GiggySound

Modern post-punk is a lot of things, but it’s rarely been a source for social commentary. Recent albums from Gang of Four and The Pop Group made simple social criticisms in-line with their traditionally political material, and new releases fro Mourn or Sleater-Kinney added a feminist perspective to an otherwise masculine musical scene. But these bands are the exception in the modern incarnation of the genre, which is still predominantly white, mostly male, inward-focussed and largely apolitical. It’s nothing to do with the sound, or even necessarily the politics of the performers. It’s more about their focus and their privilege. Post-punk, as a genre, differentiated itself from punk primarily by focussing on subjects other than politics: dissonance, aesthetics, and musical experimentation. As time went on, the political undertones inherited from old-school punk have mostly died away, and the white men responsible for keeping the dream alive have focussed on these factors to the detriment of everything else. Think about the use of Nazi imagery by Danish post-punks Iceage or Joy Division drawing their name from the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Post-punks are never really white supremacists, most of them are left-wing, highly educated people, but they draw from the same imagery as white supremacist groups to generate their mood and atmosphere. And when mostly young, white men are attracted to the scene, these images are unremarked upon, merely a part of the subculture. This, coupled with the lack of any kind of contradiction from the lyrics, leads some critics to make the obvious associations with a fascist ideology. Algiers are immediately different, and it’s not just because of the sonic inspiration from gospel and soul readily apparent from the first seconds of their upcoming album. Politics are important to the band.

Even the Algiers website shows this right away, posting up traditional post-punk with social criticism and actual Marxist theory: a well-defined, unique, and undeniably post-punk aesthetic. ‘Remains’ begins with a cold, monotonic synth line and the rhythmic stomp of drums and clapping hands, followed by a chorus of hums and a blues-inspired vocal line that drives forward into a cinematic cacophony that sounds like a deep-south revival church singing through a nuclear apocalypse. The mix of southern blues and post-punk bears a family resemblance to The Gun Club or The Flesh Eaters, but it’s so much more than that, taking on something of the atheist-friendly spiritualism of Swans in its sonorous, religious sense of power. Following that is the atonal, tribal throbbing of ‘Claudette’, which grinds along with its melodic vocals pitched atop a wall of broken-sounding guitars and mechanical synths, before finishing in deconstructed pop, and the next track, ‘And When You Fall’ starts with a sonar beat and lo-fi electronic drumming, adding a walking bassline, fuzzy-sounding computerized synths and passionate, politically-motivated lyrics. “When it all falls down, you’ll know exactly who we are,” Franklin James Fisher shouts, and a chorus of angry voices sing out in reply. It’s a singular and powerful experience, like a lecture breaking out into a riot. But Algiers aren’t just a band or a political statement; they’re a manifesto for the genre they belong to, and their combination of atypical musical influences and radically unapologetic left-wing politics with the angularity and nihilism of post-punk expresses its unexplored potential for social change and future innovation.

Rather than relying exclusively on dissonant guitar effects or clichéd and offensive Nazi iconography, Algiers draw their energy and frightening sense of power from real-life social inequality, apathy, and the challenges of change. This strong political position is reflected most clearly in tracks like the flawless ‘Irony. Utility. Pretext.’, the passionate ‘Black Eunuch’ or the damning confessional ‘Blood’. The lyrics to all these songs are posted on their Youtube videos, because unlike a lot of other artists in their genre, the lyrics matter: “For all your love of soma, all my blood’s in vain, you say your history’s over, all my blood’s in vain, your television coma, all my blood’s in vain, it’s gone too far to change,” Franklin sings in ‘Blood’, using dystopian classic Brave New World to make a powerful case that our addiction to media and lack of interest in the future makes a mockery of all the social movements of the past that shaped the world we live in today. It’s a thoughtful piece of social commentary delivered with raw power and total conviction in a modern genre where personal expression is usually married with political ignorance or apathy, and it still manages to follow all of the sonic and emotional conventions of the genre it belongs to. It’s a breathtaking achievement, and the most original-sounding debut of the year.

Without attempting to commandeer the personal experiences that the album clearly represents, this feels like a generation-defining sort of a release. Like Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, or The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The Bullocks. Something new has happened here that goes beyond the current wave of post-punk revival and into something else, a revolutionary, intellectual, and profoundly original musical creation that not only highlights the creativity and diversity of modern underground music, but also its potential to discover new sounds and landmarks we never could have thought about before. Algiers are a breath of fresh air, and whoever you are, you need to hear this album. It’s one of the strongest new releases of the decade. If change is not impossible, this band will change the world.

Modern post-punk is a lot of things, but it’s rarely been a source for social commentary. Recent albums from Gang of Four and The Pop Group made simple social criticisms in-line with their traditionally political material, and new releases fro Mourn or Sleater-Kinney added a feminist perspective to an otherwise masculine musical scene. But these bands are the exception in the modern incarnation of the genre, which is still predominantly white, mostly male, inward-focussed and largely apolitical. It’s nothing to do with the sound, or even necessarily the politics of the performers. It’s more about their focus and their privilege. Post-punk, as a genre, differentiated itself from punk primarily by focussing on subjects other than politics: dissonance, aesthetics, and musical experimentation. As time went on, the political undertones inherited from old-school punk have mostly died away, and the white men responsible for keeping the dream alive have focussed on these factors to the detriment of everything else. Think about the use of Nazi imagery by Danish post-punks Iceage or Joy Division drawing their name from the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Post-punks are never really white supremacists, most of them are left-wing, highly educated people, but they draw from the same imagery as white supremacist groups to generate their mood and atmosphere. And when mostly young, white men are attracted to the scene, these images are unremarked upon, merely a part of the subculture. This, coupled with the lack of any kind of contradiction from the lyrics, leads some critics to make the obvious associations with a fascist ideology. Algiers are immediately different, and it’s not just because of the sonic inspiration from gospel and soul readily apparent from the first seconds of their upcoming album. Politics are important to the band.

Even the Algiers website shows this right away, posting up traditional post-punk with social criticism and actual Marxist theory: a well-defined, unique, and undeniably post-punk aesthetic. ‘Remains’ begins with a cold, monotonic synth line and the rhythmic stomp of drums and clapping hands, followed by a chorus of hums and a blues-inspired vocal line that drives forward into a cinematic cacophony that sounds like a deep-south revival church singing through a nuclear apocalypse. The mix of southern blues and post-punk bears a family resemblance to The Gun Club or The Flesh Eaters, but it’s so much more than that, taking on something of the atheist-friendly spiritualism of Swans in its sonorous, religious sense of power. Following that is the atonal, tribal throbbing of ‘Claudette’, which grinds along with its melodic vocals pitched atop a wall of broken-sounding guitars and mechanical synths, before finishing in deconstructed pop, and the next track, ‘And When You Fall’ starts with a sonar beat and lo-fi electronic drumming, adding a walking bassline, fuzzy-sounding computerized synths and passionate, politically-motivated lyrics. “When it all falls down, you’ll know exactly who we are,” Franklin James Fisher shouts, and a chorus of angry voices sing out in reply. It’s a singular and powerful experience, like a lecture breaking out into a riot. But Algiers aren’t just a band or a political statement; they’re a manifesto for the genre they belong to, and their combination of atypical musical influences and radically unapologetic left-wing politics with the angularity and nihilism of post-punk expresses its unexplored potential for social change and future innovation.

Rather than relying exclusively on dissonant guitar effects or clichéd and offensive Nazi iconography, Algiers draw their energy and frightening sense of power from real-life social inequality, apathy, and the challenges of change. This strong political position is reflected most clearly in tracks like the flawless ‘Irony. Utility. Pretext.’, the passionate ‘Black Eunuch’ or the damning confessional ‘Blood’. The lyrics to all these songs are posted on their Youtube videos, because unlike a lot of other artists in their genre, the lyrics matter: “For all your love of soma, all my blood’s in vain, you say your history’s over, all my blood’s in vain, your television coma, all my blood’s in vain, it’s gone too far to change,” Franklin sings in ‘Blood’, using dystopian classic Brave New World to make a powerful case that our addiction to media and lack of interest in the future makes a mockery of all the social movements of the past that shaped the world we live in today. It’s a thoughtful piece of social commentary delivered with raw power and total conviction in a modern genre where personal expression is usually married with political ignorance or apathy, and it still manages to follow all of the sonic and emotional conventions of the genre it belongs to. It’s a breathtaking achievement, and the most original-sounding debut of the year.

Without attempting to commandeer the personal experiences that the album clearly represents, this feels like a generation-defining sort of a release. Like Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, or The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The Bullocks. Something new has happened here that goes beyond the current wave of post-punk revival and into something else, a revolutionary, intellectual, and profoundly original musical creation that not only highlights the creativity and diversity of modern underground music, but also its potential to discover new sounds and landmarks we never could have thought about before. Algiers are a breath of fresh air, and whoever you are, you need to hear this album. It’s one of the strongest new releases of the decade. If change is not impossible, this band will change the world.