Florian Kruse on time, evolution, and finding balance

Passion and persistence are keys to success in any profession. For Florian Kruse, music has been apart of his heart and soul since his was young.

Photo credit: Florian Kruse – Official

Florian taught himself to produce, while looking up to his older brother Vincenzo for inspiration. He then went on to gain worldwide success in the height of the deep house era with his DJ duo Kruse & Nuernberg. Shortly afterwards he started producing with his brother, which led to releases on Anjunadeep, just one of the scene’s best labels that he would eventually release on. As a longtime fan of progressive house, he began to evolve his own sound into his melodic trippy style that has led to releases on labels like Poker Flat, Noir Music, Selador, Bedrock, Stil Vor Talent, and Ritter Butzke.

By the late naughties time social media had become a main place to connect with other artists, and through a connection on Facebook, he found one of his favorite producers, Julian Wassermann. They went onto release on Kompakt and Julian remixed ‘Zog’ on Florian’s first LNOE EP ‘Flying Dragons’ in 2019.

Florian is back on Sasha’s label with a two-track EP with Dilee D, whom he first got connected with when Dilee won a remix competition for one of his tracks. It’s amazing to see how music can be made across borders, with Florian in Hamburg and Dilee D in Chicago.

We recently caught up with Florian Kruse to discuss tips on how to get your tracks signed to labels, the challenges of juggling being a full-time dad of two kids with making music for a living, and the impacts of Covid times.

EG: Hi Florian, welcome to EG! Thanks for joining us. You’ve had so many amazing releases over the years, what’s been your strategy for sending tracks to labels?

Florian Kruse:  Thanks for the invite. I don’t have much of a strategy, but I always wanted to have a home for my music and tried to stay connected with labels instead of releasing just one EP with them. Steve Bug’s Audiomatique and Pokerflat have been home for me as well as Noir’s Noir Music. Nowadays, the decision where to release music is also related to the question “How can I get more gigs?” because that’s how music producers earn their money in 2025. I personally think that the Keinemusik guys have built up a collective in a perfect way, and everyone in that chain benefits from each other. They release and play together, but with other big labels, usually only the label founder gets to play. Part of a strategy is also about a strong relationship with the label and the possibility of showcasing on label nights.

EG: How do you connect with the labels that you want to send your tracks to?

Florian Kruse: I’ve been in the game for so long that over the years I have been collecting emails of DJs and label owners that I meet at events. Whenever I have a new track ready, I always think about it and which label would suit it best for the sound. I also think about which labels might be doing label nights and could help give me more visibility. Most times labels give feedback in a couple of days or a week. Once in a while you get lucky, and Sasha replies, like with this EP, I was super happy to read “We would like to sign ‘Clockwork Mind’ and ‘Mother Nature.’“

EG: I know you love Mother Nature, but where does the name ‘Clockwork Mind’ come from?

Florian Kruse: Time is always on my mind. I just turned 42, and it seems the older you get, the faster the time runs, so that name came to mind. You need to work fast and hard to make your dreams come true. The meaning is a mind that works with mechanical precision. People say the Germans are well organised but the reality is another.

EG: This is your second time releasing on Last Night On Earth, how is it like to work with Sasha’s label?

Florian Kruse: They have been amazing to work with, so well organized, and they were really quick to help get all the artwork ready. They allowed us to pick the cover art from a selection they had ready, which was nice. They also helped to set up some great mixes for Transitions and Balance series, which will be released in April and May 2025.

“Whenever I have a new track ready, I always think about it and which label would suit it best for the sound”

EG: From your early days in deep house until now, what impacted the evolution of your style?

Florian Kruse: I was always into house and deep house, but I’ve been a fan of progressive house too, with Nick Warren and all of Global Underground artists, John Digweed and Bedrock, Dixon and Innervisions, but I had never produced that sound. I went from deep house to melodic to trippy, and then Afterlife appeared with big reverbs on synth melodies, which isn’t really my sound, but I have been inspired by the scene to evolve my sound naturally. It happened quite slowly, deep house beats into progressive melodies, refining the sound of myself. I released ‘Skylines’ with an acid house vibe and ‘We Own The Night’ (also acid house). I used the 303 a lot, and then when I met Julian, he was fully into melodic house, so we continued in that direction.

EG: A lot happened over those years of evolving your sound. You also became a father of two. How did you juggle becoming a father and making music?

Florian Kruse: I always had audio engineering and sound design on the side, but when I became a father, I had to choose, so I went 100% into music production because I didn’t want to lose my momentum as a musician. Then, after two years of only doing music, it drove me crazy. The work as an audio engineer and sound designer gave me financial security, and now that I was a father, I had to be responsible. It was difficult negotiating for fees, and it put a lot of pressure on me to make the next big track, so I started second-guessing myself. The time pressure made it actually easier to make music (like before when I also had sound engineering projects to do). I was in my bubble so much that I couldn’t see the big picture anymore. When I was building the house with my family, we had a lot of expenses and not much time, so I did a tour in Australia where I played 4 gigs in about 48 hours. I ended up flying back with the same crew who thought something was wrong with me since I was going back so quickly. It was really intense.

EG: Before Covid you were playing all over Asia. How did the pandemic affect you?

Florian Kruse: Ya, before corona I was playing quite a lot, all over Asia like Jakarta and India. Then all the gigs stopped. With two kids at home and a freshly built house, so I started to put my main focus on sound design and music for documentaries and commercials. We reinvented our studio in Hamburg, called FRY Studios, and now we are doing lots of jobs for brands such as BMW, Vodafone, Volkswagen, among others.

EG: In going back to regular studio work, did it take the pressure off to creating music again?

Florian Kruse: Yes, of course, we have a lot of regular clients, and I have a good partner to run the studio with, so I have less pressure, and that makes it easier to work on music again.

“Time is always on my mind”

EG: It’s great to hear that things are back on track. Covid was a rough road for many of us, It’s crazy it’s taken five years to recover from it. Congrats on the new release, and we’ll keep an eye out for your upcoming mixes on Transitions (out April 4th) and Balance (out May 16th)!

Florian Kruse: Thank you so much!

Florian Kruse’s ‘Clockwork Mind’ EP is out now on Last Night On Earth. Listen and download here.

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