The Binary Marketing Show- Pattern

I’m getting pretty conscious about my string of praise towards some of the recent records that I’ve reviewed. It’s like when you take an exam at school, and you circle ‘B’ four straight times; you start questioning your answers based on uncomfortable familiarity. So, I throw on Pattern and, during my time spent with it, I’m actually disappointed how good I think it is! I don’t want to be the guy who claims everything to be great and seem like the easiest to please music writer in the history of man. However, I’ve reconciled this as being fortunate to hear some good records lately, and hell, I’ll circle ‘B’ a 5th time if I believe it’s the right answer! That being said, don’t roll your eyes when I say that The Binary Marketing Show‘s Pattern is one of the best releases of the year. No, seriously. Just bare with me, I’ll talk you though it.

The Binary Marketing Show has chose to align itself with the one of the most dominating bands on the music scene, Animal Collective. I don’t know if the members of fans of the Collective, maybe they’ve never heard a song, but if I were a betting man, I’d say they hold a few AC tunes close to the heart. They certainly seem musically inspired by them, as they concoct brilliant, fragmented, and eclectic instrumentation. Synths of all kinds permeate the album; breezy synth, pulsating synth, static synth, you name it. These electronic soundscapes are rich and plentiful on Pattern, and are supplemented with all kinds of glowing instruments. Most often, guitars will noodle simplistic riffs, alongside reliable, steady percussion. Horns, bells, and harmonies also find a home on the album by frequently creating an extra layer of sonic goodness to its accompanying track. The harmonies are the ones that really send the album into gorgeous places. A feminine, angelic voice adds that Panda Bear touch so often used in Animal Collective songs. Sometimes just making sweet noises and not even singing any real lyrics, it adds a lushness that completely reinforces whatever aesthetic TBMS is angling for at any given moment. The lead voice here sounds just like John K. Sampson from The Weakerthans, but he holds his own as the frontman. His melodies bounce off the wildly intricate music with ease, which creates an interesting effect worth noting. The Sampson sound-alike doesn’t really produce one catchy, sing-songy melody on the entire album. Rather, he constructs melodies that delve further into the sonic avenues already laid out by the band’s music. He sometimes rescinds the vocal reigns to the feminine voice who turns songs into almost instrumental pieces, adding another winkle into TBMS’s deep repertoire.

The middle stretch of the album provides the most striking moments on Pattern. “Shut Up…Kathy,” “White Template,” “Fear,” and “Iona” are musically superb, waxing all of the robust traits that make this band refreshingly innovative. While not only being able to seamlessly incorporate synths, guitars, percussion, horns, bells, harmonies, and melodies, TBMS also command their instruments into all sorts of different arrangements and textures. They can be fragmented and up-beat, yet they also can be droning and ethereal. This stretch serves as everything you’d want to hear from the band, as they display all of their qualities over those 4 glorious tracks. It borders on the edge of experimental, but mostly, it’s a full textured take on pop music.

The first and last quarter of the album could stand alone and certainly be really good music, in line with everything I’ve described about the band’s sound. But the core of the album puts it over the top, which makes it one of the best works of 2009. I could go on and on, trying to dissect the aspects that make the music so interesting and compelling, but it just seems a whole lot easier if you get Pattern, and decide for yourself. I do feel very comfortable, despite the recent string of good releases that I’ve heard, this one is truly a triumph.