In today’s world, everything seems like a get-rich-quick-scheme. Even in the music industry, ardent capitalists are eyeing the seemingly easy buck. Brooklyn band The Binary Marketing Show, however, is the anomaly.

Before they decided to make music together, Arkansas natives and Lake Hamilton High School classmates Abram Morphew and Jason Meeks scarcely interacted, as a result of what Morphew describes as their “anxious and socially awkward” tendencies.  The two met when Morphew’s regular waitress at IHOP introduced him to her friends, one of whom was Meeks.

“It was rather humorous when we first met because there was this really familiar, I-already-know-you sort of attitude we had toward one another,” said Morphew. The mundane atmosphere of Fayetteville, AR coupled with the small town’s deep roots in religion and music inspired the pair to collaborate musically.

However, after forgetting parts of songs during a 2002 performance, the two made an unspoken decision never to play in public again. Though they would eventually perform again, Morphew and Meeks wanted time to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as a musical duo.

“That began this evaluation process as to whether or not we were even capable of playing as a two-piece outside of a recording environment,” said Morphew. “It took us four years to reach a conclusion.”

The Binary Marketing Show’s music doesn’t fit neatly into any one genre, and even Morphew and Meeks struggle to define their music. Said Morphew, “We find ourselves now really being inspired by most any musical work, whether we perceive it in a positive or negative light. Music in general always gives us, by contrast, a deeper understanding of what we do and what we’re trying to express.”

The result is a synthesis of instrumental and electronic accents infused with folk-based vocals, creating a type of originality that is rare and refreshing in a typically monotonous trade. Pure, nonconformist music can only be made if artists, like Morphew and Meeks, are brave enough to shatter boundaries and unleash bold creativity within the songs themselves.

“The records that we release aren’t so much a collection of songs to be released to a faceless public as they are a document of the way we thought, felt, and experienced in that period of time,” said Morphew.

The track “Well Being,” from Destruction of Your Own Creation, questions the implemented hierarchy of life. It begins by sampling an overzealous female voice; the woman rambles about sincerity. The lyrics channel the perspective of a “creature” that begs not to be run over; “aren’t I not just like everyone of you, why do I deserve to die?” Meanwhile, the tempo of the song remains upbeat, emphasizing the urgency and consternation of the “creature’s” perspective.

The Binary Marketing Show is currently working on a new album, to be released in March/April of 2009. They will also be releasing a new track for a compilation album, the third produced by the 8088 Record Collective. Started in 2002 by Morphew and musicians Randy Vaughn and Josh Abbott, the 8088 Record Collective is an attempt to promote and documents Arkansas’ underground music scene.

“Arkansas is a pretty desolate state that doesn’t offer much with the exception of absolute boredom, but there are times when things just coalesce into a vibrant artistic community,” said Morphew. The Collective has grown to include twenty-six bands who share the same desire to share music without compromising any part of it by entering the mainstream industry.

“Having observed this phenomenon of our own isolated music scene, it occurred to us that there might be other as equally isolated pockets of creativity being dwarfed by the industry of music as well,” said Morphew. In an industry clouded by money signs and screaming fans, it’s rejuvenating to find some artists who dare to push boundaries and make music simply because they have a passion for it.