You Should Listen

Cassettes Won’t Listen’s mastermind, Jason Drake, is back with his new album, CWL, out on Daylight Curfew. Producer by day, amazing indie rock/electronic fusionist by night, Cassettes Won’t Listen isn’t a man you’d kick back a glass of wine with. His records throb with energy and CWL takes these standards very seriously.

From the get-go, CWL hits the ground running with the track simply titled “This.” “This” starts off simply enough, with an easy piano that gets listeners cozy before they’re hit with a blitzkrieg of drums. The first ninety seconds of “This” set up the pace for the entire album. Moving like a Ramones show on steroids, CWL takes you on one whirlwind adventure after another in its ten tracks. Where some albums may become a tiresome jumble of overstimulation, CWL keeps you just at the edge of a good time and feeling like “Whoa, guys, I just need to rest.” Beyond its intense energy, there’s nothing groundbreaking about CWL as a whole. It proves itself to be a solid album, with solid songs, but there are plenty of others out there like it. To quote Bare Naked Ladies hesitantly in an electronica album review, “It’s all been done.”

Cassettes Won’t Listen does a great job creating a fun, well put-together album, but this isn’t one you necessarily need to rush out and grab right away. CWL will be one of the trusty albums you whip out when the party isn’t as raging as you were hoping or after a long day of being berated by your boss when you just need to groove. If you have the coin, grab the album. If not, it’ll be there waiting patiently for you to snatch it up and start a crazy ride through sound.