Crocy

Crocy belongs to the generation of artists that found its calling in the electronic music in the new Millennium. Growing up in Slovenia and despite his focus being on various shades of house music, he could not avoid being at least a little bit influenced by the dominating techno sound in the formative stage of his career.

The crucial moment for Crocy was listening to Eric Fischer’s 1999 Love Parade mix. He instantly fell in love with its fusion of techno, house and electro, including Mr Oizo’s Flat Beat and Daft Punk’s take on Mothership Connection. Intrigued by this sound, he started gathering information on the scene and at the mere age of 14 he experienced his first rave, sneaking out without his parents noticing.

Enjoying the sets of his Slovenian elders such as Umek, Valentino Kanzyani and Eddie F, he decided to follow in their footsteps. He bought a set of second hand belt-drive turntables and started practicing. He needed some time to figure out how to beat-match and mix, but once he did he started doing mixtapes for his friends. Eventually people noticed him and he got his first gigs. In a couple of years he became a familiar face on the Slovenian scene whilst DJing at various parties in Germany, France and Austria as well.

Listening to his music you might not guess he’s a classically trained accordionist (he rarely brags about that, as he wanted to play keyboards in the first place). These days he can’t stand the sound of accordion but he uses the knowledge and skills acquired in music school in his productions. It is the combination of his skills as a musician and a self-taught producer that makes his sound so unique.

He learned music production on his own, by watching colleagues and trying out ideas in Reason. By playing his first loop in a club he managed to clear the room though no long after that he broke through with a remix for Uruguayan artist Federico Epis. Progressive house title “Sunday”, released on San Francisco based Dub Coast records in 2006 was Crocy’s first official release and it was played by top artists such as Hernan Cattaneo, Anthony Pappa, Martin Garcia, Christian Cambas and Jason Jollins.

After this Swiss Off Shore records got in touch with a request for a remix of the official Street Parade 2006 anthem. That was the project that opened many doors for Crocy at other labels, including Balkan Connection and Belgian’s finest Bonzai. Since 2010 he has worked tightly with Bonzai and artists such as Airwave, who is also one of the biggest supporters of his eclectic sound escaping the genre pigeonholes.

Crocy recently reconnected with Canadian singer and songwriter Ashley Berndt for a hit single “Cry” with further work still in the pipeline. Bonzai released the track late 2013, however it was in Spring 2014 it started to get proper airplay and also licensing for various compilations. It become a major radio and club hit in Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria and is now ready to rock western markets.

Crocy’s signature sound is based on warm, bass line driven grooves. He has an ear for vocals as well as euphoric moments but if the melody doesn’t fit the production he doesn’t force it. So, if you grew up with original progressive masters, you simply have to check his redefinition of sound that is doing a major comeback right now.