Cassette Review // The Binary Marketing Show "Short-Term Fix For a Long-Term Death" (Already Dead Tapes)

$7 //
Edition of 100 //
https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/ad284-the-binary-marketing-show-short-term-fix-for-a-long-term-death //

"Short-Term Fix For a Long-Term Death" starts with these eerie tones that sound like they could be coming from a helicopter.   There is this build and it's ambient in that FNL way.    As vocals come in and has this odd combination of sounding like a choir of children and some old folk song but also in a modern way like whatever is on the radio today in place of Mumford & Sons.    Drum machines begin the next song with chill beats.   As vocals come in it is hard to compare this with anything, though it does have a -pop vibe to it, whether it be dreampop or bedroom pop or if such a thing does not exist yet I would call this chillpop.

These slip beats and pianos now come through as "The Unknowing" is one of my favorite songs on here because it best represents that idea of The Binary Marketing Show in the sense that it is two things at once.   Not just the beats and piano, but the lyrics themselves seem to be in a series of two.     "Whisper in the Dark" comes in with these wild guitars like The Who and it seems to be driving a force into space.    There is also this rambling type of banjo feel in here as well so it has that folk sense to it which can perhaps only be best described by thinking about Kermit sitting in a swamp singing while at the same time they did that whole "Muppets in Space" movie.

There is a rhythm, a sense to how fast these beats go, and you have to think that they are coupled with other sounds- not just the piano- but what you tend to hear throughout the multiple sounds tend to be just two sounds.     The energy of the beats mixed with the slower paced pianos somehow work as there as a seriousness to this urgency.    As we switch sides from A to B there is this ringing, almost in an alarm way, which comes out with the sound of water.    It maintains that same level of not just being something you need to focus on but that you also need to focus on it right now.

As this song is instrumental, as we begin Side B, it sounds a lot like traffic but there is also a madness to it, chaos.    This all comes to a head as acoustic guitar notes take over and everything else ceases.    Horns come in- it sounds like a trumpet- and this sound of pure beauty is being crafted here.   If you take this song on its own it is something to be wreckoned with but the fact that it comes right away what could be considered destruction you have to think just so much more about it, the rise and fall, the apocalypse and how that one small plant grows from the cracks in the cement in the city.

Upbeat beats (Can I just call them "upbeats"?) come through with this rattle and piano that make you feel like you're hopping around from square to square on the sidewalk on a bright and sunny day and you're just in the best mood.   For some reason, it reminds me of an urban version of the game Q*bert, as if it took place in a city rather than his pyramid universe.   Both the vocals of Abram Morphew and Bethany Carder join forces on this song as well.   It has that definite feeling of a triumph to it. 

A deep synth dirge brings out the next song as the vocals once again come in a pair.   Beats join in as it seems to drone on through and this has that distinct feeling of being something sad, something somber (like Frightened Rabbit) but mixed with something more upbeat and cheerful (like Foster The People).    It's that sense of two mainstream bands that might not even go on tour together but when combined here The Binary Marketing Show just somehow makes it work.    It is also an indication that there is a lot going on in this music and it may come out as two elements or three but there are a lot of smaller elements behind those larger ones you hear.

Planets are being named but not like Ash and then a steady beat comes creeping in.   This has this pulsating vibe to it and it gets tense.   Sharpness cuts through and I suppose you could listen to this song to learn the names of the planets if that was something you needed for whatever reason, but that also makes me think how this cassette in general could be used as a learning experience.    If you think of this as having two different sides- that folk side and that pop beats side- then you have to understand that some artists can't do one of those sides as well as The Binary Marketing Show.   Whatever you think of this cassette, however great anyone says it is or how much you should listen to it, you should take that idea and double it.