The Binary Marketing Show- Clues From The Past EP
The Binary Marketing Show - Clues From The Past EP
It seems the Queens, NY based duo The Binary Marketing Show has been flying under the radar for some time now as this new EP is their 8th release. And I don’t think Clues From The Past will change things for them very much. Not that their music isn’t good, it’s just somewhat of an acquired taste and apparently made for an eccentric and arty, non-commercial audience.
The songs here are not really songs but more like sound collages created as an artist would create a painting. Bits and pieces of voices and sound components are added together, on top of each other and around each other and intermingled with sporadic melodies courtesy of baleful horn arrangements, slow electro-beats and ambient drones.
The musical sketches are never grating but play out like a movie mystery that never resolves itself. The soft violins, distant strings, electronic noises and spooky brass elements are never boring but keep the listener waiting for something that never happens and wondering whether they were fully entertained or not. As a whole, the EP is more a collection of experimental art-rock pieces than a cohesive musical production as disparate elements are added for color to TBMS’s unorthodox musical canvas.
As equally as puzzling are the vocals. They are often set in the background and offered in a muddling, distant context and consist more of voices in a crowded room or bits of soft-spoken conversation than anything resembling a hummable or sing-along chorus.
The Binary Marketing Show’s avant garde approach to music is unique, daring and admirable and gives you the feeling that when they find a way to include more direct and accessible melodies, it will be impressive. Until then, Clues From The Past can be an engaging, or at least intriguing, listen once the taste has been acquired or when the mood to hear something completely different arises.
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