When I visited Mike Volpe—bka Clams Casino—in Nutley, New Jersey for an interview in our magazine, he apologized more than once for the attic room where he works being a mess. It wasn't. What's there—a vacuum cleaner, spare dinner chairs, a Monopoly set and books on herbal healing and working out with a core ball—is neatly kept and in good shape, the stuff of a home that a family has lived in well. Clams took off his shoes before sitting down at desktop studio, a tower and flat screen Dell he's worried will crash soon. The five songs that comprise his debut EP are dank, atmospheric ones that the rappers he teams with—Soulja Boy, Lil B and Squadda B among them—shied away from. But Volpe chose the small batch with purpose. "I really wanted the tracks to stick together and have an overall theme," he says, "and when I put them together I got like a nature/rainforest/tropic sort of vibe. It's hard to explain, but seeing landscapes, colors like light green in my head." We're seeing it dude! 100%. Buy Rainforest from Tri Angle on June 27th, and see Clams play MoMA PS1's Warm Up on August 13th. Before that, read our feature on Clams Casino in FADER #74, on newsstands next Tuesday and online soon.
Stream: Clams Casino's Rainforest EP (via clammyclams)
