Last year beatmaker Mike Volpe dropped his first Instrumental Mixtape as Clams Casino. It was very good. So good that with it and the Rainforest EP he released on Tri-Angle shortly afterwards Clams' work found its way all over my 2011 Year-End Lists. Now we have Instrumental Mixtape 2, so make sure you download it if you're a fan of the man's work, or just want to know what all the fuss is about. If you've been following Clams and his projects you'll probably have heard most of what's here, but it's nice to get the chance to hear all his main beats and remixes of the past year in their instrumental forms. Download here, and below check the tracklist:
1. Palace [A$AP Rocky]
2. Wassup [A$AP Rocky]
3. Bass [A$AP Rocky]
4. The Fall (Original Mix) [The Weeknd]
5. Human *unreleased
6. One Last Thing [Mac Miller]
7. Amor Fati (remix) [Washed Out]
8. Angels [Mac Miller]
9. Leaf [A$AP Rocky ft. Main Attrakionz]
10. Kissing on My Syrup [Squadda B]
11. Swervin' (remix) [XV]
12. Unchain Me [Lil B]
13. Born To Die (remix) [Lana Del Rey]
14. I'm God [Lil B]
A note on the year-end lists:These lists have taken me ages to do, which is part of the reason they arrive so late, but the main reason is that I didn't want to cut out a large amount of December's releases like many high-profile publications tend to do. I've learned to listen to releases more thouroghly next time so that I don't have to spend as long trying to remember how much I like or dislike something all at the end. Needless to say many tracks, EP's and albums I initially dismissed I've fallen in love with now that I've returned to them, and others I praised highly (including on this blog) have fallen a little out of favour with me. Everything listed has been officially released between 1st January and 31st December 2011. I'll probably never be able to properly decide on the exact order of my favourites; this is just how they stand as of right now, but if I've listed something, it means I think it's worthy of your attention. And of course these aren't my only favourites of 2011: there are many albums in particular that haven't made the list, but check back thrrough my blog posts to see what they are. Feedback is always appreciated, so if you don't agree with something being here, if you think I've ranked something too high or low, or if something seems to be missing leave me some comments.Thanks to everyone that has helped me in this project, and my first year of music blogging, and to all the artists I've tagged and discussed thoughout the year, please support them by buying their music, going to their shows, etc. And spread the word. Josh
These are the rules I used to qualify my top 15 EP's of 2011:
Shorter than an album and longer than a single track. This goes without saying.
Basically, if a release goes under the name of EP (i.e. ends with "EP" or officially released as such), it qualifies. For example #2 is an EP even though it is only 2 tracks long.
Remix EP's qualify, although none have made it to the list.
A single and any number of B-sides are only EP's if they are released as such.
Free mixtapes are not EP's unless they are named so (e.g. #6).
And without further ado:
15. Colin Stetson - Those Who Didn't Run
14. Trash Talk - Awake
13. James Blake - Enough Thunder
12. Zomby - Nothing EP
11. Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself
10. King Krule - King Krule
9. Kurt Vile - So Outta Reach
8. Dum Dum Girls - He Gets Me High
7. Toro Y Moi - Freaking Out EP
6. Black Milk and Danny Brown - Black and Brown EP
5. Burial - Street Halo EP
4. TV Girl - Benny and the Jetts
3. Clams Casino - Rainforest EP
The number of times I've peppered the tag "Clams Casino" throughout my too few blog posts surely testify to the reverance I have towards this guy. Released shortly after the Instrumental Mixtape, composed of the many beats made for Lil B, Soulja Boy, et al, Clams pursued the dense, cloudy production style in five solid new directions for the Rainforest EP. Released on Tri Angle Records, Rainforest fits right in with the beautiful, ethereal electronica of Holy Other and Balam Acab. And if you're unsure what my favourite track is, you might soon find out...
2. Nicolas Jaar - Don't Break My Love I reviewed this a few weeks ago. Read about it here. Instead I'll use this space to say how this EP has helped me rediscover Nicolas Jaar's debut album, Space Is Only Noise, after not quite "getting it" upon its release earlier in the year. Don't Break My Love is much more immedieate than its elder sibling; its two segnemts take their time to slowly build to form strange dancefloor manifestations. The kaleidoscopic shards that make up Space Is Only Noise work to form an organised whole. Don't Break My Love instead compresses the album's chopped vocal samples, feedback loops and clipped beats into utterly compelling modern electronica.
1. Hudson Mohawke - Satin Panthers
The most exciting EP of the year, Hudson Mohawke's Satin Panthers is brimming with more ideas than most full length albums you're likely to hear. A dizzying blend of past and future sounds bring a near-continuum of high after high; the enjoyment bought about by the number of things happening at once may only be rivalled by fellow Glaswegian Warp Records-signed Rustie (dream collaboration perhaps?), whose debut album Glass Swords was also released in 2011 (see below). HudMo seemingly accomplishes twice as much variety with Satin Panthers in less than half of Glass Swords' runtime. "Octan" starts things off with a 2-minute blast of rising and falling spacey synth textures, making room for "Thunder Bay", a rave/hip-hop mutation with strange synth-horn sounds. "Cbat" builds itself around a single chirpy phrase and grows as the drum patterns become more complex. On the other side, "All Your Love" couldn't sound more different: a highly-polished modern take of 90's rave and dancehall sped up way beyond what is necessary, and is just great fun. The final track "Thank You" serves as HudMo's victory lap, fusing everything incorporated so far: great drum programming, swirly, obnoxious synths and technicoloured Sega-esque charm. At less than 20 minutes, Satin Panthers is an essential sugar rush.
These are the rules I used to qualify my top 100 tracks of 2011:
One per artist. This is pretty much the only rule, and is also true for my albums list. The others just qualify this rule. Just so that I cangive the most coverage to artists I like really. Also makes it a bit simpler for me.
Collaborative tracks and tracks by single artists are allowed if the artists are equally billed. I'm talking about #51 and #29.
Feature spots are allowed an unlimited amount of times. Yes this list has a lot of Danny Brown. This isn't true for the artist for whom the track is mainly credited for however, it counts as their track.
Also these are single tracks, regardless of whether it counts as an official single or just an album track. EP's have a seperate list, just in case you didn't notice.
Here we go:
100. Nas - "Nasty"
99. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "Ffunny Frends"
98. Big Troubles - "Sad Girls"
97. Jens Lekman - "Waiting for Kirsten"
96. Zola Jesus - "Vessel"
95. Tom Waits - "Bad as Me"
94. Kreayshawn - "Gucci Gucci"
93. Thurston Moore - "Blood Never Lies"
92. Bon Iver - "Holocene"
91. Foster the People - "Pumped up Kicks"
90. A$AP Rocky - "Palace"
89. Little Dragon - "Nightlight"
88. Adele - "Someone Like You"
87. My Morning Jacket - "Circuital"
86. Terius Nash - "Wedding Crasher"
85. Washed Out - "Eyes Be Closed"
84. TV on the Radio - "You"
83. Atlas Sound - "Te Amo"
82. Azaelia Banks - "212"
81. Korallreven - "As Young As Yesterday"
80. Russian Circles - "Mlàdek"
79. Trash Talk - "Awake"
78. Kate Bush - "Wild Man"
77. Wilco - "I Might"
76. Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire - "The Last Huzzah feat. Despot, Das Racist, Danny Brown, EL-P"
75. Black Lips - "Spidey's Curse"
74. Jamie xx - "Far Nearer"
73. Youth Lagoon - "Afternoon"
72. Beastie Boys - "Make Some Noise"
71. The Antlers - "Parentheses"
70. Colin Stetson - "Judges"
69. Cut Copy - "Need You Now"
68. Beyoncé - "Countdown"
67. Tyler, the Creator - "Yonkers"
66. Lykke Li - "I Follow Rivers"
65. Jay-Z & Kanye West - "Murder to Excellence"
64. Africa Hitech - "Light the Way"
63. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Heaven's Gonna Happen Now"
62. Drake - "Headlines"
61. Charli XCX - "Nuclear Seasons"
60. Metronomy - "The Bay"
59. Real Estate - "It's Real"
58. Fucked Up - "Turn the Season"
57. Dum Dum Girls - "Bedroom Eyes"
56. Jacques Greene - "Another Girl" 55. Burial - "Stolen Dog"
54. The Drums - "Money"
53. Toro Y Moi - "New Beat"
52. Kendrick Lamar - "Rigamortis Remix feat. Busta Rhymes"
51. Black Milk and Danny Brown - "Zap" 50. JEFF the Brotherhood - "Hey Friend"
49. King Krule - "The Noose of Jah City"
48. Josh T. Pearson - "Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ"
47. Hudson Mohawke - "Thunder Bay"
46. Nicki Minaj - "Super Bass"
45. Girls - "Honey Bunny"
44. The Roots - "Make My feat. Big K.R.I.T."
43. Panda Bear - "Last Night at the Jetty"
42. The Go! Team - "Buy Nothing Day feat. Bethany Cosentino"
41. Julian Lynch - "Canopy" 40. Four Tet - "Pyramid"
39. Jai Paul - "BTSTU"
38. Gang Gang Dance - "Glass Jar"
37. Gotye - "Somebody That I Used to Know feat. Kimbra"
36. Shabazz Palaces - "Youlogy"
35. Radiohead - "Give Up the Ghost"
34. Oneohtrix Point Never - "Replica"
33. SBTRKT - "Pharaohs feat. Roses Gabor"
32. Twin Sister - "Kimmi in a Rice Field"
31. Chelsea Wolfe - "Mer" 30. Rustie - "Ultra Thizz"
29. Danny Brown - "Monopoly"
28. TV Girl - "Benny and the Jetts"
27. Nicolas Jaar - "Space Is Only Noise if You Can See"
26. Cass McCombs - "County Line"
25. PJ Harvey - "The Words That Maketh Murder"
24. Kurt Vile - "Jesus Fever"
23. Yuck - "Get Away"
22. St. Vincent - "Surgeon"
21. Feist - "The Bad in Each Other" 20. The War on Drugs - "Baby Missiles" 19. The Rapture - "How Deep is Your Love?"
18. The Field - "Is This Power"
17. Iceage - "You're Blessed"
16. tUnE-yArDs - "Bizness"
15. Austra - "The Beast"
14. Fleet Foxes - "Grown Ocean"
13. The Strokes - "Under Cover of Darkness"
12. Thee Oh Sees - "Stinking Cloud"
11. James Blake - "The Wilhelm Scream"
10. Destroyer - "Kaputt" "Wasting your days, chasing some girls - alright chasing cocaine, through the backrooms of the world all night", utters Dan Bejar's breathy voice. There are fewer opening lines that are both immediately striking and memorable, and place the listener straight into a certain part of musical history. The title track to Destroyer's Kaputt is a definite high point of the album, a 6-minute adventure through layers of saxophone and soft-rock guitar of early 80's radio. The atention to detail is fantastic: the synth patterns and the female backing vocals each help to create something wistful and forlorn.
9. The Horrors - "Still Life"
Less of a New Romantic revivalist throwback, more of an expertly crafted psychadelic gem. "Still Life" takes time to bring in its component instruments one at a time, beginning with backwards guitar, then drums, bass, keyboards and eventually erupts into colour when Faris Badwan's vocal leads the chorus. Eveything seems to be timed just right and on cue, and feels much too organic to be wooden. The catharsis of this chorus, joined by horns, seems well-earned for both the listener and the Horrors' frontman. "The moment that you want is coming if you give it time".
8. Death Grips - "Beware"
Even the opening interview segment from Charles Manson offers no warning for the terror in store. The opening track to Death Grips' debut album Exmilitary, "Beware" means exactly what you might think. If you can't take the sludgiest of beats (courtesy of Hella's Zach Hil), driving buried, monotonous guitar drones, underpinning MC Ride shouting a truly satanic mantra: "I close my eyes and seize it./ I clench my fists and beat it./ I light my torch and burn it./ I am the beast I worship", then you're not going to get on very well with the rest of the album. You have been warned...
7. Battles - "Ice Cream feat. Matias Aguayo"
Who would have thought that following last year's departure of vocalist and key member Tyondai Braxton, Battles would announce their return with one of the quirkiest pop tunes of 2011? "Ice Cream" is certainly different, even by Battles' standards. The jolly, cutesy, innocent keyboard lines and monstrous drumming of John Stanier that work throughout the band's second album Gloss Drop to create extended, intricate jams instead follow a typical verse-chorus structure, complete with guest vocalist Matias Aguayo's demented babblings.
6. Holy Ghost! - "Wait and See"
I've praised Holy Ghost! in the past for being an excellent singles band. "Wait and See" is what I meant by that. If the duo were under pressure by DFA Records to carry the mantle after the unfortunate departure of the much-loved LCD Soundsystem, it was because of their genuine talent to create meaningful, authentic synth-pop tunes that celebrate their influences as much as they indulge in them (and allow others to indulge). Even above the rest of the fantastic year Holy Ghost! had: working with Michael McDonald, covering Ministry, it's that hook that kills it every single time.
5. Big K.R.I.T. - "Dreamin'"
One of Big K.R.I.T.'s main selling points is the way in which he breathes new life into classic southern hip-hop, in both his lyrics and production style. As a result many hailed his 2011 mixtape Return of 4Eva as an instant classic. With "Dreamin'" K.R.I.T. documents his rise to success with real earnesty and conviction; and in doing so shows a side to southern hip-hop that is rarely seen. Hidden under vinyl crackle is the most simplistic of beats,soulful vocals and guitar, yet the whole experience feels simultaneously cinematic and sincere, as K.R.I.T. addresses reputation, his religion and the measure of success.
4. Clams Casino - "Gorilla"
The final track of my third favourite EP of 2011, "Gorilla" sounds immense. Right from the beginning, a relentless march of cymbal crashes lead an army of deep, disembodied voices. Tension builds and falls as bass pulses carry the beat's momentum. Ultimately "Gorilla" may not be as different to some of the material on Clams' Instrumental Mixtape as other Rainforest tracks such as "Treetop" and "Natural" may be, but in other ways it's miles ahead: much too dense for a rapper or vocalist, it strikes a balance between the two releases, and sets a new standard for instrumental hip-hop.
3. Lana Del Rey - "Video Games"
It's really hard for me to come up with something to say that hasn't been written about this song, or to justify why I've placed it so highly, but I will try. None of the negative talk or the LDR hating can deny that we're in the transitional phase of a pop star being born. Regardless of any career decisions before or after Lizzy Grant's official debut single as Lana Del Rey, the song alone is a breathtaking, singular statement that we may only hope can be sustained throughout her debut album when it is released next month. "Video Games" is a beauty, that could exist during any point of the last 80 years.
2. The Weeknd - "House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls"
From the first (of three) mixtapes the Weeknd put of during 2011, there have been few tracks that have matched the qualiy of "House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls". Split into two halves, the focus of Abel Tesfaye's sharp lyricism brings the setting to within the party for a change, rather than before or after. The forced smiles for the decadence sex and drugs come through his aching voice, over the ironic "Happy House" sample. Through his storytelling and delivery, Tesfaye is able to make the most exciting of hedonistic temptations come across as grotesque.
1. M83 - "Midnight City"
After constantly revising the choices for the number one spot for the top 100 tracks of 2011, it became almost too obvious as to which track was going to win the crown. M83 have experimented with each album to portray Anthony Gonzalez's interpretation of a perfect pop song, and "Midnight City" is as close as he has ever come to manage the feat. Gonzalez claimed earlier this year that his new album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming was inspired to be the soundtrack to childhood, just as his previous album, 2008's Saturdays=Youth was an attempt to rekindle adolescence. As a result the track has both a fresh immediacy of an MGMT tune and evokes a worthy nostalgic quality through its shoegazey qualities; the kind of tune that could have appeared at any time in your life but is permanently lodged there after first listen. The lyrics are few, and not instantly noticeable: they paint a night time scene, a "ride in the dark" from a backseat vehicle, bringing back the magic to the simply mundane. The song closes with an unexpected but well-timed sax solo (and a closer look through this list shows that 2011 has had many of those), which only makes the fading out of the track more triumphant and euphoric. A new career high for M83; it's questionable whether anyone will be able to get this combination as right as this ever again.
A$AP Rocky's mixtape LiveLoveA$AP is on the tip of many people's tounges as of five minutes ago, and although not an entirely compelling listen for one blogger there are some pretty great standouts nonetheless. To me this mixtape's greatest asset is in the beats and beatmakers Rocky chose to work with. Regulars may be aware of my appreciation of up-and-comer Clams Casino's previous releases this year, and with "Bass" he has suitably altered his hazy, intoxicating trademmark style to make room for Rocky's verses. In future 2011 may be seen as a great year for hip-hop; A$AP Rocky and Clams Casino will be two names at the top of the list of artists that will prove it to be so.
A$AP Rocky - "Bass"
"Bass" features on A$AP Rocky's LiveLoveA$AP mixtape, download it for free here.
Here are a few electronic, hip-hop and dance tracks I've been playing this month. Pretty broad for a playlist but I think it matches the quality of the music I feel the need to compile, much of which will feature on albums I'm really looking forward to hearing.. Although I'm bound to regret this later I've embedded a load of players linking to appropriate tracks, and many of these tracks are downloadable, in particular those with *asterisks. I'll let the music do the talking for me:
And just in case that multimedia onslaught is too much, here's the list again without any fancy distractions:
Nas - "Nasty"
Gold Panda - "MPB"
Jamie xx - "Far Nearer"
YACHT - "Utopia"
Thundercat - "Daylight"
Zomby - "A Devil Lay Here"
Balam Acab - "Oh, Why"
Ford & Lopatin - "Channel Pressure"
SBTKT - "Wildfire"
Clams Casino - "Treetop"
John Maus - "Head for the Country"
Washed Out - "Amor Fati"
Shabazz Palaces- "Swerve... The reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)"
The Rapture - "How Deep Is Your Love?"
Sun Airway - "Wild Palms"
Brian Eno - "Pour it Out"
Apologies for any mistakes, or any number of things at could go wrong. Enjoy.
In a world where there is more music available than ever, Lil B finds his own ways of standing out. Calling himself "The Based God", showing his passion for cooking and releasing a phenomenal amount of mixtapes and videos are three of those, and as a result has become a real divisive figure in modern hip hop. His latest effort, the aptly titled Illusions of Grandeur starts promising but quickly it becomes apparent his Youtube persona isn’t entirely separate from his "serious" efforts, a defence many a loyal fan has argued. Though he covers a range of topics including drugs ("Cocaine Killer") and his upbringing ("Live Form Da Hood"), he doesn’t inspire the attentiveness he assumes, especially not across a whole mixtape. The beats are often strong however, and Lil B makes some good choices (from Kanye West to Toto), even if his rhymes don’t hold up so well. 4/10
This leads me to a mixtape by a producer called Clams Casino which has been getting noticed on a few blogs, and contains surprisingly beautiful instumentals of tracks by Lil B (including one of his biggest hits "I’m God"), Soulja Boy and others, which you can download here (and I would advise doing so).
