The Relentless Record Collection: Claude VonStroke’s “Bird Brain”

This week for our second instalment of The Relentless Record Collection we’re throwing it back to ’09 with Claude VonStroke’s sophomore Dirtybird Records release “Bird Brain”. “Bird Brain” was originally released October 20th, 2009, featuring funk legend Bootsy Collins, as well as fellow Dirtybird cohorts J.Phlip and Justin Martin.  The album showcases 10-tracks each distinctively different in their own way while still keeping a cohesive house sound far ahead of its own time.

First we have the original “Aundy”, which is in fact named after Claude’s wife Aundy Crenshaw.  With ambient leads and tight percussion “Aundy” shapes to be a slow and sensual toe-tapper.

Claude teams up with fellow Dirtybird J.Phlip to display technical percussion, heavy bass lines, and seamless sound design on “California”.

Next we have “Monsters Island”. The track begins with bongo-like drum hits closely followed by poppy- synth leads to form this dancefloor dominator.

Last but not least we have the bubbling pot of drums, hats, and samples that is “Beat That Bird” featuring Dirtybird co-founder Justin Martin.

Claude Vonstroke was originally born Barclay Macbride Crenshaw July 7th, 1971, in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2005 Claude teamed up with fellow producer Justin Martin to create Dirtybird Records. Dirtybird was initially started up with funds provided by Claude’s wife, “Aundy Crenshaw”, under the agreement that if he could not make the label successful in one calendar year he would be dropped from the label. Soon after its creation Claude fulfilled his agreement to his wife with the success of his next several tracks “Deep Throat”, “The Whistler”, and “Who’s Afraid of Detroit”. Although Dirtybird wasn’t officially started until 2005, its roots stem back to 2003 where the name was used for a party thrown by Claude and friends to showcase their music. Since then the party, the label, and Claude’s success have grown exponentially. Not only has Claude and the crew at Dirtybird found commercial success, they have received a cult-like fanbase. Some fans even have gone as far as referring to him as “The Claudefather”.

Buy “Bird Brain” here!

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