Vulfmon

The Arc of Vulfmon

The pivots — what forced Vulfmon to reinvent.

1. 01

   The Interstitial Blueprint

   Back in 2014, Stratton dropped the first Interstitials collection as a way to clear out the hard drive of the short, hyper-focused loops that defined the early Vulfpeck sound. These weren't full songs, but rhythmic exercises built on the philosophy that a groove should be established and discarded before it has a chance to get boring. You hear the obsession with the 'Purdie Shuffle' and the ghost notes of James Jamerson, but stripped of any fluff or radio aspirations. It was the first sign that Vulfmon was going to be the sandbox for his most clinical, rhythm-first impulses.

2. 02

   The Solo Puppet Master

   With the release of Here We Go Jack in 2022, the project shifted from a collection of sketches into a fully realized, albeit bizarre, solo identity. He leaned into the 'Vulfmon' character, using a mix of live instrumentation and blatant digital manipulation to create a sound that felt both human and robotic. The addition of collaborators like Jacob Jeffries allowed for actual songwriting, but the core remained Stratton’s frantic, multi-instrumental layering. It’s the sound of a guy who spent too much time alone in a basement studio with a DX7 and a very specific vision of what 70s funk would look like if it were invented by a software developer.

Influences

• Bernard Purdie — Stratton has obsessed over Purdie’s 'half-time' shuffle in multiple tutorial videos and interviews. You hear it in the micro-timing of every Vulfmon drum track. The dude treats the Purdie ghost note like a religious relic.
• Stuff — This 70s session-player supergroup is the literal DNA of the Vulf sound. Stratton modeled the band's 'no-fills' discipline on how Cornell Dupree and Gordon Edwards locked together. It's that tight, dry, New York session grit.
• Steely Dan — Stratton frequently references the obsessive studio perfectionism of Fagen and Becker. Vulfmon takes that high-fidelity neuroticism but applies it to low-budget gear. The cynicism in the lyrics is a straight line back to Aja.
• The Meters — The blueprint for minimalist funk where every instrument is a percussion piece. Stratton’s guitar work as Vulfmon mimics Leo Nocentelli’s scratchy, rhythmic stabs. If it’s not percussive, he doesn’t want it on the track.
• Dick Hyman — Stratton has openly cited Hyman’s early Moog experiments as the source for his keyboard tone and 'wonky' synth lines. You hear it in the pitch-bends and the playful, almost educational-film quality of the melodies. It’s nerd-funk in its purest form.