Cassettes Won't Listen

by Marisa Brown
Though occasionally listed as a four-member band (with the made-up Kid Lucci on vocals, Jeh Walker on bass, Drehke on keys and programming, and Doc Torchaos on drums), Cassettes Won't Listen is in actuality the one-man project of multi-instrumentalist and producer Jason Drake, the director of marketing at underground hip-hop powerhouse Def Jux and co-founder of Dope Lotus Records. His debut EP, the digital-only electronica-influenced indie rock Nobody's Moving, was released in 2005, and was followed shortly after by Quiet Trial and a mention in the 2007 edition of Urb Magazine's Next 100. Cassettes Won't Listen also did remixes for artists like Dr. Octagon, Midlake, Mr. Lif, and Morcheeba, but it wasn't until 2008 that his -- at this point the band was entirely Drake -- first physical EP, Small-Time Machine came out.