Claude VonStroke - WALAY (MY BAE) Vinyl Record

Our boss Claude VonStroke is the busiest guy we know. When he's not traveling the world or curating an event, he's in the studio every day putting in hours upon hours, relentless in perfecting his craft. He's had a slew of hits the past couple years in the form of remixes and collaborations, and now with the "Walay (My Bae)" EP, Claude gets back to some inventive and somewhat "out of the box" solo works. The title song leads with a melodic riff and an funky vocal that sounds like a defective cyborg is proclaiming love for his partner, "Walay." This quasi-human uses the slang "My Bae" to try and pass for human and we almost believe in his passion. The sound harkens back to old classic rave tracks but also pushes very modern production techniques. On the flip, "Raw Nerve" is an emotional exploration in both sounds and lyrics. A melancholy VonStroke dives deep into his insecurities and fears with sonically mutated lyrics like "I'm feeling so sad, I'm feeling real bad today. When I see you on the street I don't want to compete." You can feel the social instability oozing out of the vocal only to come back at the close with a violently hard bassline embodying the personal angst and frustration that goes along with not "fitting in."