Claude Vonstroke

Claude VonStroke's house and techno productions frequently carry a playful edge, which is why the alias itself began as an offhand gag. Producer Barclay Crenshaw first used the name in 2005 to match a run of off-kilter techno cuts, launching it that year via the "Deep Throat" 12" on his own Dirtybird label. The following year proved especially busy, yielding the singles "The Whistler" and "Who's Afraid of Detroit?" plus the debut album Beware of the Bird. In 2009 he delivered both the album Bird Brain and his Fabric 46 entry in the long-running mix series. Makeovers surfaced in 2011, gathering remixes he had supplied to Cajmere, Katy B, Kenny Larkin, and Girl Unit, while the 2013 mix-CD Dirtybird Players' Mix spotlighted material from the label's growing roster. Also that year came his third studio album, Urban Animal, which included guest spots from DJ Nehpets, Mr. Fox, and Py. Output tapered over the next several seasons, with a notable exception being the Get Real collaboration alongside touring partner Green Velvet; remixes for Rihanna, the Chemical Brothers, and Disclosure simultaneously strengthened his profile in that arena. He further hosted the radio program The Birdhouse and created a touring party series under the same banner. Crenshaw issued his first release under his given name in 2017, the hip-hop album Barclay Crenshaw. He resumed activity as VonStroke the next year, opening with the Eprom collaboration "Grenade" before following it with the two-song single "Walay (My Bae)."