Algiers - the band - in Paris

About last night...

This band have a special resonance with me because of their talent of course but also because of their name, simply, chosen as an homage to the famous film; The Battle of Algiers.

They gave a "secret gig" in Paris yesterday and - miraculously - again - I won tickets...

They were brilliant, literally so powerful on the small stage of the Silencio - stylish bar in central Paris created by David Lynch.

Their songs include many sonic references to important discourses in American history, including some by the unique James Baldwin.

Here are a few pictures, by myself, in the first raw, which cannot do justice to their energy - but it is just to share!

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Listen again to Algiers' new single:


Algiers - "Cleveland" (Official Audio)

Published on 13 Jun 2017

From Algiers' new album 'The Underside of Power' released by Matador Records on June 23rd, 2017 and available for pre-order now: http://smarturl.it/TheUndersideOfPower

"A recurring theme in our music is the idea of injustice and the bitter understanding that obtaining justice in this world is all but impossible--particularly for black and brown people.”
- frontman and lyricist Franklin James Fisher

http://www.algierstheband.com/


CLEVELAND lyrics

I never saw your face but I can tell
you’re there and waiting at the Right Hand

Satan laughs but I swear
I can hear all the saints on their way down

Here come the Shirts in Brown and Black
With the flashing lights
They’re hiding
In different colors in the dead of night
They’re running Waller County, Texas where 4,000 died

And down in Jackson, Mississippi they don’t have to hide

But innocence is alive and it’s coming back one day

Here come the(m) boys in black and white
With the kerosene
It’s been the same evil power since in ‘63
They hang in Homewood, Alabama with the whitest sheets

And in Montgomery County, Maryland from a sapling tree

But innocence is alive and it’s coming back one day

I don’t think you’re gonna get away
With the Seal I can hear them singing

Kindra Chapman (we’re coming back)

Brother Andre Jones (we’re coming back)

Lennon Lacy (we’re coming back)

Sandra Bland (we’re coming back)

Roosevelt Pernell (we’re coming back)

Keith Warren (we’re coming back)

Alfred Wright (we’re coming back)

We’re coming back and any day now — it won’t be long…

The hand that brings the gavel down

is the hand that ties the noose
The hand that finds you behind
And ties the thirteen loops

But that hand is gonna fold
The day is coming soon
When we fill it full of dust and resurrect the truth

‘Cause innocence is alive and it’s coming back one day