Jun 26, 2017 Casino Clams is back with the return of his Instrumentals mixtape series, and he's giving fans the fourth installment of the project. The New Jersey producer released Instrumentals 4 earlier today. Clams Casino Instrumentals 3 Clams Casino Instrumentals 3 Clams Casino Instrumentals 3 Clams Casino Instrumentals 3 Download: Tracklist.
| Background information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Michael Volpe |
| Also known as | Clammy Clams |
| Born | May 12, 1987 (age 33) Nutley, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts |
|
| Website | clammyclams.com |
Michael Volpe (born May 12, 1987), known professionally as Clams Casino, is an Italian-American record producer and songwriter from Nutley, New Jersey.[1][2] Volpe is currently signed to Columbia Records and Sony Music. He has produced tracks for artists such as ASAP Rocky,[3]Lil B,[4]Vince Staples,[5]Joji,[6] and Mac Miller[7] and has also remixed works by Big K.R.I.T.,[8]Washed Out,[9] and Lana Del Rey.[10]
Career[edit]
A resident of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, Volpe got his start in music tinkering with keyboards while he was a student at Nutley High School.[11]
Volpe's official debut EP Rainforest was released through Tri Angle Records on June 27, 2011.[12] His Instrumentals mixtape was released on March 7, 2011,[13] followed by the release of Instrumentals 2 on June 5, 2012[14] and Instrumentals 3 on December 18, 2013.[15] The mixtapes were distributed for free through his website.
Volpe contributed a score for Locomotor, a work choreographed by his cousin Stephen Petronio released on April 4, 2014.[16] He released his debut studio album 32 Levels through Columbia Records on July 15, 2016. He followed it up with his Instrumentals 4 mixtape, released on June 26, 2017.
In April 2020, Clams Casino cleared the Imogen Heap sample for his instrumental 'I'm God', which first appeared on Lil B's 2009 album 6 Kiss.[17][18] The song remains his most popular song with nearly 25 million views on Youtube.
Musical style[edit]
Volpe's music has been described as '[bringing] together conventional hip-hop drums, a sensitive ear for off-to-the-side melodies, and an overdose of oddly moving atmosphere.'[19] Associated genres include witch house and cloud rap.
Discography[edit]
Studio albums[edit]
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| 32 Levels |
|
| Moon Trip Radio |
|
Mixtapes[edit]
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Instrumentals |
|
| Instrumentals 2 |
|
| Instrumentals 3 |
|
| Instrumentals 4 |
|
Extended plays[edit]
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Rainforest |
|
Singles[edit]
Clams Casino I'm God
As lead artist[edit]
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 'Wizard' | 2011 | non-album singles |
| 'Worth It' (with Danny Brown) | 2015 | |
| 'Blast' | 2016 | 32 Levels |
| 'Witness' (featuring Lil B) | ||
| 'All Nite' (featuring Vince Staples) | ||
| 'A Breath Away' (featuring Kelela) | ||
| 'Be Somebody' (featuring ASAP Rocky and Lil B) | ||
| 'Be Somebody (Remix)' (featuring ASAP Rocky, AJ Tracey and Lil B) | non-album singles | |
| 'Live My Life' (featuring Lil B) | ||
| 'Time' | Savefabric | |
| 'Kali Yuga' (with Ghostemane) | 2017 | non-album singles |
| 'Summer Bummer (Clams Casino Remix)' (with Lana Del Rey featuring ASAP Rocky and Playboi Carti) | ||
| 'Vampire Knight' (with Chxpo) | 2018 |
As featured artist[edit]
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| '4 Gold Chains' (Lil Peep featuring Clams Casino) | 2018 | non-album singles |
| 'Can't Get Over You' (Joji featuring Clams Casino) | 2018 | Ballads 1 |
| 'NITROUS' (Joji featuring Clams Casino) | 2020 | Nectar |
Compilations[edit]
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Instrumental Relics |
|
Clams Casino Instrumental Mixtape 4
References[edit]
- ^Kuperinsky, Amy (January 8, 2012). 'Making a scene: A new generation of New Jersey hip-hop asserts itself'. New Jersey On-Line.
- ^Dombalon, Ryan (March 31, 2011). 'Rising: Clams Casino'. Pitchfork Media.
- ^Lester, Paul (November 17, 2011). 'New band of the day – No 1,151: Clams Casino'. The Guardian.
- ^Montes, Patrick (May 16, 2013). 'Producer Clams Casino on His 'Weird' Relationship with Our 4Knots After Party Headliner Lil B'. Village Voice. Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
- ^'Vince Staples Hops on Clams Casino's 'All Nite''. Highsnobiety. 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2017-01-08.
- ^'Joji teams with Clams Casino for new single 'CAN'T GET OVER YOU''. The FADER. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
- ^Roos, Brandon E. (November 27, 2011). 'Clams Casino Talks Making Strong Connections With Mac Miller And A$AP Rocky'. HipHopDX. Archived from the original on October 31, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
- ^Martin, Andrew (December 20, 2011). 'Listen: Big K.R.I.T. 'Moon & Stars (Clams Casino Remix)''. Complex.
- ^Thiessen, Brock (November 9, 2011). 'Washed Out – 'Amor Fati' (Clams Casino remix)'. Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
- ^Adams, Gregory (January 17, 2012). 'Lana Del Rey – 'Born to Die' (Clams Casino remix)'. Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
- ^Olivier, Bobby. 'How this Nutley artist became New Jersey's latest music pioneer', NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, December 21, 2016. 'The EDM bleed has paid dividends for Mike Volpe, a Nutley native better known as Clams Casino, who has become one of the most sought-after digital designers in hip-hop's experimental universe.... 'It's great, how easy it is to get stuff out, and make music at home and all the sudden people everywhere can hear it,' he says, from his home in Hasbrouck Heights.... The Nutley High School grad first began to tinker with beats as a teen, fooling around with basic keyboards and synthesizers, much simpler ones than the machines now scattered around his basement home studio.'
- ^Sharp, Elliott (July 5, 2011). 'Guide To New Music, 7/5/11: New Releases by Clams Casino, Exhumed, Memory Tapes, and Pursuit Grooves'. Philadelphia Weekly. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
- ^Reynaldo, Shawn (January 2, 2012). 'Clams Casino Offers 'Instrumentals' for Free'. XLR8R. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
- ^Shaw, Steve (June 12, 2012). 'Clams Casino: Instrumentals 2'. Fact.
- ^Fitzmaurice, Larry (January 8, 2014). 'Clams Casino: Instrumental Tape 3'. Pitchfork Media.
- ^Seibert, Brian (April 4, 2014). 'Come Here, Look Back, Move Forward – Stephen Petronio Company Marks Its 30th Anniversary'. The New York Times.
- ^'10 songs you need in your life this week'. The FADER. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
- ^Chris. 'Clams Casino's legendary, Imogen Heap-sampling 'I'm God' finally gets an official release'. GORILLA VS. BEAR. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
- ^'Clams Casino: Instrumental Mixtape'. Pitchfork. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
- ^Yoo, Noah (October 29, 2019). 'Clams Casino Announces New Album Moon Trip Radio, Shares New Song 'Rune': Listen'. Pitchfork. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
Clams Casino
External links[edit]
- clammyclams on SoundCloud
- ClamsCasinoMusic's channel on YouTube
- Clams Casino discography at Discogs
“Instrumental Mixtape 4,” has listeners fully submerged in a world of deep bass and hard drums so they lose track of time as the nebulous harmonies take them away. Mike Volpe under the name Clams Casino, released his newest mixtape June 24, opening with “Say Your Prayers,” a track that features piano and bells, but mostly drums.
“Say Your Prayers,” an original song, has a sound that echoes like a church choir while the drums pound noticeably. This is the traditional Clams Casino sound that fans have embraced from the past four mixtapes and the single album “32 Levels,” released last year.
The producer has become incredibly valuable to hip-hop artists such as A$AP Ferg, Danny Brown, and Vince Staples who all have instrumentals featured on this mixtape. These rappers are taking advantage of Clams Casino’s signature sound of enveloping beats, amorphous sounds, and hard hitting percussion, like A$AP Ferg’s feature, “Uncle.”
The mixtape begins to take a different turn with the other original instrumental, “Wavey,”. Clams Casino shows his experimental side by using a harsher, more distorted noise. While the song initially sounds familiar to his sound, it begins to take a different turn as the bass becomes overwhelming and breaks through the other instruments. Through hits like “Wavey” on this mixtape, Clams Casino is showing how he can change the way we think of hip-hop production.
This mixtape is a step above Clams Casino’s other work because of its polished finish and desire to experiment with new sounds and styles. Right after the experimental track “Wavey,” is his remix of DJ Shadow’s “Stem / Long Stem,” featuring spoken word and a lower focus on the drums.
Other tracks such as tracks “Worth It” and “Norf Norf” focus heavily on the drums and percussion. The former includes almost none of the enveloping sounds that Clams Casino is known for, while the latter does have a relatively smaller emphasis on the underlying bass.
The middle of the mixtape, starting from “Worth It,” to “Kali Yuga,” does leave the listener lacking some of the head bumping and consuming sounds that is expected with Clams Casino. “Leave With You,” an enjoyable listen, remedies this by including a simple melody and drum line. With no vocal samples, the listener is left to focus on the complicated drum lines, only to realize the melody has a simple, yet driving style.
The mixtape slows down again with the final three songs: the remix of Sia’s “Elastic Heart,” “Talk It,” and “Summertime.” All of these songs feature a slower moving finale to the mixtape, when compared to the hard-hitting “Norf Norf” and “Worth It.” The “Elastic Heart” remix particularly stands out as it sounds like a completely different song than Sia’s original, a testament to the skill that Clams Casino has at creating and remixing music. He is not just a producer who adds bass and drums, he is an artist who has perfected his sound and craft enough to be able to create it in any situation.
While these last three songs have a somber and slow sound, there is a hopefulness that comes up over the entrancingly deep bass. Clams Casino is not just another hip-hop producer, his sound is what has changed rap music to embrace the importance of what is underneath. As the last notes of “Instrumental Mixtape 4” slowly fade out into static and the listener is left to think in silence, we are reminded of the powerful emotion that Clams Casino can create.
“Instrumental Mixtape 4” was released for free through Clams Casino’s Twitter and website.
mvalenti@theeagleonline.com