FACT’s mix series continues with an exclusive session from Claude VonStroke.
VonStroke is the head of San Francisco’s foremost tech-funk label, Dirtybird, and the man behind some of house and techno’s biggest tunes of the past decade: ‘The Whistler’, ‘Deep Throat’ and ‘Who’s Afraid of Detroit?’. His Dirtybird parties have built up a reputation as some of the West Coast’s wildest, and VonStroke also recently released his second album, Bird Brain.
Couple that with legions of fans and imitators in America and abroad, a Fabric CD, another successful label in Mothership and a serious eye for talent (VonStroke recently snapped up Bristol upstart Julio Bashmore for a Dirtybird EP), and you’re dealing with one of the best.
VonStroke’s FACT mix features Julio Bashmore, Mike Monday, Justin Martin and plenty of new Dirtybird material from the label’s new signings and the big man himself. Tracklist and a full interview with Claude can be found over the page.
(Available for three weeks)
Tracklist:
Julio Bashmore – World Peace
Claude VonStroke – Big ‘n’ Round
Kentin Slash Demon – Singla
Hiccup – Hiccup Theme
Sascha Braemer – Go Loco
David Keno – Bonito
Mike Monday – Grace (Justin Martin remix)
Heinrichs and Hirtenfeller – Hubble
Kollectiv Turmstrasse – Grillen Im Park
“Usually I’m scouring the universe for new hot shit but I have so much right at the front door right now I can play whole sets of new Dirtybird and Mothership tracks.”
Hey Claude – how’s it going?
“It’s going great. I’m about to head off to Hawaii to celebrate the album release with my family!”
Tell us about the mix you’ve done for FACT…
“It’s a nice smattering of album tracks with other new label material and some stuff I’m digging at the moment.”
Is it a reflection of the stuff you’ve been playing out lately?
“Yes, for sure. Right now we are in a flurry of label signings and I am playing like 80% label material. It’s a renaissance! Usually I’m scouring the universe for new hot shit but I have so much right at the front door right now I can play whole sets of new Dirtybird and Mothership tracks. It’s great.”
Tell us about your new album, Bird Brain. What can we expect from it?
“It is a slimy, booty, peaceful, jackin’, greasy & calming experience. All ten tracks are completely different from each other but they all have a common vibe to them. There is no tracky track filler bullshit. I thought about and worked on each track until I was happy with all of them.”
“I’m doing some other interesting music projects next year including my new alias, the Grizzl.”
You’ve just signed Julio Bashmore, a UK producer we’re a big fan of. How did you come across his stuff?
“The guys at Fabric got him on a new compilation they were putting together of that new UK housey dubstep style sound. They told me about him and then the very next week I went to play in Bristol and the promoter brought him to the show! I got even more tracks from him in Bristol and we were able to snag a couple sweet tunes. In fact this mix opens with a chillin’ Julio Bashmore track called ‘World Peace’.”
Your labelmate Christian Martin recently played London rave Night Slugs with Cooly G, and dubstep’s Joker and UK house’s Crazy Cousinz have been playing ‘Who’s Afraid of Detroit’ in their sets. Are you into the London/UK house stuff that’s about?
“Yeah well I’m a fan of about 1% of it but that’s just like everything. I’m a fan of 0.3% of all music I suppose. Christian is like our dubstep crossover guy. I think he would actually make a better dubstep/house guy than a straight Dirtybird guy.”
What else is happening in the world of Claude VonStroke?
“I am now preparing Dirtybird’s five year birthday project [for the start of 2010] and figuring out when to release all these cool records. I’m doing a Planet E remix and some other interesting music projects next year including my new alias, the Grizzl. At the end of this month I start the Bird Brain album world tour and visit all my favorite clubs. Thanks for letting me do a mix!”
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