(2018) The Marked Men - On the Other Side

Review: 
Though the members of the band regularly played live shows together in the decade that followed, the Marked Men stopped recording new music after 2010. It’s not exactly a tragedy since the band’s two songwriters and singers, Mark Ryan and Jeff Burke, continued to make music with bands (Lost Balloons and Radioactivity for Burke, Mind Spiders for Ryan) that carried on the Men’s timeless garage punk with snappy melodies and sound. Bassist Joe Ayoub also carried on with the like-minded Low Culture and drummer Mike Throneberry was in Mind Spiders, too. Putting that aside, On the Other Side is a collection of the group’s singles released between 2003 and 2010 for labels like Dirtnap, Swami, No Idea, and Shit Sandwich along with two previously unreleased songs. 
The 16 songs serve as a reminder of how great the Marked Men were and also show that their sound hasn’t aged at all. Burke and Ryan’s songwriting is hooky and insistent, the band plays as if being chased by wild dogs, and the sound is rough and ready. Listing highlights from the set would basically just be listing everything, but there are a few moments when the Men hit an extra gear that shoots them so far past the competition they can’t be seen anymore. “Lost It All” and “Oh My Pretty Face,” two songs that shared a 2009 single, are like punk bombs that detonate in a cloud of rousing choruses and spiked riffs; “Wait Here, Wait for You” leans just a touch toward the pop side of punk-pop and sports a hook big enough to land a shark; “The Other Side” shows that the Marked Men weren’t just crazed rockers, and could reel off a heartbreaking ballad that Johnny Thunders would be proud to call his. 

Tracklist: 
01 - She Won't Know.flac 
02 - Nothing's Changed.flac 
03 - On.flac 
04 - The Other Side.flac 
05 - Too Pretty to Fuck.flac 
06 - Whip Myself.flac 
07 - Lost It All.flac 
08 - Oh My Pretty Face.flac 
09 - Like Robots.flac 
10 - Wait Here, Wait for You.flac 
11 - I Can't Be Good.flac 
12 - Nothing Worthwhile.flac 
13 - Settle Down.flac 
14 - That Kid.flac 
15 - Disappear.flac 
16 - Go Cry.flac 

Summary: 
Country: USA 
Genre: garage, indie-rock, punk