YEAR0001 Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Hot on the heels of their exceptional new third full-length, 'Cave World', Stockholm's post-punk prodigies, Viagra Boys, have unveiled a deluxe edition of last year's fence swinging sophomore triumph, 'Welfare Jazz'. With big name production help from the likes of Matt Sweeney (whose helmed releases from the likes of Iggy Pop and Queens of the Stone Age), as well as Yves Tumor/Charli XCX collaborator Justin Raisen, the band manage the seemingly impossible feat of combining their jagged edged anthems with a lush, serene approach that has bolstered their profile in the scene immensely. The final full-length to feature guitarist Benjamin Valle before his untimely passing, this expanded edition features seven new tracks, brimming with the unhinged sultry dynamics that continues to make their punk moniker more commonplace with each mention.

Review: First popping up on our radar in 2020 - or rather hurling itself onto it with all the subtlety punk can muster - Common Sense gets a reissue and not before time. Outspoken but never outgunned, Swedes Viagra Boys rightly courted some serious praise with 2022's album, Cave World, so it makes sense to revisit this epic EP in a bid to get newcomers acquainted with what came before. Opening on the title number, things may not sound quite as you'd expect. While known for their ability to wield bloody-lipped chargers, 'Common Sense' owes as much to shoegaze and synth rock as it does punk variants, immediately marking the outfit out as something not quite so easy to define. Nevertheless, 'Lick the Bang' is straight up topless sweatbox material, and 'Sentinel Island' centres our brains on wonderfully distorted and frayed riffs. Closing on the slow, nostalgia-hued 'Blue', it's quite the collection.