10 Near Perfect Post Punk Albums

Punk rock was the filthy rag that attempted to wipe the musical slate clean. It killed off the vapid rock fads of the '70s, leaving a filthy residue of attitude and grimy noise. Post punk was the movement that build on what punk had started. Punk was a back to basics sound, what came after was an integration of more artsy and creative ideas.

Post punk is a term that has come to encapsulate such a wide range of musical sounds thats it's near impossible to define succinctly. But there are several tropes you can usually count on as being adopted by a such groups. During the first wave, many of the groups had been former punks themselves, but the notion of playing with an aggressive destain for the world became tired fast. The utilisation of more avant-garde techniques coupled with a hint of attitude and a degree of social consciousness is what really defines the genre.

The genre has gone through a renaissance over the last 10 years, with a number of new groups adopting its ethos but incorporating more varied sounds. With a mixture of old and new, here's some of the very best post punk albums to satisfy your musical needs.

One of the more unique groups following punks DIY aesthetic are the Viagra Boys. The group hail from Sweden, despite having a very British sound to them. Frontman, Sebastian Murphy, is somewhere between a swaggering Shaun Ryder type and smirking Shane MacGowan. With his signature tattooed torso and saggy adidas track pants, he cuts an intriguing figure, as he swans about onstage, leering and snarling into the mic with contempt.

Watching them live you might think these guys wouldn't translate onto the album format so well. Their humorous image is such a significant part of their allure, after all. But the humour is also reflected in their music. Their debut album was just as sincere as it was funny. If dark comedy still didn't have a place in the musical world it does now. Murphy's lyrics mock all the those aspects of society that every liberal arts student despises. But he doesn't come across as preachy; his gravelly, almost pained delivery indicates an awareness that he may be a part of the issues he's railing against.

Now all this sounds bit high brow, but these sentiments are buried within a pulsing squalor of dance rock, rumbling bass and screaming saxophones. It's endlessly enjoyable. If Electric Six merged with IDLES you'd birth Viagra Boys.