Algiers
+ Helen Ganya
Algiers in beeld!
Algiers touches upon so many genres within their sound that you’re bound to lose count. In a steaming hot and organic whole they combine elements from post-punk, psychedelic rock, industrial punk, electronics, gospel, soul and blues. Their self-titled debut came out in 2015 through the renowned Matador Records. The band, back then still a trio, went on tour with label mates Interpol. Before their sophomore album “The Underside of Power” came out they had expanded into a quartet. The band is well known for their socially critical and political points of view that find their way into the lyrics.
Their latest album “Shook” came out early 2023 and it features numerous collaborations with guests. Strengthened by a second drummer, there are guest roles for artists like Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against the Machine) and music wunderkind Billy Woods. In ‘Out of Style Tragedy’, you can hear Franklin James Fisher sing on a backdrop of Sun Ra’s ‘Nuclear War’.
Stereogum had the following praise for the album:
“Shook evokes the frantic, overwhelming bad-news onslaught of circa-now life. People felt besieged by information in 1988, too, and the Bomb Squad drew on that feeling when they produced Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. Shook feels like an attempt to translate that feeling to an even-more jagged age.”
“Parts of Shook feel freaked-out and terrified, and parts of it feel triumphant. Sometimes, those are the same parts. Good record. Play it on your headphones the next time you’re riding a train across an apocalyptic, bombed-out landscape.”
Tonight’s support act will be English electronic one-man band Holy Other.
