MS: How do spotlights from blogs relate in terms of reaching new audiences? Have you seen tangible feedback after blog love from high-profile sites like Stereogum and Gorilla Vs. Bear?

Drake: The greatest thing about getting love from these blogs is the trickle down effect. If Gorilla Vs. Bear posts a track of mine then it seems that the blogs that follow GVB will also write about my music, exposing my name to [their respective] audiences. With my music and remixes I’m crossing over genres so I have hip hop sites writing alongside indie blogs. Its interesting because I currently have contests for the new CWL t-shirt on Alternative Press’ website (fans of Fall Out Boy and fucking Cobra Starship,) and the same contest about to launch on Hip Hop Game’s site (fans of 50 Cent and Kanye West). I’ve seen tangible feedback by way of sales of Nobody’s Moving and CWL T-shirt sales on the Dope Lotus Records website.

MS: The Blogosphere geeks have been all over your remixes for Midlake and Dr. Octagon. Your remix of Asobi Seksu’s “Strawberries” is also coming out soon. Describe the remix process. Who approaches who?

Drake: It all depends on the situation really. For the Midlake and Dr. Octagon remixes I was approached by the labels so they could have a remix to help promote the upcoming releases. I’m friends with Asobi Seksu so that sort of happened naturally and I’ve recently wrapped up a remix for The Diggs who were fans of the music so they came to me.

I approach a remix from a hip hop producers mentality. I rarely use anything other than the vocal track and I usually don’t listen to the original song much. I feel it would have a negative effect on the outcome. I usually scrap the chord progression and song structure and create the music from scratch. I often look at it as a puzzle where I have to unlock the music within the vocals. I can usually listen to music and hear a completely new song underneath the vocals. That’s usually how I start. It’s much more rewarding instead of taking the original guitar or drum track and looping it in an “unexpected” way. I hate remixes that sound like the original song. Some producers don’t get very creative with their mixes.

MS: How did the Roger O’Donnell remix of “Cutting Balloons” come about?

Drake: I work closely with a label/artist management company, World’s Fair. They’re putting out [O’Donnell’s] record on Great Society, a brand new label they recently launched. I originally did a remix for him which he liked, he heard “Cutting Balloons” and turned around a remix of the track in 2 days. I guess I’d take it as him liking the song.

MS: You work as the Director of Marketing for indie hip hop label Definitive Jux. Do you think the immersion of hip hop during your day job crosses over at all to Cassettes Won’t Listen?

Drake: Hip Hop has always been a huge part of my life so it has always been a part of my music. I grew up watching Yo! MTV Raps with Dre and Ed Lover, listening to Ice Cube, Public Enemy, De La Soul, etc. I was the kid rocking a Chicago Bulls Starter jacket, taking people to school on the basketball court in fresh new Shaq Reebok Pumps. I’d also be locked inside my room trying to teach myself Nirvana and Sebadoh songs on acoustic guitar.

MS: Hip hop and Rock. Sounds like a musical Venn diagram of suburban youth. So where did this schooling take place?

The schooling was more in basketball terms when I was young. I wasn’t really one to try and school people on music back then. I was more likely to school you by way of 3 point jump shot or slam dunk in your face (actually I could never dunk, I could touch the rim though).

I grew up in a suburb of San Francisco and moved around the country due to my stepfather being in the Navy. We spent some time in San Diego about 10 minutes from Tijuana, then down to New Orleans for couple years. We eventually moved to New Jersey and that’s how I was exposed to NYC. So I pretty much bounced from west to east coasts through my teenage years and got exposed to a wide spectrum of people and cultures. New Orleans was the shit.
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The following questions were submitted by a panel of Nobel laureates, loyal readers still using dial-up, and a Shakespeare loving dog named Sir John Falstaff. In honor of classic hip hop, we’ll dub it the MS Furious Five.

MS: How would your parents describe Cassettes Won’t Listen?

Drake: A band that might get them a free hot tub when the big advance checks are rolling in.

MS: What is the first album you remember getting?

Drake: MC Hammer Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em. I’m happy with that being my first, that was the shit back in the day

MS: Is Kool Keith’s Oldsmobile really bionic?

Drake: If being made out of strippers and fried chicken equals bionic. Then yes

MS: Have you been north of 14th St.? Is it as scary as they say?

Drake: I work above 14th street, its in a ghetto they call Chelsea

MS: If Cassettes would listen, what would you tell them?

Drake: Wake up
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[MP3] Cassettes Won't Listen - Cutting Balloons

[MP3]Cassettes Won't Listen - Cut Your Hair

CWL Dates:

8.15.06 - New York, NY - Delancey Lounge (Beg Yr Pardon #6)*
8.23.06 - New York, NY - Sin-e
8.31.06 - Maxwell's - Hoboken, NJ

*w/ EZ Machine, My Teenage Stride, Animandible .
DJs: Jeff of Merry Swankster and Matilda Von Crumbcake

//Cassettes Won't Listen - Site
//Cassettes Won't Listen - MySpace
//Dope Lotus Records - site
Tags: Cassettes Won't Listen, Jason Drake, Dope Lotus Records, Asobi Seksu, Midlake, Dr. Octagon, The Diggs, Roger O’Donnell, MC Hammer