claude vonstrokebird brain

tracks1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monster Island

2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Greasy Beat › ft. Bootsy Collins

3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vocal Chords

4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Big ‘n Round

5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bay Area

6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . California › co-prod. by J.Phlip

7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aundy

8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beat That Bird › co-prod. by Justin Martin

9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Storm on Lake St. Claire

10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jasper’s Baby Robot

bird brain

Since he burst onto the scene in 2005 with the oddball classic ‘Deep Throat’ Barclay Crenshaw, aka Claude VonStroke has risen rapidly to very top of the DJ/Producer spectrum.

His early productions, ‘Chimps ‘, ‘The Whistler’ and of course the mighty ‘Who’s Afraid Of Detroit’, were a true breath of fresh air amongst the stifling onslaught of minimal. Its not too big a statement, to say that it was these releases, with their inspired construction, crazy samples, and heavy basslines that really brought ‘fun’ back to the world’s dancefloors at a time when its was deemed ‘cool’ to be moody.

CVS’s 2007 debut album ‘Beware Of The Bird’ was an instant hit, and released on his own ‘dirtybird’ imprint. Since then the label’s sound has grown to be so distinctive that many productions are now labeled with the ‘dirtybird sound’ tag.

That same year saw CVS launch his second label ‘mother-ship’. As his own sound has developed, it has enabled him to release new, more techno-lead productions, as well as release inspired music from a host of exciting talent including Catz n Dogz, Italoboyz and Voodeux.

October 24th sees the release of Claude VonStroke’s second artist album ‘Bird Brain’. In true CVS style, the music is a diverse menagerie of sounds and samples. Many provided by the man himself.

His love for his home city of San Francisco and its people, heavily influences the music of‚ ‘Bird Brain’. The sites and sounds of the bustling Haight St. where he lives have seeped into the tracks. As has the never-ending enthusi-asm of those dirty, smelly San Fran folk who just love getting down to the booty-shaking, rump-rustling bass in Golden Gate Park. These are the same party people who don’t give a damn about the next house fad or the next ‘big DJ’ playing in Ibiza. As CVS himself puts it. “If the last

album was ‘Who’s Afraid of Detroit’, then this is clearly ‘I Love San Francisco’.”

So what can u expect from ‘Bird Brain’? Well, he’s taken the ready and rough edged sounds from the first album and sanded them smooth. But do not fear CVS lovers. The album is chock full of dirty, slutty, dank, funny and giggling cuts. Just with a smoother overall vibe. Less axe murde-ring breakdowns, but with all the quirky madness still intact. Lets call it ‘VonStroke 2.0’.

VonStroke and dirtybird have never been defined by genres. And with the current trend for chasing and recrea-ting 90’s deep house loops, many respected producers have been abandoning their creativity. “Whether you like this album or not, there is no fake funk in this project. This is music from my heart.”

The diversity of the album is refreshing. Heavy jackin’, ultra-deep, nasty funk and inventive arrangements are all present, as are legends (Bootsy Collins) and friends (Justin Martin & J Phlip). Creating a complete guide to the musical mind of Claude VonStroke.

Every nook and cranny of his feathered frontal lobe, and beyond has been visited. With warm bootsy-fied bass. Lo-ridin’, piano riffin’, smokers delights and genial vocal cuts sitting brilliantly alongside homages to lost D&B days and the beautiful female form.

As with his debut, Claude VonStroke’s ‘Bird Brain’ is a must own piece of work, that expertly blurs the lines between the ‘headz only’ sounds of the underground, and

music that your everyday ‘non-dance’ friends can enjoy. So few producers can tread that line with the ease of our San-Fran friend, and it is this skill, that of course, makes him King of the Dirty Birds!

thanks

Extra special thanks to the people who helped me make the music – Aundy, Sharen Norden, Mike Bosley, Justin Martin, J.Phlip, Tanner Ross, Isaiah Musik and Bootsy Collins.

Thanks to Andrew Kelsey, Max Pfisterer, Adam Carter, Exclusive PR, Fake PR, Terrorbird, Christian Martin, Fernando, Allyson, Locker-partners, Word and Sound, Caroline Hoste, Edgar Dirksen, Shauna Regan and Dave Chapelle.

Big Love to Jasper, Ella, Alex, Sarah, Vincil, Clover, Mom, Dad, Worthy, Greg Bird, Monty Luke, Voodeux, Catz ‘n Dogz, Nicole Lucas, Chris Lum, Nikola Baytala, Jesse Rose, Anthony Garth and Rob Jackson.

bio

What started as a fake name and small booking at a friend’s birthday party has spiraled into an international DJ career for Claude VonStroke (aka Barclay Crenshaw.) One night in San Francisco after a long night of partying, Barclay and his friends began to make up fake European DJ names. Just kidding around, Barclay came up with “Claude VonStroke.” It ended up sticking after someone at the party booked him to DJ and used the new moniker on the flyer.

Raised in the suburbs Detroit, Barclay Crenshaw fell in love with the beat by listening to popular broadcasts of the Electrifying Mojo’s Midnight Funk Association on local radio. At age 16, after mastering the small 4-track recorder used at his high school, Barclay and good friend Jamie Osborne looked through the phone book and visited Juan Atkin’s fledgling Metroplex recordings. They tried unsuccessfully to convince Atkins to hire them as sound engineers and music producers. Little did they know, Mr. Atkins would soon go on to become the godfather of techno.

After University in New York and a 4 diversion in Hollywood working as an assistant on a series of big budget feature films, Barclay moved back to Detroit and re-discovered his passion for electronic music. He was initially inspired by listening to drum n’ bass mix tapes from the UK. He built a massive live rig of synthesizers and samplers and played live at local Poor Boy underground warehouse parties until he lost all of his music in an electrical outage.

One year later, Barclay re-located to San Francisco and decided to merge his passion for music and film by releasing Intellect, a six hour DVD package, self-directed and produced, covering the worldwide electronic music scene and including interviews with over 35 top producers and legendary DJs such as Derrick May, Swayzak, Derrick Carter, Dubfire, and Theo Parrish. The main goal of the “Intellect” project was to make an informative DVD that could help DJs advance their careers in electronic music. The result was Crenshaw taking lessons from his own DVD by starting a record label called “dirtybird” and a production career under the name Claude VonStroke.

Since 2005, dirtybird has carved out a niche as a premiere Ameri-can tech funk label and has released over 20 EPs. Claude VonStroke’s very first record, “Deep Throat,” was a major hit of 2005. The success of the single was followed up by “Who’s Afraid of Detroit?,” another international hit championed by Richie Hawtin who called it the “best track of 2006” in DJ magazine. Soon after that Claude released his full-length debut album, “Beware of the Bird” to outstanding reviews, further establishing him as an original talent in the underground. Since then, he has recorded over 25 remixes for a range of commercial and underground artists from Indy rock group “The Rapture” to Detroit techno legend Kevin Saunderson.

In an effort to give something back to the community Claude unveiled a deeper techno label called “mothership” in 2007. A large percentage of the label’s proceeds go to a music school for children in Claude’s hometown of Detroit, Michigan. This label features a more euro flavor featuring groups like Catz ‘n Dogz, Italoboyz Maetrik and Voodeux.

Claude has also headlined almost every major club, festival and basement after-party in the world from Fabric to Panorama Bar to D’Edge. The outdoor dirtybird parties in San Francisco’s scenic Golden Gate Park have also become a legendary summer destina-tion point for both locals and international travelers. A VonStroke DJ set is based on meticulous track selection and outrageous risk taking. He always takes time to find the special ass-wiggling cuts that keep the dance-floor percolating.

credits

dirtybird: info@dirtybirdrecords.com | www.dirtybirdrecords.com

DB030 Claude VonStroke ›Bird Brain‹ | All tracks written and produced by Claude VonStroke for dirtybird | ©2009 dirtybird | Rook Worldwide Publishing, BMI (Administered by Fabric Publishing) | ›California‹ co-produced by J.Phlip | ›Beat That Bird‹ co-produced by Justin Martin | ›The Greasy Beat‹ produced by Claude VonStroke featuring an original vocal by Bootsy Collins | Vocal Chords - Voices by Isaiah Musik. Mixdown engineered by Tanner Ross | Additional voice fx on entire album by Aundy Crenshaw & Claude VonStroke

Bookings: The Motherbird Agency | Andrew Kelsey

Management & Licensing: Sumi | Sharen Norden

Artwork credits:Cover & Package designed by: EMPP Graphics Pfisterer

Cover photography by: Drew Reynolds & Nino Halm for artisticloft