I’m sure this is in part financially necessitated-it’s easier for Volpe to pay the bills (some bills?) by offering exclusive shit to rappers like A$AP Rocky rather than posting them on Twitter for followers to digest free of charge. Isn’t this the eternal producers’ paradox? Acclaim comes from sending your beats to rappers who will gain them the most exposure, but this often also proves to be their limiting factor bound by the context of reception, our natural association of the beat is typically with its place in the song. At worst (read: often alone, and not entirely sober) these tracks become karaoke versions of rap songs I dutifully recite every word to. At best, when I press play on first track “Palace,” I expect the drawl of A$AP Rocky to slouch over the beat. But for all the wondrous images that his music conjures up, this is not how I listen to Mike Volpe’s Instrumental Mixtape 2.

These beats are so singular that it’s often more rewarding to try and describe his music through abstract similes rather than literal comparison-you could easily persuade me that Clams Casino is what a smoke machine sounds like in an empty, echoey room. Let’s be real: this release consists of some of the best beats of the year (okay, last year, most of them) and underlines the peerlessness of Clams’ hazy, sonorous craft it clarifies his prolific intent into a streamlined compilation, in much the same way as Instrumental Mixtape (2011) did before it.

A part of me feels bad for how I relate to Clams Casino’s second instrumental mixtape.

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