“I love doing music but I never saw myself doing it full time.

I just finished a shorter program and I’ve got a few more years if I want to finish the whole thing,” he says. But I’m glad I’m getting to reach a whole different crowd.”īody Work: Clams, who lives with his mother, a first-grade teacher, is studying physical therapy. Reluctantly Avant-Garde: “People say your music sounds like this and this, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know who you’re talking about,'” Clams, an avowed hip-hop fan, says of the fact that his music has been lumped in with the outré experimentalism of the bands like Washed Out or Ariel Pink. I think making them really emotional is the best way to do that.”

“I just want people to remember my songs. 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. 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.

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