Technical Difficulties

Along with most electronic music, I'm quite into hip-hop/rap 'beats'. Not always the typical beats, not the Lil Wayne type beats. I was introduced to the whole genre by a rapper friend of mine, and I'm grateful. I enjoy electronic music and beats. I love it when the two collide.

Enter Mike Volpe, aka Clams Casino. With a new twist on what was a stagnant time for hip hop beat producers, this guy is making serious waves, and well deserved waves too.
One of his first EPs, Rainforest (EP, Tri Angle Records), is largely overlooked, though I have trouble understanding why. With a beautifully controlled delay, often with just the right amount of distortion, master crafted beats, and lots of vocal 'oohs & aahs', Volpe has crafted his own style of instrumentals in a time of great staleness.

Natural, the first track off the Rainforest EP is the archetypal tune from Clams Casino.


** I still haven't worked out the typical Ilictronix embedding, so for now I'll have to make do with YouTube videos and Soundcloud embeds.

The next track is just one of my favourites from Volpe. I simply find it relaxing. I find it to be the perfect start to a day, or the perfect end to a day. That smooth vocal catches my ear every time. Although this track is surprisingly lacking in distortion, all of his tunes seem to have a type of aural watermark that just stamps it as a Clams Casino work.



Along with his tunes and producer capabilities being used by many big names in rap such as Mac Miller, Lil B and A$AP Rocky, Volpe has released a few remixes and two mixtapes; Instrumentals and Instrumentals 2. They definitely have a similar sound, and it may be seen as repetitive, but there are definitely stand outs in there. I won't post anymore, simply to save on YouTube links.

Apologies for the YouTube/Soundcloud links, next post I'll have that embedding downpat.

- Sulphites

Ilictronix: wingman edition

Winter is here, and I hope you all found your snow bunnies to snuggle up with. Play these around your special someone and I guarantee things will get hotter than a Mexican summer. Like any good wingman I want to get all of you some action, so here are some songs to add to your sexytime playlists.

The first track is from Canadian Cyril Hahn. Not to be out grooved by fellow Canadian The Weeknd, Hahn has been putting out some stellar remix's and building buzz. His mixes for the bbc are responsible for creating a European baby boom. He dropped the Perfect Form EP this year and it's a great mood setter. The title track is an sexy piece of future r&b that sounds like something Jamie xx could conceive a child to. It also has Shy Girls singing the vocals.

Speaking of shy girls, he also dropped an EP this year titled Timeshare. It's a pretty decent album but the first track off it is "must listen". It's a slower groove that still bumps hard enough to break the ice with the coldest of partners. 

Be safe and use protection everyone!
-Adam

Feelin' Good

I was lucky enough to have one of my favourite artists Nightmares On Wax drop by local record store Jumbo for a DJ set. It's the first time he's been back in Leeds for around 5 years, I wasn't able ot get tickets for the event he was playing that night, so I thought this would be the next best thing. And I was right.

I'd seen interviews and the like, but I didn't really know what to expect. Good news is that N.O.W is every bit as chill as his tunes and stuck around to chat to us before AND after his set. An all round nice bloke who makes equally nice tunes. Here's a couple favourites from his newest LP Feelin' Good starting with sultry number Master Plan.



And a more jazzy number to follow that's up to the ususal N.O.W standard. It's not dethroned Smokers Delight as my favourite release of his, but it's a worthy addition to the catalogue. And besides, he was nice enough to sign my copies of Smokers Delight, Carboot Soul and the newest one Feelin' Good, so I can't complain!

Finally, the soothing penultimate track There 4U. The vibe of the album is completly nailed on this one.As the man said on his radio interview not long after, it's his most personal album so far and is pretty much what he's always wanted to make, and it really shows. The album came out late September, check it out if you're looking for positive chilled out hip hop vibes!



-Claude Van Foxbat

HudMo100

Glaswegian based messy music maker Hudson Mohawke hit 100k likes on Facebook, and was nice enough to throw together a little .rar of edits he's done, including a nice re-imagining of Hell Interface's (aka Boards Of Canada) rework of Midnight Star's Midas Touch. Here's my picks.

Hell Interface x Usher x Midnight Star - Midas Girl (Hudson Mohawke Edit):


RJD2 x Ciara - Go Longer (Hudson Mohawke Edit):


-Claude Van Foxbat