Claude Von Stroke @ Marquee NY 4/5 Reviewed

The glowing white light of Marquee could be seen from blocks away in New York City on Friday night, as the crowd clamored to get inside and see a living legend take the DJ stage. Sleepy & Boo provided Marquee with their fantastic matrimony of beats early in the night. Barclay Crenshaw, more famously known as Claude Von Stroke, took to the stage a little later and performed a set fit for the Amazonian tribes of an outer galaxy. Simply put, Claude is known for his quirky sound and heavy bass. Richie Hawtin himself posted on Twitter, “gotta love dirtybird basslines.” Dirtybird is Claude’s core label, which he still vehemently dedicates his attention to as A&R man, signing over 100 EPs and demonstrating his incredible ear for what works on the dance-floor. The label features an enigmatic combination of house, funk, dirty-bass, and electronica. A lot of the success of dirtybird and VonStroke can be attributed to a good attitude. Claude VonStroke does not scowl and look mean while he DJs. Most of his set on Friday could have been construed as bass-heavy and dark, and yet, the DJ had a constant smile on his face, incessantly bouncing around and interacting with the crowd. Plenty more to come from Claude as he sits in studio in the coming weeks as well as embarks on more trips with more shows this summer.