Crucial Releases: April 25

Welcome to Crucial Releases: April 25 edition, where we end the month of April and new music. Well not the end of new music in general, but you never know these days.

Anyway, I've got a few superb releases for you this issue. The first of which is a serious contender for album of the year: viagr aboys by Viagra Boys (Listen) – their fourth full length album, following Cave World (2022), Welfare Jazz (2021), and Street Worms (2019). I've been a fan since the first live video I saw of them on YouTube, probably in the Street Worms era.

Viagra Boys are a punk band from Sweden, but their singer is from California. Which makes total sense if you read their lyrics – they are too steeped in American culture and absurdities to not be native to this country. Europeans have a lot to make fun of us for, but to get to the level Viagra Boys do, you have to live here... and Sebastian Murphy did for his formative years.

And it's not all American culture and related jokes, mind you. He riffs on "feeling like a bitch when he talks about Swedish politics" on "Uno II" and he totally ends the bog vs swamp debate in "The Bog Body"... which is very European. I doubt many Americans even know what a fucking bog is... 🤣

Musically, Viagra Boys do the art punk, NY Dolls, Richard Hell & the Voidoids thing... discordant guitars, horns, spoken/sung lyrics... absolutely hilarious lyrics. I don't think there are many, if any, current bands doing what they do. And they do it very well too.

Favorite tracks: "Man Made of Meat", "Uno II", "The Bog Body", "Waterboy", and "Store Policy"

viagr aboys by Viagra Boys

shop -> Bandcamp

Stream

Honorable Mentions

Weirdo by Emma-Jean Thackray (Listen)
Super into this... it's weird, off-beat funky soul and R&B, with a side of jazz and bedroom pop. Thackray seems like an interesting person: multi-instrumentalist, DJ, producer, beat maker, radio host. Love hearing people who you'd never expect playing a genre, doing it well and in their own way.

Bloodless by Samia (Listen)
Another great album for this week. One that would be a feature most weeks. Bloodless is her third full-length album and each one is improving on the last. Samia is really becoming an elite singer/songwriter – great voice, melodies, and lyrics – and I'm here for it.

Tunnel Vision by Beach Bunny (Listen)
Beach Bunny is great and one of my kids' first concerts. We saw them in Cleveland on the Honeymoon tour back in 2021. Pop-punk influenced indie pop, with great melodies and lyrics. This is another great album from them...

Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman by Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics (Listen)
A new Wu-Tang album in 2025. Originally released a couple weeks ago as a super limited edition 2-LP vinyl set, the album hit streaming this week. It's classic Wu-Tang, though not as good as their old stuff. The record does feature Griselda, which has definitely tried to fill the Wu-Tang hole in the rap universe the last ten years.

❤️ Support The Trevor Project

I've created a limited edition set of stickers I am selling, with all proceeds going to The Trevor Project. With LGBTQ+ folks under attack in America, The Trevor Project provides crucial resources for young people – including suicide prevention and counseling. Things the current administration want to defund.

Anyway, 4 stickers... $8 or more, if you can afford it. Shipping included.

Thank you for your support. And thanks to Revolting Printing in Buffalo, NY for printing them up. 😄