If you were tuned into WKDU recently, or packed into the studio, you may have caught DJ Meow’s boiler room-style set. Which, for the blog’s record, we do not usually do here at WKDU, though maybe we should start…
“I only prepared half of that,” she told me right after, also visibly overheating. “The other half was just vibes.”
With only about a year into DJing, DJ Meow, aka Jess Urwiler, is weirdly natural on the decks. Originally, Jess was supposed to come in for an acoustic Fish Food set to spotlight her debut EP Roots, which dropped back on September 26 (and is available on all streaming platforms, nudge, nudge). That project lives firmly in the singer-songwriter world, with acoustic guitar and intimate lyrics from songs she’s been sitting on since high school.
Cassie Ramone is a songwriter, musician, and visual artist who first came onto a lot of people’s radars as a founding member of Vivian Girls, starting in the late 2000s, and later with The Babies, as well as through her solo work. She grew up in New Jersey, moved to Brooklyn in the early 2000s, and has spent years moving between different scenes, projects, and ways of making music.
Her most recent record, Sweetheart, has felt like a really reflective moment in that long arc. Cassie was able to stop by WKDU ahead of her show at Philly Style Pizza with Colleen Green and Jess Urwiler, so we caught her for a quick in-studio and interview!
Fresh off of their in-studio performance at WKDU presented by Fish Food, the indie folk darlings from Shallow Alcove joined us for a conversation about sleepovers, nostalgia, and various tour tales in promotion for their upcoming EP Doggy Paddle out May 21st. Currently on their “Slumber Party Tour,” the band has been embracing comfort on stage, performing in pajamas and encouraging that same sleepover intimacy among fans.
Noah Kossowsky: Hello, my name is Noah Kossowsky, and this is a very special interview with the band hey i’m outside. Hey, hey i’m outside.
Patrick: How you doing?
Hannah: Hey.
Noah Kossowsky: I’m inside. Yup. I’m surprised by that. I thought by the name that you guys would be outside. But yea, you guys just put out an awesome album, self-titled, and when I heard it, it quickly became one of my favorites of the year. So, I was like, I need to track these guys down, talk to them about it, you know. So, very excited we’re doing that now. So, do you just want to introduce yourselves for the folks that are listening?
Hannah: Yeah, so my name’s Hannah. I play bass in the band.
Patrick: I’m Patrick and I sing and play guitar.
Noah: And I’m Noah and I play the drums.
Noah Kossowsky: Awesome, I’m Noah as well. So, first question, I guess this is a good starting question. What is your band origin story? How did you start, when did you start, where? Give me the tale.
DJ LSD: Hello everyone, I’m here with Scott from Boyscott, this is DJ LSD, interviewing Scott for WKDU 91.7 fm Drexel university’s free format non-commercial radio station. Scott, how are you?
Scott: I am doing well, technically, I am very good.
DJ LSD: That’s good! That’s good to hear, so I wanted to get your formal apology for eight years of us waiting for this album. Do you have any form of an apology for that?
Scott: I just, I am an anxious person and it took me a long time to write these songs and uhh let me tell you, I was well aware it was taking so long.
This is WKDU interviewing glaive, aldn, and midwxst at The Foundry. Thank you for having us.
Max: How are you guys today?
glaive (Ash): Cold.
aldn (Alden): Good.
midwxst (Edgar): Cold as f*ck.
Max: Have you guys eaten today?
Ash: I ate a little bit but not much.
Alden: I drank coffee.
Edgar: I ate a slice of pizza.
Ryce: So is this your first time in Philly?
Alden: Second time.
Ash: First time.
Edgar: Second time.
Ryce: Did you guys do any sightseeing?
Alden: No, sadly.
Ash: No.
Edgar: None, at all.
Alden, Ash, Edgar: *laughs*
Ryce: Have you guys tried any authentic Philly cheesesteaks while you were here?
Alden: I wish.
Ash: We had Starbucks.
Edgar: I had a burger.
Ryce: Well if you guys do, my personal favorite is Steve’s. It’s in Center City.
Ash: Oh, we’re here tomorrow!
Alden: Yeah, we are.
Ryce: Oh! Okay, so there’s two locations. There’s one in Center City but there’s also one in Northeast Philly. If you guys are willing to drive that far, you should check it out.
Ash: We’ll just get an Uber regardless.
Max: D’Alessandro’s is also fire.
Ryce [to Max]: But I’m from Philly, you’re not. (I’m sorry Max *crying emoji*)
Max: Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?
Alden: Um, we hum.
Ash: I get so nervous I almost throw up every time.
Alden: We fight each other.
Edgar: We fight each other to the death.
Ash: We fight each other and then sometimes on rare occasions, we kiss.
*Laughter*
Alden: Butt-naked.
Edgar: And we cuddle.
Ash: Yup!
Edgar: A lot.
Max: So how has the tour been so far?
Edgar: It’s been good.
Ash: Dope!
Alden: So fun.
Edgar: Very fun.
Alden: I don’t wanna go home.
Ash: Yeah, I have to go home after this. It’s gonna be very depressing.
Ryce: What has been your favorite city? Are there any cities you guys are looking forward to playing?
Alden: Boston, because I know people there.
Ash: I’m really excited to go back to Chicago. I think it’s, like, a good city. It’s gonna be fun.
Alden: I’ve never been there.
Edgar: I’m excited for Detroit and Chicago. Both because I’m from the midwest so those are both states that I have like- my sister goes to school in Michigan so it’s gonna be fun.
Max: You guys have been together for the past month or so. How has working with each other and essentially living with each other been?
Edgar: Chaos.
Ash: Fun. It’s been really fun. *laughs*
Alden: Fun. Really fun, yeah.
Ash: We’ve had some good times.
Edgar: I’ve had some very good times.
Alden: I feel like most of the time it’s Ash and I because Edgar has a different bus-
Edgar: Yeah, I have my own travel-
Alden: -But we are together most of the time
Edgar: But we are together a lot.
Alden: Yeah, and we have a lot of fun.
Ash: *laughs*
Ryce: I know you guys are really young, so in high school, during Covid times, did you feel outcasted? Like did you feel like you missed out on being a normal teenager? Not just with Covid getting in the way of making those social connections but also blowing up at such a young age and going on tour?
Alden: I feel like that’s more for Ash.
Edgar: Ash, and me.
Ash: I haven’t been to in-person school since freshman year so I don’t really know. I went for a few months and it was really weird but right now I just do online school. So I can’t really say tbh.
Edgar: I was in physical school and then it went online like junior year and it was kinda like a rough patch for me because junior and senior year were both supposed to be like “the best years of high school” for me and I didn’t get to experience them fully and I had to wear masks inside. It kinda sucked but it was decent because I was able to pass my classes.
Alden: Yeah, I mean, I feel like when school went online I just cheated so I kinda liked it.
*Laughter*
Ryce: *Laughs* I think we all did.
Edgar: Real as f*ck. I think we all did.
Alden and Ryce: Yeah.
Alden: And then I dropped out.
Max: It’s hard not to.
Ash: Amazing!
Max: I know you guys have done some work with Overcast. I work with Tom The Mailman (@tomthemailman), if you know him.
Ash: Yeah, I f*ck with him
Edgar: Shout out Tom.
Do you guys have any strong connections over there at Overcast?
Edgar: Tommy (@fixedfortommy) is on my team for my label. And also this man right here, Hasan, he’s been filming everything on tour.
Alden: Tommy is also on my team.
Ash: Yeah, we all love Tommy.
Edgar: Yeah, we all love Tommy. We all love them.
Alden: And we f*ck with Hasan.
Ash: We f*ck with Hasan more than life itself.
Edgar: We f*ck with Hasan more than life.
(Editorial Note: Tom the Mail Man is an artist affiliated with Overcast, and @fixedfortommy or Tommy Bauer is with Overcast Arizona)
Max: Why should people pay attention to you?
Edgar: Because we’re ourselves. Like we know who we are, we have an identity, and we make good music at the end of the day.
Ash: There’s literally no reason. It literally doesn’t matter. If you like my music, listen to it but if you don’t I literally don’t care.
Alden: Yeah, I don’t care but I produce all my own stuff so I work a lot on my sh*t. So thank you.
Check out glaive’s old dog, new tricks if you haven’t already! You can catch glaive, aldn, and midwxst on all streaming platforms <3
As the Philadelphia lockdown carries on, so does the music and skate scene here in the city. At the epicenter of both those arenas, I was introduced to QThree. I got in contact with him to go in depth about who he is, what he comes from, and how it feels to be one of the most talented producers working out of the 215.
What’s up man what have you been doing and how have you been keeping sane during this quarantine?
I’m alive bro I can’t complain. I say that a lot because I know no one wants to hear it. This pandemic has been a 50/50 for me. Really eye-opening, reconnecting me to my spiritual side. Also making me regain focus on my mental health, as well as my physical health. It’s been stressful but very growth-filled.
You grew up in Philly, right? What was the first kind of music you got exposed to, and who was it that was putting you on?
The first kind of music I can remember being exposed to was classical and Jazz music. My grandfather would play it in the morning driving me to school and at night if we went out on 90.1 on the radio station. I was also exposed to soul music of course. Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Etta James, Patti Labelle. My mother would clean the house and play a lot of Sade, Jill Scott, and Anita Baker. My mom played me my first hip-hop album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It wasn’t the first hip hop song I can remember, but it was my first experience with an album.
Were there any specific scenes that you grew up around that influenced what you listened to?
I grew up in the church. I used to sit in my mother’s choir rehearsal, I was also in the children’s choir. By the age of 12, I was engineering the live sound in my church and handling the manufacturing of the recorded services. I’m also from the hood, there was no avoiding hip hop and the contents of the lyrics.
When/what did you first hear that made you want to start making beats? How many years have you been doing it now? Still D.R.E. was the instrumental that made me want to make beats. I made my first official beat in the 9th grade. At the end of the year, my teacher had a competition in computer class and we were instructed to use the apple loops in GarageBand to make a composition. I had the best beat, so my first beat was lowkey from a beat battle [laughs]. I didn’t start taking producing seriously until Freshman year of college when I was 18. It’s been on ever since. I’ll be 28 this July.
Were you always rapping too?
Back in grade school, we were really influenced by the Rap DVD era in Philly. I wasn’t always as nice at rapping as my peers. In 6th grade, I was the beatbox guy they would tell to “hit the beat” when my associates had rap battles. I was always the best at it in the class, despite being an outcast in those early years, music was a way I could connect with everyone. I also used to bring in my radio and we would dub tapes of us rapping on it in music class. I got into hip hop by rapping and making beats.
That’s sick, If you had to pick an all-time favorite producer who would it be? The RZA. He is the perfect example of orchestrated chaos. When I hear RZA I get a representation of art, I can hear human mistakes, as well as borderline perfection. He was also the first to sample a high-pitched soul sample. That inspired so much of hip hop, and it’s still an element that can connect the most even through modern rap and the new generation of listeners. Wu-Tang Clan’s production is my all-time favorite. The C.R.E.A.M instrumental revolutionized hip hop production.
What was the first cosign that really meant something to you?
I wouldn’t consider myself as receiving a “cosign” yet because usually when you get those, your career “jumps off” and you “blow up over-night” when Alchemist and Evidence first started publicly saluting me on twitter it was definitely a special moment for me. They even supported my projects.
How was being able to work with Evidence?
Genuine. Everything is organic with Ev. When I first started tweeting that I was moving to LA he never hesitated to reach out and make sure I connected with him. He still to this day will check in with me on a personal level. I’ve learned and am still learning a lot about life from him aside from music. Me rapping to one of his beats just happened naturally.
What’s the worst misconception people have about producers, or what’s your biggest pet peeve in working with rappers?
I’m not sure what kind of misconceptions people have about producers, but I do know a lot of people fail to give a producer credit for a song. The lyricist always gets the recognition for a beat and it just doesn’t make sense to me. Working with rappers is always a different experience. My pet peeve in working with anyone is bad communication. Waiting too long to hear back about a beat, if they’re going to use it or if they want a different vibe. It’s like pulling teeth. I work best with any artist who knows how to communicate outside of their ego.
What kind of hardware do you usually work with? What are you working with right now?
I use an MPC, an SP 404sx and an SP303 altogether. I also own a Po-33.
What role does music play in your life right now?
Therapy. The support is a plus, and I’m eternally grateful for it.
You do all your own cover art, right? Where did the inspiration for that come from?
Yes, I do. I drew my first picture when I was 3 years old. Art has always been a part of me. Audio Is just another medium I create with. I can’t even finish a project without staring at the artwork. Music for me is scoring my visual art with its own soundtrack. Besides graphic novels and anime, the inspiration for my visual art comes from somewhere beyond explanation. Most likely God and my ancestors.
What is your music creation process like?
It depends on my mood and where I am. If I’m not at home, I’m over at Krouse Quality studios, If I’m not there I’m at sadhu’s making beats with him. I make most of my own solo work on my own in solitary. I produce, record and engineer, so everything gets done on my time, when and how I want it to be. I hate studios. I’d rather be in comfort in order to express myself appropriately.
Tell me a little about Baked (Life) Recordings
Baked life is a brotherhood established in 2011. We were brothers for years before then, bonding through the skateboarding lifestyle in Philadelphia. Under the organization of one of our founder’s Mark Ryan, we formed together as a rap group: “The Bakery Boys” and we fully embody the representation of “Brotherly Love.” We were the first rap group of our generation to bring “being yourself” into the music scene in Philadelphia. I would be nothing without Baked Life. The “recordings” aspect is our independent label imprint. Consisting of members: QThree aka EAR.DRUM, Mark Ryan, Drip, TJ ATOMS, Atar’e Godspeed, Veeay, Mr. Joe Cool, Reef Raw, Dook, Cousin Ab, Davey Denairo, and KiDZER0.
You just dropped a compilation tape on Bandcamp called Deaf Tricks, with stuff you worked on for skate videos with Thrasher, Sabotage, DGK, and DC, how does it feel to have something like that under your belt?
If it wasn’t for skateboarding, I wouldn’t even have baked life or anything. Big thanks to Brian Panebianco for calling me to his crib one night in need of an instrumental for Dylan Sourbeer’s Sabotage 4 part. As the Sabotage brand started to grow, Thrasher reached out to clear music from me for their exclusive premieres. I feel blessed to belong to skateboarding in my own way because I damn sure ain’t nice enough at it to go pro. [laughs]
If someone reading this is unfamiliar, what would you recommend they listen to?
Everything. not even just mine. Get familiar with the family.
You had a beat battle with Sadhugold recently, how did that go and give me a little insight into your relationship?
I’ve known him for over a decade. We started making beats at the same time, we bonded first through trading vintage clothing and through Pokémon. Battling was in our nature. We always tend to challenge each other just like Ash and Gary, Red and Blue, etc. It definitely helped with my growth as an artist as well. The battle was awesome. It was actually the first Instagram live-battle in history, for those who are not aware. He put up a great fight, but I won. [laughs]
You said you have another tape dropping in the near future, anything in regards to that you can expound on right now?
I have an instrumental album set to drop in June. It will be one of the best instrumental albums you will hear in 2020.
To wrap up, tell me about how important Philly is to you, and the impact it has on the music you make? Obviously, this city has a lot to it, but what are the aspects that not everyone understands? -Do you ever see yourself living elsewhere?
Philadelphia is the greatest city in the universe. There is a code of realness I have never experienced anywhere else. Everyone here is actually aware that they are a human being, I’m grateful for how humbling it is here. I lived In LA for 2018-2019 and when I moved back home, I nearly kissed the ground. It’s so much love here. I don’t know if I could find it anywhere else, and I feel great about it.
Any shout-outs or last words?
Shout out to God, my mom, My grandad, my entire immediate family, Brax, Jay Sun, Plain, Matt Ford, Miles Comasky, Tony Maserati, Ev and Enzo, The entire Baked Life brotherhood, my Armory East Skateshop family, Infamous Love Plaza, Anthony Trivelli, Joe Piff, Brian Douglas, Heather, Tracy Gorman, Seme, Ajua, Akasha, Bianca, Chris Mulhern, Marq Spekt, Kermit, Mike Gov, Bobby Tenderloins, EBN, Wiles Martyr, Krouse Quality, Karas Lamb, BIOE, Tayyib Ali, Sherm, Mongo, My therapist, Sleaz, My nan reef (dirty fresh), Daniel Amalak, Shamsiddin, The whole “M-Block” from Lincoln University class of 2014, Mr. Green, Jimmy Gorecki, Sagan Lockhart, Andrew Gilbert, My SOH family, Kareem Idris, AA RASHID, Jamil and Kozel, DooF, Shamus, Foozy, My cuzin Jewshism, 8ballMal, Geremiah, Tat the destroyer, Julian Robinson, Daria, Brewery town beats, Creep Records, Ben, Zev, Beemon, Ayoub, and my lawyer. I know that was extra but I don’t care. Last words: who cares.
