Photo Credit: Zach Lewis
For just about seventeen hours house music pumped through the speakers at Club Space in Miami. On Friday, March 29th, Dirtybird Records held a heavenly house takeover. For those of you that haven’t drank the dirty kool-aid, Dirtybird Records is an independent electronic music label that hails from San Fransisco, California. It was founded in 2005 by Barclay Crenshaw (who is known to most under his stage name Claude VonStroke. Although in recent years he has taken the stage under his given name as well). The brand now has offices in San Fransisco and Los Angeles. In addition to boasting a roster of some of today’s most influential house music producers, the company hosts pretty epic events, festivals, and takeovers all over the country. Club Space in Miami during Music Week was no exception.
At 11pm, the night was kicked off on two different dance floors, Omnom and VNSSA started on the terrace while Lubelski b2b Wyatt Marshall played in the LOFT. From there a flurry of epic back to backs took each stage as just about every Dirtybird artist took to the decks, encapsulating Space in house music bliss.
The loft stage only lasted until about 8am, but it saw sets from Worthy vs Mikey Lion, Gene Ferris vs Tim Baresko, J.Phlip vs Kill Frenzy, Marc Houle live, and finally Weiss vs ZDS. On the terrace (which raged on until about 7pm), attendees danced to the sounds of Ardalan vs Sacha Robotti, Bruno Furlan vs DJ Glen, Eddy M. vs Rebuke, Joeski vs Matthias Tanzmann, Eli Brown vs Mason Maynard, Christian Martin vs Doorly, Steve Darko vs Volkoder, and many more guests including some of our favorite from the night: Will Clarke vs Shiba San, Claude VonStroke vs Secret Guest (spoiler alert: Green Velvet), and Walker & Royce vs Justin Martin.
Will Clarke vs Shiba San
Will Clarke and Shiba San have worked together on a couple tracks released under Dirtybird such as, “Don’t Hate Me,” and “Give it to Me,” so it was pretty awesome to see the two play together. With dancers dressed as intergalactic birds, funky lasers, an overly excessive smoke machine, and these two throwing down, you knew the night was just getting started (even if it was already 5am).
Claude VonStroke vs Green Velvet
I think I speak for the majority when I say, I was pretty thrilled for a Get Real moment when Green Velvet was announced as the surprise guest to play with Claude VonStroke. The two have obviously worked together a ton under the Get Real alias, but I had yet to see them perform together. It was about halfway through their set when I noticed that the ceiling of Club Space had a bunch of skylight windows. The night club quickly turned into a tropical patio as we said hello to the sun while breaking down to a little, “Mind Yo Bizness.”
Walker & Royce vs Justin Martin
You know how runner’s high is a thing? Well Walker & Royce vs Justin Martin was the runner’s high of this Dirtybird marathon. I found myself saying, “Ok, one more song,” over and over again as I was fighting the exhaustion that was starting to kick in. We powered through, bopped around with our eyes closed, and made it just a little further thanks to these guys.
Surprise guests arrived, the sun rose, and the people danced on. Fans clacked to the beat, bodies dances about, and glitter hid any sense of sleepiness. The only thing truly missing was some bacon and eggs. While I can’t say I clocked in the full seventeen hours, I can say that I lasted a lot longer than I thought I would. There is just something about this label that brings out the best kind of crowds. These parties are half music, half family reunion. Whether it’s in California or Miami, your first or your twenty-fifth show, Dirtybird reigns as one of the top house music labels for not only the amazing artists on their roster but for the fantastic flock they have cultivated throughout the years.
Dirtybird will be hosting its beloved BBQs, aka epic day parties, in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, and Brooklyn all May and June. Don’t miss out on your chance to chow down and get down. Tickets can be purchased here.