Atlanta's Algiers arrived in 2015 carrying the full weight of the Black radical tradition, connecting the dots between Sam Cooke's martyrdom, the fire-and-brimstone of Southern gospel, and the confrontational noise of groups like Suicide and Big Black. Franklin James Fisher's voice is the throughline, a instrument equally at home in a Pentecostal church and a sweat-soaked basement show. The debut LP by Algiers is haunted by promises of the past: the rapturous call and response of millenarian gospel, the bellowing urgency of 60s protest soul, the scene-searching intensity of DC hardcore and the smeared viscosity of post-punk and no wave. After all, as Marx once said: “The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.” But rather than revel in a state of nostalgia, the band wields these burdened visions to charge headlong into the future. Tracklist Side A 1. Remains 2. Claudette 3. And When You Fall 4. Blood 5. Old Girl Side B 1. Irony. Utility. Pretext. 2. But She Was Not Flying 3. Black Eunuch 4. Games 5. In Parallax UPC: 744861106715Label: Matador RecordsRelease Date: 6.2.15Format: LP Vinyl
