About this item

“Ebbs and flows between moments of gritted-teeth tension and furious release, its solemn, confession-booth ruminations offset by heart-racing, steeple-toppling rave-ups.” - Pitchfork

“These new songs, seven of them in the end, are fantastic - running the gamut between funk basslines, rolling piano, hissing booms, insidious Vatican shadow rattles and BBC Radiophonic Workshop if they did goth ballads.” - The Quietus

Matador Records present Algiers’ second album, ‘The Underside Of Power’, recorded largely in Bristol and produced by Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Ali Chant and mixed by Randall Dunn (Sunn O)))), with post-production by Ben Greenberg (The Men, Hubble, Uniform).

Touchstones on the uncompromising and impassioned album run from Southern rap to Northern soul, gospel to IDM, industrial to grime to Italo.

More pertinent than ever before, ‘The Underside Of Power’ follows Algiers’ 2015 eponymous debut which received praise from the NY Times, Pitchfork, The Quietus and others. The record touches on oppression, police brutality, dystopia and hegemonic power structures. Its fiery lyrics encompass TS Eliot, the Old Testament, The New Jim Crow, Tamir Rice and Hannah Arendt, while carried by soulful and visceral songs, meditative moments and personal reflection.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Dense, textured rock and roll hooks, grooving chorus' and snarling vocal crescendos. It's bold in parts, delicately electronic in others and as visceral as you'd expect from Algiers. Euphoric synth leads sweep into foot-stomping majesty in the blink of an eye. An enthralling and bracing journey throughout.

TRACK LISTING

Walk Like A Panther
Cry Of The Martyrs
The Underside Of Power
Death March
A Murmur. A Sign.
Mme Rieux
Cleveland
Animals
Plague Years
A Hymn For An Average Man
Bury Me Standing
The Cycle/The Spiral: Time To Go Down Slowly