This list is a primer on 10 of Clams’ most defining, quality beats during his rise from YouTube mainstay to paid major label remixer and beyond-a point of entry for new listeners and a review of some highlights for those already familiar. Ascendant 24-year-old Mike Volpe-better known by his culinarily inspired pseudonym, Clams Casino-has struck a chord with listeners through only a few dozen tracks, a series of immediately recognizable productions scattered across mixtapes, albums, YouTube pages, and tweets, forming both a succinct canon and a pillar of the cloud rap subgenre. Rainforest is an isolationist hip-hop epic that accords perfectly with the Tri Angle aesthetic while also affirming and deepening Clams' singular production style it's a new benchmark in the bedroom hip-hop revolution, the real sh*t, and totally essential.If you’ve spent time cruising around the music blogosphere in the last year or so, you’ve probably become acquainted with the fact that Clams Casino no longer solely stands for a recipe that requires bacon and cheese. There's a release of sorts for 'Gorilla,' razor-sharp strings lifting the blunted percussion heavenwards, but this vertical ascent isn't quite enough to suppress the all-pervasive feelings of heartache and listlessness. Rhythm is back in the foreground for 'Waterfalls,' but again this is a tune built to deliver a substantial emotional payload rather than cheap club thrills 'Drowning' maintains the almost gothic sensibility of the EP, pattering snares, piano chords and sepulchral synth jabs ebbing and flexing in the ether. 'Treetop' is just beautiful, wistul techno arpeggios and barely-there beats foraging forlornly through an ambience of exotic birdsong and high-altitude air pressure.

Those expecting more of the ruggedly romantic R&B infusions he's best known for will be initially surprised, but ultimately enchanted, by the more knotty, abstract direction he's taken for 'Rainforests.' With its foregrounding of crackle, 'Natural' could almost be mistaken for The Caretaker making hip-hop, were it not for the generous dosage of Clams' signature whooshing synth atmospherics and amorphous vocal moans. For some time his electrifying beats have been lighting up mixtapes for Lil B, Soulja Boy and other unique personalities in the new rap underground, but recently he's stepped out of the shadows to become acclaimed in his own right, releasing his own instant-classic Instrumentals mixtape, and now proffering a timely EP on Tri Angle, his debut release proper.

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