But the intervening years have pushed the producer into a different lane. But the album highlights the difference between Volpe and the myriad imitators in his wake: Anyone can oversaturate some moody samples and chalk it up to a “vibe,” but few can weave those disparate elements together in a compelling way that inspires the listener to fill in their own narratives.Volpe’s contributions-his skittering layers of drums and bass thump, his oozing samples-have changed the genre for good. He’s said that he’s ready to get back to making “ some fun rap shit or something” now that this new solo release is finished. Chopped breaks and angelic electric piano noodling on “Cupidwing” and “Fire Blue” invoke the lovelorn works of DJ Shadow, while “Lyre,” with its lonely guitars and wildlife recordings, reframes Clams as hip-hop’s own Daniel Lanois. The songs are as sonically destroyed as ever, bristling with digital flotsam and tape hiss-see “Twilit”-but the patient harmonic changes give the doomy atmospheres a certain sentimentality.

Nonetheless, there’s a clear arc throughout the album, and by the midpoint, Clams-who used to source new sounds by typing search terms like “cold” and “blue” into LimeWire-is offering some of his warmest-sounding music. It sounds like it could have been made at any point of his career. Moon Trip Radio’s opening track (and lead single) “Rune“ instantly feels like classic Clams, an ominous and alien-sounding vocal sample perfectly setting the tone for granular textures to come. His legacy can be felt in the druggy, washed-out productions of SoundCloud rap producers like Ronny J-drums forward, bass up, atmospheres of druggy malaise smeared across the background like black paint and perpetuated by lo-fi samples. No longer beholden to the requirements of a major, he eschews features instead, Volpe gives us an unadulterated stream of his ambient hip-hop amalgam.īy now, the Clams formula is an essential part of 2010s rap canon. The following year, he returned to his long-running Instrumental Mixtape series for a fourth edition, and now he’s released his second album, Moon Trip Radio.

But the album came and went, and Clams Casino was no more a household name than before it was released. Herring, it seemed like Volpe was ready to consolidate his own star power. After 2016’s major-label debut 32 Levels, featuring vocal turns from singers like Kelela and Future Islands’ Sam T.

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