Meet the Man Behind the #FluteDrop

A few weeks ago, I was raging at a club in Berlin.

Actually, to be honest, I was in the corner checking Twitter—and that's how I found out that one of my favorite artists, DJ Detweiler, was in the same building as I was. I immediately and frantically started to search the crowd for him, but thanks to the Internet, he found me first. And then he recorded a radio drop for me and a friend, so it was basically my ideal "celebrity" sighting.

Of course, Detweiler isn't famous in Rihanna/Drake/Avicii proportions. He's best known for his "flute drops," in which he plays melodies from banger anthems like TNGHT's "Higher Ground" and Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" on a flute—it's sort of like the 20th Century Fox Flute Version video, only for dancefloor bombs. Detweiler's #flutedrops went viral after he posted them on Soundcloud, but not much is known about the producer himself. I spoke to him about his dreams, chocolate flavored bacon, and life outside of #flutedrop—plus, he offered us an exclusive track, which you can stream below.

THUMP: Alright, so, first of all: Who are you?
DJ Detweiler: My name is Edmundo van Osteban III, also known as DJ Detweiler, aka Det, aka Honey (that says my mum to me).

Where are you from?
I was born in Murcia, Spain—but mainly I am from Internet, Internet Southwest to be precise.

Where do you live now?
I'm living at the moment in Berlin. I've been living here for a couple years, with ins and outs—outs due to traveling around the world. Berlin is a cool place, especially because it's not London, or even worse, Paris.

How, or why, did you start the #flutedrop?
I had a dream in which I was in a massive rave and that Prodigy track "Smack My Bitch Up" was loud on the sound system. When it was reaching the build up, everyone was freaking out waiting for that sick drop. Then a flute—also called recorder—appeared and dropped and it was awesome and banging. I woke up and wrote the dream on a piece of paper, and in the afternoon, I recorded the very first wave of #flutedrop bangers. I uploaded them to Soundcloud and within days I had like half million plays. EASY.

So, yeah, basically it was a divine conception or something like that, like the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, I guess. It was something that was in latency deep inside my soul, I have been all my life waiting for this moment and then I know who I am, I know why I came to this world—well, at least I should know it, no?

Yeah, totally…so, you knew when it happened that you had created the best thing ever made?
Yeah. Once, I ate chocolate-covered bacon. I saw the recipe online in some Youtube video and I was like, WTF. Then I made it with my friends and oh my God, it was like, super tasty. We did it because YOLO, we felt the #swag and all that stuff. It was the best thing ever. You are talking about this, aren't you?

I guess so…What else do you do with your time?
I sell insurance, clean toilets, and write articles for Pitchfork. I also collect crisp packets, like Shitmat does.

Right, Shitmat. What about your first music project? Can you tell me about that?
Making flutedrop remixes under the name DJ Detweiler.

Who was your favorite musician when you were 17?
Burial.

And now?
Linkin Park.

Same. Now tell us about this exclusive tune you've given us.

I would consider it one step ahead of my previous work. It's like early post-flutedrop, or something like that— it's not proper flutedrop, but it's still banging. This time, I start blowing my flutes since the beginning of the track. It's an epic song, an organic evolution of the way I live and my music. This does not mean flutedrop is dead, it's just a natural development of my own genre—I guess I can do with my career whatever I want, yes? I will still do flutedrop bangers, but this song was so good that I had to release it in some way. Also I dedicate it to my very special Buttercup.

OK, got it. Anyone else you want to shout out?
Yeah. Check whatever we release on my new label, Chin Stroke Records.

Connect with DJ Detweiler on Soundcloud