Mr. Scruff (real name Andy Carthy) is a British DJ, acid jazz musician and artist. He is a native of Stockport, near Manchester, England; his DJ name was inspired by his trademark goatee beard. 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 of at least 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.

Mr Scruff's first album, Mr Scruff, was released on the small Manchester based label Paradise 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. All his albums contain tracks about fish, whales and other sealife, 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 distinctive cartoony style; many of the cartoons are drawn by Scruff himself.

Mr Scruff is currently releasing a series of 3 compilation CDs, called Keep It Solid Steel. The compilations are designed to recreate the eclectic genres one would expect to hear at a Mr Scruff club night. Volume 1 was released in 2004; parts 2 and 3 are expected to be available in 2005.

His song Ug off 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).

Discography

Albums

• Mr. Scruff (1997)
• Keep It Unreal (1999)
• Trouser Jazz (2002)
• Keep It Solid Steel Volume 1 (2004)

External links

• Mr. Scruff official site
• Discogs.com: Mr. Scruff