Algiers - Shook [2LP]

Format: 2 x LP
Catalogue No.: OLE1784LP
Barcode: 0191401178419
Release Date: 24 Feb 2023
Genre: Indie/Alternative

 Algiers return with ‘Shook’, their first new music since 2020’s ‘There Is No Year’, called “a heady concoction of post-punk, ‘60s soul and political insight” (NME ****).
 Shook features contributions from Rage Against The Machine’s Zack De La Rocha, Boy Harsher’s Jae Matthews, Big Rube, billy woods, Backxwash, and many more.
 ‘Shook’ single ‘Bite Back’ was greeted by The FADER with a glowing Song You Need review: “A sober state of the union rallying cry for the revolution.”
 The band - who have built one of the most exciting catalogues and cult followings of recent years, with 2020’s ‘There Is No Year’ described as “electrifying and unpredictable” (The Observer) and “precise, thoughtful and powerful” (NME) - gathered a posse of like-minded artists to create their fourth album, ‘Shook’.
 Stacked with guests, spanning icons through to future stars, ‘Shook’ is a lightning rod for an elusive yet universal energy and feeling. A plurality of voices; a spiritual and geographical homecoming; a strategy of communion in a burning world; the story of an end of a relationship; an Atlanta front porch summer party. Ultimately, it’s a 17-track set of the most mind-expanding
and thrilling music that you are likely to hear anytime soon.
 While community and collaboration has always been integral to Algiers’ ethos, ‘Shook’ brings this to its fullest manifestation. The liner notes read like a who’s who of ground-breaking and
contemporary underground music, featuring Zack de la Rocha, Big Rube (The Dungeon Family), billy woods, Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands), Jae Matthews (Boy Harsher), LaToya Kent (Mourning [A] BLKstar), Backxwash, Nadah El Shazly, DeForrest Brown Jr. (Speaker
Music), Patrick Shiroishi, Lee Bains III, and Mark Cisneros (The Make-Up, Kid Congo Powers). Their contributions throughout deftly reshape and recontextualize the notion of being Shook from a variety of perspectives, occupying shifting roles as oracles and narrators. “It very much deepens and broadens the world of Algiers,” says drummer Matt Tong.
 The accomplishment of this record is made all the more impressive by the fact it was made by a band who were falling apart and on the verge of breaking up. But instead they have produced an extraordinary, transformative record born from a shared sense of place and experience. “I think this record is us finding home,” says the band’s Ryan Mahan, with band member Franklin James Fisher adding: “It was a whole new positive experience - having a renewed relationship with the city we’re from and having a pride in that. I like the idea that this record has taken you on a voyage but it begins and ends in Atlanta.”
 Available to independent retailers on gold vinyl.

Tracklisting
Everybody Shatter (ft. Big Rube)
Irreversible Damage
73%
Cleanse Your Guilt Here
As It Resounds (ft. Big Rube)
Bite Back (ft. billy woods & Backxwash)
Out of Style Tragedy (ft. Mark Cisneros)
Comment #2
A Good Man
I Can’t Stand It! (ft. Samuel T. Herring & Jae Matthews)
All You See Is
Green Iris
Born (ft. LaToya Kent)
Cold World (ft. Nadah El Shazly)
Something Wrong
An Echophonic Soul (ft. DeForrest Brown Jr. & Patrick Shiroishi)
Momentary (ft. Lee Bains III)