[$1 // Edition of 20 // https://captaincrookrecords.bandcamp.com/album/2010-2011]
"2010-2011" captures the third and fourth albums of Marko and the Bruisers and I do believe that Side A is the third album while Side B is the fourth. This is, of course, the follow up to the "2008-2009" cassette which was reviewed here. At this rate, Marko and the Bruisers will have two more cassettes (and thus four more albums) to go before they catch up with the current year, although if I had to guess I'd say we might see "2012-2013" some time later this year and then "2014-2015" next year since it doesn't seem to make much sense for us to see an album in the same year as its name.
The music of Marko and the Bruisers is punk rock. There are quite a few instrumental songs and then even on Side B we have some songs that tend to slow down a little bit, but it is at its core distorted punk rock because it hits fast and it hits hard. Through a lot of guitar work comes some cross between Digger and Bigwig, and another band I never came up with a better way to describe than to simply say it's Less Than Jake without the horns. The vocals are gritty and the overall experience musically is raw. Punk rock.
Lyrically there are songs about drinking and life in general. One audio clip has a boy saying he can be whatever she needs him to be, to which she responds "You're dumb" and he says "I can be that". I don't want to feel like I'm listening to these lyrics to grasp at some sort of my youth, but it does have a youthful feel to it. We were all young once (If we're not still young) and in that way I feel like it does have that universal appeal.
There does exist a cover of the Train song "Soul Sister" on here. It is a most excellent, fast paced and distorted cover but it still makes me remember that Train is a band and that's unfortunate. Yet almost ironically the song which follows is about how much Marko hates Jimmy Buffet and he raises some interesting points that really need to be hashed out somewhere. Thoughts as simple as: who the fuck is buying all these Jimmy Buffet albums? He really is a one hit wonder and I am constantly amazed by the fact that he still has these concerts that go two nights because of the interest.
On a side note: I recently saw a picture of Ric Flair backstage at a Jimmy Buffet concert and that made sense to me. Flair has been hit in the head a lot, on the road a lot as well so he's probably not spent so much time listening to music as to figure out what is actually good and what is actually shit, so he probably just listens to what is soft and soothing on his old ears. I'd say that Jimmy Buffet could play the same song twenty times at his concerts and the old people wouldn't notice but I'm fairly certain that is exactly what he does.
Aside from reminding me of Train (ugh) and the mutual distaste for Jimmy Buffet these are just all around good punk rock songs which you should put on loud. If you have "2008-2009", and if you read my review like I told you to then you should own it already, then this is a no-brainer for you. If you missed "2008-2009" somehow, well, now is your chance to make that right by getting back on the bandwagon.
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