Curious what notable personalities in the scene think was great this year? So is TGEFM! So we reached out to some of our favorite luminaries ranging from musicians, label personnel, and more for their “Best of 2024” lists. Now, listen: TGEFM is not a taskmistress. Contributors can write these out however they want. So if it doesn’t actually look or read like a list… and sometimes it really is just a list with no other observations! Who cares?
Aussie three-piece Ebolagoldfish dropped their satire-rich and super fun fourth LP, Bad Choices Good Times earlier this year. Today TGEFM is happy to share the band member Gavan McDougall’s best of list for 2024.
Best of 2024 – Top 10
Our new album, Bad Choices Good Times, takes us back to the best times in our lives and explores
their darker sides. It is part warning sign and part travel guide.
I’ve listed the top 10 songs from 2024 that celebrate this dichotomy. Songs that are filled with
double meanings, oxymorons, or have a depth that challenges my shallow nature and has
affected me.
Bad choices? You decide.
Good times? Most definitely.
“Publicly Happy” – Pat Decline
I had been hanging out for new music from The Decline, and Pat’s solo album, Cat Person, filled this void with something warm and fuzzy. “Publicly Happy” is a fun, feelgood number with sudden waves of melancholy that leave me feeling radicalized by its positive message and vitriolic delivery.
“You Got This” – Punish
So much love for this track. It has a heartwarming positivity that’s so infectious. The comforting, almost aggressive delivery rolls into the most endearing ska/reggae section that just makes me grin from ear to ear.
“Mine Cart Carnage” – Glitch Kingdom
This gang is endlessly energetic and passionate. They nail their style of pop punk and tackle some damn big topics cleverly disguised as gaming metaphors. I am both inspired and ashamed for humankind.
“Charm Offensive” – Sketch Method
This song is a rollercoaster of unexpected twists and turns. I get carried away by the melody while the raw vocal line preaches its all-too-real, dystopian warnings of gaslighting and hoodwinking.
“Scorched Earth Policy” – Billy Demos
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share this song with the world. There is something about its dark topic and ferocious strumming of the acoustic guitar, and that haunting horn line, when mixed with a voice that melts me like butter.
“Talk of the Town” – Clay J Gladstone
I’m so impressed by these boys; their raw sound is somehow both brutal and vulnerable at the same time. I love how this song switches from hectic to sinister, and even its quieter sections feel unstable. I find its unpredictability very entertaining.
“Welcome to Hell” – Knife Hands
This song is brimming with activity. It has a depth of sound with its many layers intersecting and interacting, pulling me from one end of the genre to the other with perfectly polished chaos.
“Parrot” – Totally Unicorn
Endlessly entertaining, the lyrical satire is so perfectly layered that it is easily forgotten behind the aggressive soapbox delivery. I found this song instantly relatable, with its use of Aussie colloquial speech and the way it champions the plight of the common man.
“Punk’s Dead” – SOFT PLAY
Smart satire but played hard and straight. The type of humour that can trick the target into thinking they are the target audience. The song is about the band’s recent name change (from ‘Slaves‘) and the fans who found the new name a little too left-leaning; it’s the perfect measure of meta for me.
“Somewhere Inbetween” – Frank Turner
I am often moved and inspired by Frank Turner’s music. I found this song perfectly mirrored my own feelings of inadequacy and impostor syndrome, and it punches me right in the feels every time (I’m not crying, you’re crying).
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/
