your greedbagpress release - Trouser Jazz
Hotter than one of those display cabinet things they put the fish that’s just come out of the fryer in at the chippy, Mr Scruff has underlined his undoubted status as Britain’s finest open minded Jockey De La Disque with a recent 23 date Keep It Unreal UK tour.
There was a proper tour bus with an often grumpy driver called Ian, (Mr Scruff enjoyed several stimulating conversations with him about road maps and roundabouts) tour posters, T-shirts and crowds who refused to leave after the now usual five hours plus of genre-busting trousersonic sound. An all-dayer at Birmingham’s Custard Factory saw a 45-minute encore as last track after last track failed to satisfy frenzied Brummie revellers. As with all tours there was a rider at each venue. But Mr Scruff has no time for Smarties and hot towels. Instead he requested a few bottles old mans ale and his favourite Yorkshire tea. OK, it’s hardly Spinal Tap but he has never been one for doing things the way they have been done before.
A lot of things have happened since a young Andy Carthy started answering to the name Mr Scruff -making a name for himself under the shadow Manchester’s snooty club scene of the mid 90s. A DJ who joined the musical dots others didn’t even know existed, he utilised hip-hop skills- not to impress but to maintain a flow for the dancers. A series of smashing EPs which initially seemed quirky but turned out to have a durable musical value, proved that our hero was more than just a DJ. Titles like 'Large Pies', the gloriously cranky 'Chicken in a Box' and 'Camels Foot' (housed in sleeves featuring Mr Scruff’s charming scribbles of potato-shaped chaps getting down as best they could), made it clear that though his music was unquestionably cracking, we were not dealing with some pretentious po-faced trance DJ.
Two LPs, a self-titled first in May 97, and 'Keep It Unreal' - released to universal acclaim in July '99 - cemented his status as maverick with the crankiest tunes on the playground. Even Madonna name checked Mr Scruff, claiming Keep It Unreal had been a regular spin on her hometown Hi- Fi. Big up yerself, Madge.
In the past few years, the Keep It Unreal night, which began in Manchester, has become a nationwide brand with Mr Scruff hosting his own club in cities across the country - allowing him free reign to jumble jazz, house, hip hop, ska, ragga, reggae, dub, blues, soul and rock and roll. At such hoedowns Mr Scruff makes a difference by making his own rules and adhering to Frank Zappa’s durable epithet - that 'if music be the food of love, nobody wants to eat cabbage all night'. He will play for as long as seven hours (if he needs the toilet he will put on a Fela Kuti record) and in that time he will be several DJs rolled into one.
But hang on. Maybe you know all this. I was just trying to introduce our hero to the stragglers at the back. This note is really just to let you know that the cavalry, in the shape of Scruff’s third long player, is about to arrive. You’ve heard the 'Shrimp' single? - an inspired fusion of Mizell Brothers cool and Roger Troutman’s squelchy funk. Those of us who hate records made by ordinary DJs with no more than a basic knowledge of sampling machinery were fooled into thinking it was a lovely old oddball disco record we’d missed.
The forthcoming 'Trouser Jazz' delivers on the promise of that single. Recorded largely in Mr Scruff’s newly constructed home studio, it features a collaboration with highly touted homegrown rap talent Braintax on ‘Vibrate’. Homelife’s octave defying Seaming To sings on another genre-defying carve up and I see we’ve not run out of great titles if ‘Come on Grandad’ is anything to go by. Mr Scruff tells me it’s a more rounded affair with a mix of dancefloor dynamite, some Brazilian influences, and further cheeky tunes about fish with commentary from children’s TV presenters.
There are some festival appearances coming up, a Keep It Unreal UK tour around the time of the album release in September (watch the skies and your local free newspaper), and another jaunt to the Americas in the winter.
On 13th July there’s the third birthday of Keep It Unreal in Manchester. Perhaps we’ll get to hear some plenty crazy Bollywood soundtracks as Mr Scruff tells me that he has recently purchased a huge collection of same- adding to an already extensive vinyl collection that threatens to test the foundations of his modest Victorian terrace. You’ll find me in the tea room at Keep It Unreal. Where those needing to rest aching feet can purchase a reviving Yorkshire blend and a biscuit before responding once more to the irresistible pull of a smiling dancefloor. It’s this kind of thing which goes to show that Mr Scruff is, aside from being an uncommonly decent chap, a man who has realised that a good night out has little to do with grumpy music and sweaty lads on cheap drugs.
release:Trouser Jazz
label: Ninja Tune