In the Bag: Claude VonStroke lists his top summer picks

This Friday, one of house music’s most charismatic personalities returns to EC1 as Claude VonStroke plays Forms. As avid Dirtybird followers, we’ve been fans of his style of chunky house for some time, but we’re still yet to discover much of the newer music he plays. Ahead of the weekend we contacted him to find out some of his recent favourites, so he sent us back a fresh list for our latest In the Bag feature.

Kick In – Sinden [Insomniac]

Sinden is back with a vengeance. A really talented producer who came up through the Dave Taylor influenced "fidget" scene many years ago, and has tried his hand at lots of different styles. This reminds me of his best work. Stripped back, very simple but also very odd – and perfect sound system sonics.

Dunjacka – Tiger Stripes [Hot Creations]

The word means goose down jacket in Swedish, but it sounds more like Chicago ghetto house to me. Everybody who follows producers knows that Tiger Stripes is sick. Hot Creations has continued to fight off the haters by releasing an amazing set of tunes this year. Impressive stuff.

Lady Kristine – Wheats [Mad Tech]

Nobody in my office could figure out who made this for 3 months. The promo came in completely unlabelled like an old white label vinyl, but in digital form. Green Velvet asked me for a copy and I sent it to him. It blipped up on Beatport for like 10 seconds but in my opinion this should be one of the biggest tracks of 2018. I don’t even play tracks with vocals like this – but I play this one. It RIPS!

For You – Andrea Oliva [Saved]

This guy seems to be everywhere, and I don’t just mean lots of record labels. I literally just met him in a hotel restaurant 2 days ago! Anyway, I just love the breakdown in this one. I tried to sing it to him to explain which track I liked, but it was pointless. This is quirky and fun and the track hits on both sides of the break.

Crushing Down – Fabrício Peçanha & Prolla [Dirtybird]

From my Live In Detroit album, this is probably the standout track. Again, this went way under the radar, but it smashed it every time. The whole thing is like synth waltz but with a very sturdy 4/4 kick pattern on the bottom. It also has an odd Caribbean feeling to it. You cannot really pigeonhole this one. Photo: Marc Sethi