Fredrik Lager. Red Astaire. Freddie Cruger. Whatever name you know the renowned Swedish beat maestro by, his catalogue of dancefloor fillers has made him a firm favourite of DJs and dancers alike.

With fans including the likes of Gilles Peterson, Jazzy Jeff, Norman Jay and Erykah Badu, Freddie’s tunes have rung out from Sweden to the South Pacific, and everywhere in between, for decades.

Seminal cuts like the reggae-laced ‘Running From Love’ (Jugglin’ Records) and anthemic bossa and soul D’Angelo flip ‘Follow Me’ (GAMM) are still a staple in many a DJ’s crate to this day, showing and proving that good music is timeless.

Freddie sadly passed away in June 2022, leaving family, friends and fans to mourn the passing of a man described by many as a tremendous talent and person, in equal measures.

But in what’s a fitting tribute to a lost friend, a previously unreleased Red Astaire remix is about to see the light of day through The Elephant, an independent record label with roots in Aotearoa and the UK.

Red’s hallmark production, steeped in warmth and rhythm, are in full force on his remix of ‘The Future’, a low-slung track by DRW — a mysterious bohemian Balearic singer/songwriter who was based between London and Ibiza in the noughties.

Originally set to be released on 12” vinyl in 2006 — backed with a remix from the one and only Russian percussionist DJ Vadim — the record never saw the light of day, shelved due to the rise of digital formats and DJing.

Now, in 2023, Freddie’s work will be getting the release it deserves, with The Elephant releasing ‘Future’ remixes on 12” vinyl and digital formats via Bandcamp in August 2023.

Freddie Cruger x The Elephant

A chance meeting between Freddie and Vishal ‘DJ Vee’ Vasan at the legendary Jazz Café in London was the beginning of a firm friendship.

It was also the beginning of The Elephant, an independent label Vee founded in 2004 with the aim of bringing artists and their tunes from around the world and into the light.

“Freddie was DJing, and as a fan I went to see him,” remembers Vee.
“A chance meeting in the Jazz Café toilets after the show, followed by an after party, led to an invite to Stockholm.”

“A week later, I booked flights and went to stay with him and his family. He played me all his unreleased music, and I told him I was wanting to start a record label. We selected two tracks to release, and The Elephant was born.”

Freddie’s ‘I Love To Rap’ b/w ‘Take Me To The Limit’ was the label’s first release, and helped pave the way for Freddie to tour New Zealand and Australia in the summer of 2008.

With shows at the world-renowned Splore Festival on the shores of Tāpapakanga Regional Park, and headline slots in Auckland, Wellington, Melbourne and Sydney, Freddie’s music became the sound of a summer.

Freddie, with a DV camera in tow, documented the tour. These lost tapes have formed the base of a poignant music video for Red Astaire’s remix of ‘Future’. Directed and edited by Mark ‘Phooey’ Trethewey of creative agency BearSuit, it offers a glimpse into the impact Freddie’s music had on so many.

“The format is 4:3 and much of the media had badly degraded, so the video concept embraced that,” says Mark. "I was inspired by what I had to do back-in-the-day VJ'ing — where you just overlayed a bunch of media to make some happy noise to throw on a wall.”