Knowing me knowing you - Cover

After enjoying the recording of "Still the One," CDcruz and friends decided to tackle another classic—this time, an ABBA hit. "Knowing Me, Knowing You" is a melancholic song with powerful lyrics and harmonious chords. CDcruz, with the help of friends, captured these elements beautifully in their rendition. Leila and Brear both took on lead vocals in this cover, echoing the style of the iconic Europop group.

Credits

Producer: CDcruz

Lead Vocals: Leila Halbert & Brear Croghan

Backing vocals: CDcruz & Dominic Lynn

Guitar: Brear Croghan

Studio Assistant: Benjamin Maddox

Original Composition: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Stig Anderson

Album Cover Art: Brear Croghan

Still the one - Cover

Still the one is a fun cover song CDcruz recorded together with some of this talented friends. This cover is based on another cover by Jesse Barrera that features a more funky and rhythmic flow compared to the original by Shania Twain. Considering this was a very haphazard recording session with no planning, the end result turned out great and has a more authentic feel with the use of real guitars and minimally processed vocal recordings.

Credits

Producer: CDcruz

Lead Vocals: Leila Halbert & Brear Croghan

Backing vocals: CDcruz & Courtney Bennett

Guitar & Ukelele: Brear Croghan

Studio Assistant: Dominic Lynn

Original Composition: Shania Twain & Robert Lange

Based on: Still the one by Jesse Barrera

Album Cover Art: CDcruz

Heartbeat Bar

Heartbeat Bar is the first song of 2021, featuring smooth vibes and the atmosphere of an intimate bar setting.

Heartbeat Bar is another relaxing song that incorporates a jazz band collection of instruments that would fit right into a late night bar scene. The solo trumpet is the driving force of this song as its calming melody takes your mind away from any worries. The arrangement feels sparse but rich in timbres including a deep bassline, harmonic piano, and colourful lead instruments. They all come together to provide an easy listening experience for anyone to enjoy.

Once again Brear Croghan joined with CDcruz to add her own spark to the track with her lead guitar taking center stage at various points through the track. It contrasts with the trumpet nicely and compliments the arrangement throughout the song. From coffee to wine, sit back and relax to this smooth tune on all major platforms now!

Credits

Elec. Guitar: Brear Croghan

Composition: CDcruz

Mix & Master: CDcruz

Album Cover Art: CDcruz

Coffee Break

Coffee Break is the third track in the "Stay Indoors" collection. Coffee Break is a very upbeat and catchy song featuring a retro/ nostalgic vibe with its warm brass, punchy drums and, a clean guitar solo.

This track is very bright and vibrant compared to the previous two tracks in this collection. As you can tell, CDcruz tries to create a lot of contrast between his releases to ensure that they are unique and interesting while still maintaining some cohesion with other songs he releases. He believes Coffee Break achieves this. While having a much happier and danceable feel compared to Half Past Midnight and Daydreamin', Coffee Break still feels apart of this collection and contrasts nicely with the other tracks by sticking to similar instrumentation and arrangement.

The lead guitar solo was played by Brear Croghan, which added a lot more depth and character to the track as the solo smoothly glides between notes. It is truly the centerpiece of the track as the energy heightens as the solo progresses. Hopefully, Coffee Break can make your coffee breaks a bit more enjoyable. So sit back, grab a coffee and check it out!

Credits

Lead Guitar: Brear Croghan

Composition: CDcruz

Mix & Master: CDcruz

Album Cover Art: CDcruz

Half Past Midnight

Half Past Midnight is the second track in the "Stay Indoors" collection. It has a vastly different feeling compared to the first track (Daydreamin'), but it still fits in the Lo-Fi/ retro style of this collection. The deep sounding piano is complemented by the smooth but prominent lead instruments that are played through the song resulting in a calm but lively soundscape.

This track incorporates a lot of atmospheric sounds and textures to really envelop the listener in the world of the music. Many sound effects were used to guide the listener through a story of someone walking the streets late at night. Some sound effects are intentionally left ambiguous and hard to hear. This allows the listener to come to their own interpretations of the details of the story. The listener can ponder what happens through the song, why it's happening, and what may have lead to the starting of this song. It is an exciting thought to know that many people can hear the same song and come to different conclusions about its meaning. CDcruz believes Half Past Midnight serves as a good example of this.

Credits

Composition: CDcruz

Mix & Master: CDcruz

Album Cover Art: CDcruz

Daydreamin'

Daydreamin' is the first track in the "Stay Indoors" collection. This collection contains a good range of music to listen to while staying indoors or when you want to just chill out and vibe to some smooth tracks.

Daydreamin' sets the tone for the collection, as it incorporates some smooth guitaring, funky bass, and punchy drums. The acoustic feeling of the track helps it feel a lot groovier and CDcruz hopes to continue this trend of combining acoustic sounds with digital production.

CDcruz has been inspired by the Lo-Fi genre of music that has become increasingly popular over the last year. While Daydreamin' may not be considered strictly Lo-Fi, it does pull elements from the genre and CDcruz took his own take on the style while still maintaining a pop-centric feel to it.

Credits

Composition: CDcruz

Mix & Master: CDcruz

Album Cover Art: Grumps

Tokyo Alleys

Towards the start of 2019 CDcruz travelled abroad on a holiday in Japan, it was a very surreal experience compared to living in Australia. There were many amazing sights and sounds to behold throughout the trip.

Tokyo Alleys tries to incorporate the many facets of life in Japan, from the bustling street nightlife to the quiet and beautiful gardens, parks and landmarks of Japan. CDcruz blended these juxtaposing atmospheres into one song, the same as how Japan blends these different lifestyles together in one country.

Traditional instruments like the Koto and Shakuhachi are featured in the song to represent the more traditional side of Japan, while the electronic leads and synths, represent the neon lights, arcade rooms and fun, bubbly personalities that you meet in Japan.

The erratic arpeggiated backing synth that spins around the listeners head is meant to represent the sounds of Pachinko machines, which are an extremely popular (and noisy) form of gambling in Japan, similar to slot machines in western countries.

IMPORTANT: CDcruz released a remastered version of Tokyo Alleys to fix some mix issues he had noticed, but due to how distrubution works, the remastered version is only available through the Youtube video on CDcruzMusic or on Bandcamp as CDcruz has more control over distrubution on that platform. Sorry for any inconvenice.

Credits

Composition: CDcruz

Mix & Master: CDcruz

Album Cover Art: CDcruz

Together

Together is the first track CDcruz completed after releasing Dragons, which was his University project. After a long gap between the release of Dragons, CDcruz was ready to start making some new music! Together brings a fresh take on electronic music and featured vocals sung by Alexander and written by CDcruz himself.

The whole process of making this song was a new experience for CDcruz but also a fun one, as he explored new sounds and ideas which were more refined than previous tracks. Together is a fun and bubbly track and CDcruz hopes to create even more music featuring vocals in the future.

Credits

Composition: CDcruz

Mix & Master: CDcruz

Lyrics: CDcruz

Vocals: Alexander

Album Cover Art: Rat King Cole Designs - Instagram: @RatKingCole_7

Dragons

CDcruz's debut album featuring a variety of sounds and atmospheres; from acoustic to electronic, Dragons highlights CDcruz's broad range of timbral ideas condensed into one album. Dragons was primarily composed as a university project as CDcruz finalized his studies at The Queensland Conservatorium.

Thanks to the university environment, CDcruz was able to use a lot of professional analogue gear and some university friends to complete these songs. Most notably "Good Time" & "Tines", which feature an almost completely acousticly recorded arrangment.

Other songs in Dragons were comprised of synthisiers or sample libraries but show the versitility of Dragons. There's a little bit for everyone on this album.

Credits

Composition: CDcruz

Mix & Master: CDcruz

Lyrics: CDcruz

Vocals: Liam Taylor on the track "Good Time"

Guitar: Liam Taylor on the tracks "Good Time" & "Tines"

Bass Guitar: Troy Thorpe on the tracks "Good Time" & "Tines"

Drums: Matthew Green on the tracks "Good Time" & "Tines"

Guitar: Juliano Sabbadin on the track "Interlude"

Album Cover Art: CDcruz

Live recordings were recorded at The Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Studio A