Cassette Review // Body Image Corporation "Body Image Corporation" (skrot up)

$6 //
https://skrotup.bandcamp.com/album/body-image-corporation //

We open up with an audio clip- slightly distorted- telling us that all of the questions we ask, all of our insecurities, have never come from love.   Beats come in behind and I like things like "The pain has never come from love / The hurt has never come from love"  It's funny how this person, a Joel Osteen or self-help type of guy (Tony Robbins?) is making lyrics and he doesn't even realize it.   Quite the clever use of what otherwise might just be word garbage.

Deeply distorted vocals come through now with electronic loops behind them.  It's got the movement of a locomotive and I can't quite make out what the words are trying to say.   It's a little bit hip hop.    Acoustic guitar notes now come through on their own.   Another audio clip about being busy and how when we find a moment of peace we tend to do so with our phones and I agree- we need to spend more time not staring at screens.   I enjoy how the acoustic guitar plucks feel so organic with the words about technology.

Pop music bursts in now and it feels like we should get up and dance.   Another layer of beats has been added to this as well, giving it such an upbeat feel.    An audio clip now while electronic tones come in like a computer.    Words are talking about struggling and I think it's great how there are always so many problems in the world and yet somehow this leads to so many people thinking they have the solutions and they're willing to share them for you (At a low, low price!)

"Better to grow love into logic or grow logic into love" is the next track and it's talking about arranged marriages.   I'm not sure there is an answer for this one.   A lot of things, when it comes to emotions (such as love) seem to abandon logic.   I wouldn't really try and overthink such topics myself because that's how you get into trouble.  You can have a feeling- like love- without having to justify it to everyone else.

Messaging marketing on steriods has beats behind it like a scene out of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and I feel like this is about why/how I get so much spam.   Can someone truly examine why I constantly get emails in my spam folder, how they get there, who sends them and ultmately how to make them stop because they are simply not effective?  I mean, has anyone ever opened an email from a sender they didn't recognize because they thought "I do need a Russian bride!"

Okay, now there is a spoken word about something which is a large scam these days that people don't talk about: Twitter give aways.   The track is saying that the person gives away $100 every day, all you have to do is have PayPal, follow them and like the photos.   This is such a scam.  It gets posts interacted with and will increase your followers, yes, but no one ever actually wins these "I'm giving away $3000 to someone today!" bullshit tweets you see.   Sadly, people will continue to fall for these things but it's slowly taking over my last bit of patience.

An audio clip about winning now with an equally out-there version of synthwave to accompany it.   Winning gives them a purpose?  This guy needs a new purpose!    This next bit of an audio clip does say something about turning data into music and it's such a strange trip to just listen to and try and really think about what is being said, what it means and the music with it just put me into this trance I couldn't escape until it ended.

On the flip side we start with what sounds like an old time radio song being played in a loop.   There is that record player feel and I know this likely has some audio clip spliced into it like on the first side but it definitely has this certain sound to it as well, like some other artists I won't be able to name.   "Keeping Up With The Joneses" is telling us how to buy everything new when it comes out so we can live in poverty.    This probably does happen, but I only own like three pairs of shoes and I only buy them every five years when one gets beat up so badly I cannot wear them anymore (and even then I shop around to find the best deal)

This moves in an industrial way but more like pop as well.   It just cuts off, another song comes on and cuts out a couple of times.   This is hip hop but I feel like the lyrics are manipulated audio clips.   Now someone is asking if we need help and then they say we can get a 50% discount but everything is double the price and it's just... yeah, sales humor.    "Let's put some music on / We can vibe to it" is what I think this loop is singing.

And now clanking beats bring about what sounds like a political debate.   High pitched singing now brings in a song which sounds like it could come from a cartoon which might be from the old days but also kind of cursed in a way which we didn't talk about then but you can totally see it now.   Deep vocals now are telling us to take them somewhere and then a normal voice comes on in the background telling us that buyers don't usually know what they want.  I feel like I'm smart but I'll be damned if I dont buy things on impulse almost all the time.

Distorted vocals are telling us about the new phone and raffle entries.   "The video quality of your iPhone XS..." just makes me not want to own an iPhone ever again, but alas, it is like a small laptop in my hands everywhere that I go, so there's that.   The audio clips in here can be fun to pick apart, but there is also this great music which accompanies it and I think once you get past the initial idea of "Is this guy talking about podcasts?" then you can go through and give it another listen, fully appreciating the musical efforts of it all as well.