If I’m feeling bad or something, it’s not like I’ll go make a sad beat,” he says. His best beats, meanwhile, offset moody melodies with cathartic crescendos. “I don’t know why I’m attracted to female voices – I never really thought of it,” he says.

Today he uses the computer program Acid Pro, often chopping up and tweaking a single sample for use in several different songs.Įmotional Investment: Many of Clams’ beats feature melancholy, gorgeously distorted vocal samples from singular chanteuses like Adele, Bjork and Imogen Heap. A fan of Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Mobb Deep and the Diplomats-affiliated Heatmakerz production crew, he used a “cheap little Yamaha sampler” to teach himself how to make beats. 1 Museum.ĭrummer Boy: Clams began playing drums in his native New Jersey when he was six years old, eventually “messing around with friends’ bands and stuff” before trying his hand at hip-hop production in high school. This summer, Clams – whose real name is Mike Volpe – will release the lovely Rainforest EP and play his first-ever live show, opening for the anarchic noise act Black Dice at New York’s P.S. In March, in the face of mounting requests for MC-free versions of his tracks, he released Instrumental Mixtape, where the richly textured, poignant sound stood entirely on its own. Or, as a press release put it, “an immersive, boom bap exploration of a psychedelic world of Michael Volpe’s design, one that can be imagined when gazing up at the cosmos with a willingness to explore.Who: Best known for the emotive, hypnotic, hard-hitting beats he’s whipped up for Soulja Boy (“All I Need”) and Berkeley oddball Lil B (“Motivation”), 24-year-old Clams Casino got his break when he contacted B on MySpace and sent him some instrumentals. (Read: The 10-Must See Artists Touring New Albums This Fall)Īlthough best known for his production work for prominent hip-hop acts like Mac Miller and Vince Staples, this new album finds Clams Casino (real name Michael Volpe) diving into more spacey genre territory.

The effort also follows his free Instrumentals 4 mixtape from 2017, as well as remixes for Lana Del Rey. Moon Trip Radio is the producer’s first proper full-length since 2016’s 32 Levels and his second overall. Stream it in full below via Apple Music or Spotify. Clams Casino returns today with his new album, Moon Trip Radio.

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