Clams Casino: Instrumental Mixtape

Clams Casino
Instrumental Mixtape
Rating: Grrrr

New Jersey producer Clams Casino is best known for his work in the "based music" genre, usually associated with Lil' B, mixing laid back free-assocation lyrics with stoner beats, stretched out samples, and dense production work. The blueprint for this style is Lil' B's single "I'm Am God," featuring his drawled delivery over a manipulated sample of Imogen Heap's "Just For Now."



Clams Casino has released a mixtape of instrumentals he has put together for artists like Lil' B, Soulja Boy, and Squadda B sans vocals; putting his music out front without the rapping is an interesting concept, one that works surprisingly well. On their own, the intricacies of his productions are more apparent, standing tall alongside releases from electronic masters like Burial, Flying Lotus, and Mount Kimbie. As with "I Am God," Clams Casino is still working with samples, folding and manipulating them into something unique and different. Whether it is taking Bjork's "Bachelorette," on "Illest Alive," cutting and elongating it, pushing it through a killer hip hop drum loop;



Janelle Monae's "Cold War," takes the drama and tension of the original and loops it into a paranoid fantasy;



and "Realist Alive," draws out a sample from Adele's "Hometown Glory," turning his own piece into something gorgeous and haunting:



His music all works or fails off the beats. Using tinny snares and cymbal crashes, it is tempting to lump his sound with last year's "witch house" craze, but instead of trying to create an air of menace, his use of more ambient and IDM textures and samples, takes him away from being pigeonholed there. "Motivation," has a standard hip-hop beat married with heavenly sounding synth patches:



"All I Need" has clipped, stop start beats, and a sense of longing and melancholy lurking within the low end vocal samples and droning bass:



"Real Shit From A Real Nigga," takes crisp 808 beats, surrounded by deep, rumbling analog synths and twinkling synth strings, creating a sense of drama, building the song layer by layer, dropping elements out, to build them back up again. It's amazing how at 23 years old, Clams Casino knows how to make you feel emotionally invested in the music. The pianos, organs, flutes and thick beats of "What You Doin'" take you on a journey, evoking the ups and downs of a relationship perhaps.

The beats and music of this mixtape get denser and more complex each listen. The mood and pacing of his tracks are expert, belying his young age. In interviews he has made it clear he wants to basically get away from passing his music onto others and using it solely for himself. If this music is any indication, it is the right decision to make, and I eagerly look forward to what he does next.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.