All photos by Omar Kasrawi
There’s a moment when you’re watching a band perform, a moment where something clicks and you realize you’re watching something bigger than you, when you’re being pulled into a story larger than what concerns your daily life. It’s that moment when the band on stage takes you across the xenophobic and oppressive history of colonialism, the structural racism of your homeland, the bigoted firebrand politics used to incite fear and keep a wealthy elite gazing down. It’s when the exploited are given voice and song in the form of a raging tempest. One filled with swirling winds of a preaching gospel of post-punk, revolutionary, and political forces called Algiers. (If you want a taste of their political message as explained by the band, check out their turn on Intercepted)
This experimental foursome took over the tiny Zone One at Elsewhere on July 1 and filled it with their rocking music for one explosive night. Perhaps fittingly, darkness filled the room, with nary a light going off, cause bands with the ferocity of Algiers let their music illuminate every nook and cranny of whatever venue they call home for a night.
The music is undeniable and lead singer Franklin James Fisher is a singular frontman. With whiplash moves and howls from hell, he is unavoidable onstage. His voice is ferocious and his lyrics clear: this is a band that fights oppression in all its forms and guises, whether here or overseas. This isn’t your drum circle protest music – this is smash you in the face and make you dance and rage protest music. The band draws on a myriad of influences, from the early delta boogie of the early blues masters, to the industrial scratches of post-new wave Nine Inch Nails, to the punk howls of bands like the Clash, to Afrobeat, to jazz and beyond – Algiers pulls all of this and more into their sound without making it sound confusing and jangled. In fact, it sounds imminently danceable.
And every member of the band feels like a showman. Bassist Ryan Mahan erupts violently between his four string and the keys, all the while grimacing at the crowd as though he were his own hype man. Drummer Matt Tong wails away at times taking over with beats that harken back to early Peter Gabriel. And Lee Tesche moves between guitar and percussion in a blink and you’ll miss him on his knees slapping his strings with what look like timpani mallets.
Algiers is a force of nature disguised as a band. One that deserves to take its place amongst the great protest bands of any era.
Find a full set of photos from their performance posted in the gallery below (all taken by Omar Kasrawi), along with the setlist.
Algiers setlist:
1. Cry Of The Martyrs
2. Cleveland
3. Old Girl
4. Blood
5. Time to Go Down Slowly
6. Walk Like a Panther
7. Games
8. Animals
9. Irony. Utility. Pretext.
10. But She Was Not Flying
11. Death March
Encore:
12. Hymn for an Average Man
13. The Underside of Power
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