Old Man Markley

Down Side Up

Written by: PP on 30/07/2013 21:44:34

Okay, so you play country music but fuse it with punk rock. Wupti fucking doo. Now, this will come across as totally biased and prejudiced, but country simply isn't good music. Not even with the added punk rock flavor as Old Man Markley continue to do on sophomore album "Down Side Up". Maybe I'm not in the target audience for this, but seriously, listening to this album is like going to a redneck rodeo and watching all those uneducated people wear those stupid looking hats and cowboy boots, while performing line dancing or something else totally retarded from a civilized point of view. I mean, this is like listening to saloon music straight out of the wild west, except there are no pianos flying down the staircase like on the infamous Foxy Shazam debut album.

Granted, it's not terrible, but who exactly listens to this outside of the southern states? Sure, it has some folk punk appeal given its banjo-driven melodies, and the heavy doses of fiddle, autoharp, and washboard. You can probably even dance to it arm-in-arm with strangers at live shows. Oh, and "Hand Me Down" is pretty catchy, as is the frenetic banjo playing on "Blood On My Hands". But otherwise, Old Man Markley (still) fail to captivate its audience into similarly energetic folk punk danceathons and sing alongs as Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys and the remainder of the gang do during their best songs.

In short, "Down Side Up" simply doesn't have enough good songs to warrant for a high rating. Plus country music is terrible - even if it is bluegrass. Shania Twain. Kid Rock. Dixie Chicks. Do I need to go any further? Punk or not, Old Man Markley sound too much like the Western equivalent of an English pub punk band to matter in the grand scheme of things. Or maybe it's just me.

6

Download: Hand Me Down, Blood On My Hands
For the fans of: Huckleberry Flint, Greenland Is Melting, Flogging Molly countryfied
Listen: Facebook

Release date 05.03.2013
Fat Wreck Chords

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