When a TGEFM staffer just doesn’t have the time to write up a full review for an EP or LP, they can do a quick one for the Drive-by Reviews feature. Think of it like a Cliff’s Notes for reviews– You’ll get the gist of it without all of the verbiage.
Have an album or release you want reviewed? Send it to us HERE.
Anxious – Little Green House
Run For Cover Records – 21 Jan 2022
This band would have fit perfectly on the bill of 2002’s Bamboozle Festival, and I am here for all of it.
Why you want it: Nostalgia never tasted so good. There’s a reason When We Were Young sold out a five times, and this band has every element that made that time so special to so many of us.
Why you don’t: You do. This is a blast of early-aughts joy
Top Tracks: “Your One Way Street,” ”Growing Up Song,” “Call From You.
Review by Bad Dad
Dissidente – The War On Two Fronts
Bad Time Records – 11 Feb 2022
Calling it now, this Against All Authority, Folly, Suicide Machines amalgamation will be on every best of 2022 lists worth their salt.
Why you want it: The early album of the year frontrunner is a de-fucking-light, it’s all the best of the 97,98 Warped Tour… only better.
Why you don’t: Are you out of your damn mind?! Did you read the last few sentences? There’s no reason not to get this. It’s banana-pants good.
Top Tracks: “Reproductive Reichs,” “45,” “Corvid”
Review by Bad Dad
Rolo Tomassi – Where Myth Becomes Memory
MNRK Music Group – 4 Feb 2022
The most balanced LP of the band’s already impressive oeuvre, the record walks a tightrope of brilliance alternating seamlessly between tranquil and tense where violence and beauty share the stage.
Why you want it: This is prog/art metal done with perfection.
Why you don’t: The only people who will be unable to appreciate this album are people who can only listen to a single subgenre at a time. If you want your music to have depth and thematic shifts, this is a record with something for you.
Top Tracks:“Mutual Ruin,” Cloaked” “To Resist Everything”
Review by Bad Dad
Still Insane – Black Sheep
Thousand Island Records – 4 Feb 2022
French Canadian skate punk perfectly suited for the next THPS soundtrack.
Why you want it: Are you sick of the new faces of punk always looking like failed rappers and overproduced melodies? Still Insane keep the true flames burning for the skate punks at the turn of the millenium.
Why you don’t: This is for fans of short, fast and loud punk, if you are the kid who pressed your pleated pants before heading off to study sessions… well shit, you probably need this level of energetic release too actually.
Top Tracks: “Stay Home” “Black Sheep”
Review by Bad Dad
Frank Turner – FTHC
Xtra Mile/Polydor Records – 11 Feb 2022
Folk-punk troubadour plugs in and doesn’t hold back.
Why you want it: Turner is as comfortable returning to his hardcore roots as Taylor Swift is in an old cardigan, and it allows him the ability to put forth some of his most personal and beautiful tracks.
Why you don’t: Its not the Turner you are used to after the last 8 albums, but change isn’t always a dirty word.
Top Tracks:“Miranda,” “A Wave Across the Bay,” “Non Servium”
Review by Bad Dad
Yard Act – The Overload
Island Records/Zen FC – 21 Jan 2022
The debut from the new face of UK post punk spanks of disco bass lines, humor and angular guitars.
Why you want it: Get your cardio in thanks to a fresh spin on the 00’s dance-punk revival.
Why you don’t: Stick to your miserable stiff-hipped existence if you were the type of curmudgeon who kept their ass from shaking during the Art Brut-era.
Top Tracks: “Dead Horse,” “Pour Another,” “The Overload”
Review by Bad Dad
You Vandal – Pretend I Don’t Exist
Jump Start Records – 11 Feb 2022
You Vandal buck the tropes of HWM/AM! inspired Gainesville punk with poppy tunes brimming with catchy singalongs and slick melodies, while still proving Gainesville is something of the promised land in modern punk.
Why you want it: Joyously cynical lyrics with good time bounciness makes Pretend I Don’t Exist an impressive release.
Why you don’t: The record is bound to disappoint those who believe the breadth of Florida pop-punk begins and ends with NFG or ADTR.
Top Tracks: “Sink Back To Me” “Got it Wrong”
Review by Bad Dad
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
