister Mix) - HIT! Records
15. Sugababes - Follow Me Home (Soul Seekerz Remix) - Island
16. Bodyrox - Yeah Yeah (D Ramirez Club Mix) - Eye Industries
17. Solo - One Man (Original Mix) - CDR
18. Armand Van Helden - My My My (Stonebridge Mix) - Southern Fried Records
19. Bimbo Jones - Harlem One Stop - Columbia
20. The Joker - Bring It Back (Your Soul) (Robbie Rivera Dub) - Hit!