Deep Throat

There was a time just after 'Who's Afraid of Detroit' first dropped that Claude von Stroke was everywhere. And I mean everywhere. The San Francisco producer had everyone salivating and I could never understand why. I always thought his brand of bastardised minimal was called Wonky, but having been brushing up on the musical zeitgeist columns it seems wonky is the new breed of hip hop/bashment/electro/electroclash/house that Italians (Crookers, The Bloody Beetroots) and East London hipsters (Count of Montecristal/Sinden, Switch, even occasionally Diplo) were so into during the early summer of 2008.

Racking me brains, I believe it may have been called fidget house (what a shit name, and I mean really really really shit - is it only in the UK that there seems to be this neverending Quixotic quest to unearth barmier and less relevant names for "new" types of dance music?).

Anyway, from what I can tell, von Stroke has only really stood the test of time in the way Fedde le Grand has stood the test of time (ie. hosting a hugely lucrative if uninspiring residency in Ibiza), and that's not just because their two most famous tunes have Detroit in the name, although I could go on ad nauseam at the mindless appropraitions of Detroit over the years. I saw Justin Martin, signed to von Stroke's label Dirty Bird, at Exit in 2007 and he was fine. Housey tech-house I suppose, which is fine, but not anything to really set your pecker alight.

Having said that, Deep Throat is the sort of tune that (almost) makes me forgive all. I first heard it on Audion's Fabric mix (OK, but if you really want to see where minimal was from 2005-2007, head for Marco Carola's oft-ignored, but in my opinion essential Fabric mix) and was blown away, not so much by the beat, but by the incredible morph of the inhaled clickety breath turning into a really slow, deep, minimal beat.

I listened to the track again last night for the first time in ages, and was still really impressed with it. I could do without the "what are you having for dinner" section, but that morph really is something else. It reminds me of when I was a little kid, and used to do that exact same noise, pretending to be a rickety old door opening, to scare the shit out of my brother at night. Maybe that's why I like it , who knows, but it is cool I think.

Less cool is the fact that its got one of those MTV Dance music videos, but hey you can't win 'em all, and I did warn you about von Stroke.