Clams Casino: Instrumentals

Available on: Type LP

“To find things to sample, I used to just type a random word – like “blue” or “cold” – into LimeWire or BearShare and download the first 10 results.”

Clams Casino is oh so modern. He produces from his mother’s attic, where he’s made beats for Soulja Boy, Mobb Deep’s Havoc and Lil B, but he’s never met any of them and probably not earned a dime directly from working with them. He’s named after a Rhode Island seafood dish he’s never eaten, and judging by the above quote, from a recent interview, his sampling process starts with the search bar of peer-to-peer programs. Oh, and his first records are due out on Type and Tri Angle.

Until then, we have this, an instrumental mixtape of classic ghetto production techniques filtered through the eye of YouTube embed codes. These tracks snap and bang in all the right places, with sawn-off snares and gun-metal drum machine programming at their core, but they also swell with layers of ambience; distorted synth pads and reversed voices forming the majority of it. There’s an obsession with space in music at the moment, but Clams’ productions are so packed with white and blue brush strokes that they threaten to spill off the canvas at any moment.

Hip-hop has always been ahead of the curve, and quick to throw off the shackles of tradition (the genre has largely left the single format to rot, for instance – if your track’s on YouTube, that’s it out). It’s easier than ever to make a masterpiece with minimal production software, but it’s also easier than ever for artists to get bogged down in what doesn’t matter. While the rest of the world spends all night EQing a kick drum to death, Clams Casino is building a legacy.

Tom Lea

Review originally posted in April, after Instrumentals’ release as a free mixtape. It has now been given the full vinyl treatment by Type Records.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 15th, 2011 at 10:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

  • http://www.enkeling.nl Enkeling

    I wouln’t have minded a higher bitrate though.

  • jm1

    yeah, the quality is horrible
    anyway, great mixtape

  • you

    the music world is getting weirder than ever………a bedroom producer mix tape getting real good reviews in pitchfork and fact…..nothing spectacular by the way….just a kid playing with his computer ,nice but ……just that ……..

  • Flemishsour

    so what are you producing and what’s spectacular??

  • Flemishsour is an imbecile.

     oh, so unless he’s a producer himself he’s not allowed to have an opinion? what an idiotic comment.

  • Maxwell Reynish
  • you

    the  only spectacular thing i know its Scarlett Johnason face …..followed close by The new Dom thomas  San antonio Mixtape and the cover from the new sun arraw album.I think the tittle from the new omar s album is quite spectacular too.By the way i make music ,beats and tracks but i dont produce….phil spector used to produce,the same with brian wilson or david axelrod…kanye west its also a producer(you may like him or not but you have to admit he is spectacular). Ok those are big names ,but what about space dimension controller(19 years old)…his detroit state of mind remix is what i ´d call spectacular…gavim russom its spectacular also(check his pional remix this year.. spinning thisn track at peak time were the most SPECTACULAR experience i have had this year as a dj ,but take some guts to do it).Also id say that your ignorance its pretty spectacular….

  • C Mudgeon

    hmmm i mean this guy is cool, and semi interesting. but really? hes that amazing? that different? that novel? hmmmm. i love hip hop too but seriously.

  • Geraouuu

    ur a pussy , stop hating , u mad cuz u fuck with fruity loops 

Featured Events

End of Year Lists

Advertisement