Review: Amenti Presents Coco Cole & Claude Von Stroke at The Bunker

Amenti gave us quite a surprise when they announced that Claude Von Stroke, one of the biggest names in tech house would headline their third event at Bournemouth’s Poison Apple. There’s no better place in Bournemouth to hear underground music than the venue’s underground room coined ‘The Bunker’.

Coco Cole, rising Capital Xtra presenter, producer and soon to be label head gave an incredibly welcomed opening for Claude. Having been recently nominated for Best Radio Show by DJ Mag, she has continued to gain praise, awards and a high level of respect within the industry as she compiles some of the most talented up and coming acts in her ‘Say Yes’ series. She continued to play even past the end of her allocated set time – the crowd met her with such an accumulation of high spirits it was almost as if they didn’t realise, and better yet, it didn’t matter.

Claude Von Stroke, who has been DJing for over 10 years now, is based in Los Angeles and is at the helm off San Fransico’s Dirtybird Records. The label has had some great releases in its eleven years with some big DJs boasting tracks on it. Friend Within, Shiba San, Huxley and Eats Everything have all made tunes for Stroke’s growing label.

Needless to say his set met the high expectations the crowd had looked forward to. The Dirtybird head honcho playing a slick, yet eclectic set of tech/house mixed in with a range of some of his own favourites such as ‘Make A Cake’ and ‘Urban Animal’ which sent the crowd wild with euphoria.

The venue especially made a welcome change to much of the arguably oversaturated and repetitive club nights now on offer in Bournemouth. It felt refreshing to see a DJ perform with such a level of intimacy with the crowd, one that can only be achieved in a venue as small as the Bunker, making it feel almost Boiler Room-esque. There was even an upstairs area with sofas for those wanting a break from all the partying downstairs with a selection of Amenti’s own reseident DJ’s performing. However, we can assure you that it was almost empty for the duration of Claude Von Stroke’s 3 hour set, which was not to be missed. Dirtybird head honcho played an eclectic set of tech/house, as well as playing some of the Claude Von Stroke favourites like ‘Make A Cake’.

Claude Von Stroke and Coco Cole are definitely DJ’s worth seeing and Amenti made great hosts to their sets. Looking to the future, with three great events now under their belt, we hope that Bournemouth’s Amenti can bring us more top underground music DJs to the fantastic underground event organisers they are becoming.