It’s funny to see music filter down through the channels until it hits the mainstream. In its original form it offers some kind of innovative production technique or plain ol’ ingenuity it eventually makes it way down the line to unimaginative boring releases that make the rounds in cocktail bars until it dies an unavoidable death on mainstream radio. This new release by Claude Von Stroke Who’s Afraid Of Detroit is a mix of both of those qualities, combining simple-yet-memorable layered melodies with tight techy beats, it’s one of those truly memorable tunes that will either stand the test of time due to originality, or become quite dated quite quickly because of a legion of cheap imitations following in it’s wake.

Unlike previous Dirtybird releases there are some prominent cross-genre remixes, most notably by Stanton Warriors who twist the simple boppy song into their unique style of dark 4am-style breaks and while it contents this reviewer, it could easily be construed as ‘the breaks mix’ of Who’s Afraid of Detroit albeit with style. Paul Woolford on the other hands lends a slightly techno hand which works all the same, but without challenging the original much leaves the song sounding much and much of the same except drawn out and with much less anticipation.

Nevertheless, this is a solid release by Von Stroke, and whilst it probably attempts to insult the mainstream by questioning their allegiance (or lack thereof) to the fledgling detroit-style of house music it will still remain in the record boxes of unknowing DJs for a while to come.