Marketing, as a process, appeals to us because it is the repetition of a form. We like the chair example: you know what a chair is because you’ve seen millions of them during your lifetime. They all have the same basic properties; a platform on which your tukus rests, supported at a height from the ground by some sort of structure and with a vertical rest for your back. You instantly recognize a chair when you see one, and you have a basic expectation about it, mainly being that you can sit on it and it will support your weight. Indeed, so great has been your exposure to this form (the chair), that you are able to identify sub-groups within the form and assign more specific expectations to them as well.

A recliner will be exceedingly comfortable, allow you to stay in it for extended periods of time and may be difficult to get out of. A desk chair will position you at the proper height and with appropriate posture to operate a computer keyboard and and complete other tasks while not swallowing you and tempting you to slumber. A rocking chair will do just that, and provide relaxing utility be your task calming a baby or enjoying a lemonade.

And this is what Marketing seeks to achieve; to repeat a form endlessly, in whatever context or channel the message can be transmitted, until the consumer instantly recognizes the Brand and the corporate-intended characteristics of it. We see the dynamic ribbon and know this is a Coke product, and that it will be refreshing and delicious, regardless of whatever this new Zero variant of it may be. It’s a methodical, slow and eternal process, like the geology that creates diamonds from grains of sand. It never ends as long as the product exists and there is someone or something to sell it to. Ad campaigns may come and go, but Marketing has no beginning, no end and no middle, only the endless repetition of the form. There’s something about this eternal Mobius Strip that appeals to us, personally, and we believe it is part of the composition of our character that has led us to enjoy this sort of repetition in other parts of life. This split from Indian Jewelry and Future Blondes is a good example.

More so than on previous outing we can recall, Indian Jewelry’s “Zing Zang” is based on repetition. Though there is some build and dynamics as windy guitars  blow through the ten minutes of funk bass and distorted spoken word, the overall effect is post-minimalist in style, with little approaching a recognizable intro, outro or climax. Though Free Gold especially positioned the band as songsmiths of dystopian urban tribalism, this would be their first composition that could be described as a rain dance for additional psychedelics. And yet while it works well as the counter-point on this split, and certainly would not have been out of place as an interlude on Free Gold, something about the looseness of this track, and how it wanders makes us suspect that this will be a fairly unique composition in Indian Jewelry’s catalog, and not necessarily the sign of what is to come.

Future Blondes has always been based on repetition with teasing variations to provide the narrative movement, and “Heartless” is no different. The is probably the most refined track among the impressive mountain of output they’ve assembled in the past year (we’re two EPs and a split full-length behind, to say nothing of the tracks being offered up for free online). The thumping gristle of bass does most of the heavy lifting with drums that are more rhythmic and less punishing that we’ve come to expect. We won’t go so far as to say that this is dance-y rather than drone-y, but if someone were to throw the right sine line on top of it, it the resulting mashup would be a dead ringer for first-wave Chicago acid house.

Like good marketing, this split derives its ultimate utility from repetition. It’s not something we would throw on for five minutes of fun on the drive to the video store. It’s good headphone music for reading, or writing or even just enjoying. Endlessly. On repeat. Stopping every ten minutes or so to flip the wax. Recommended.

The Indian Jewelry/Future Blondes split 12″ is availble at fine record stores around town, including Sound Exchange, and online from the Dull Knife website.