Clams Casino is one of the hottest producers around right now with write-ups and rave reviews from everyone from Pitchfork to The Wire to Rolling Stone. He consistently pumps out songs that combine insanely gorgeous gauzy melodies and samples with banging beats and heavy bass. Pretty much every song he makes is the shit. You can get a whole mixtape of free instrumentals that he made and sent for free to MC's and were used by people as diverse as Soulja Boy and Lil' B here. A few days later he released another set of songs on his Twitter which I obsessively downloaded individually but are collected conveniently for you here. I pulled out a couple of my favorites from there if you just want to try a couple songs out first.
The first is "Motivation" which was used by Lil' B and was actually the first time I heard Clams. I was blown away by the music and wanted more...and then magically he put out a whole mixtape with just the beats.
Clams Casino--"Motivation" mp3
The next one "Illest Alive" takes Bjork and twists her into a gangster R&B songstress (something she wouldn't be opposed to given her past collaborations with the Wu-Tang Clan (I would've killed to here the conversations between them)).
Clams Casino--"Illest Alive" mp3
Finally Clams is coming out with a new album, Rainforest, on my current favorite label Tri-Angle Records (home of How to Dress Well, Balam Acab (stay tuned) and Holy Other (see tomorrow's post) among others). Rainforest is the first collection of tracks he's made specifically as songs...not instrumentals for MC's to spit over. You can stream the whole thing and pre-order it HERE. It sounds absolutely awesome. Extra detail, more song structure and bigger builds for even more emotional heft (something he already specialized in...especially in the realm of rap inst.). Here is a track from the new album. Buy it. He makes great music and has been giving a ton of it away for free. Let's thank him.
Clams Casino--"Gorilla" mp3
Here's the official video for another track from Rainforest called "Natural" which uses footage from the excellent Werner Herzog classic Aguirre, the Wrath of God. THIS SONG IS SO BEAUTIFUL. Step to it all. You will not regret.
ps-Clams also recently released a new mix via FACT magazine. I don't even have enough time to listen to all this...how does the man have time to produce all this? His college work must be suffering.
Clams Casino--FACT mix
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