Algiers

An intense, frantic collision of soulful Southern gospel passion with experimental, post-punk jams and raging political slogans, Algiers create a sound informed by the historic racial tensions of their home town, Atlanta, Georgia, filled with futuristic, industrial dread. Front man Franklin James Fisher grew up in the suburbs and learned to sing in church, but discovered punk as a teenager and was teaching in Paris when he started sharing musical and philosophical ideas with old university friends Ryan Mahan and Lee Tesche.

The band originally came together in London in 2007 but returned home and released the single 'Blood' in 2012 and toured with Interpol before the release of their self-titled debut album in 2015. Their mix of emotional, brimstone religion alongside radical politics and dystopian, eerie atmospherics seemed to capture the mood of the Ferguson, Baltimore protests at the time and they received a huge mass of critical acclaim, including comparisons to Nina Simone, Throbbing Gristle and Public Image Ltd. With former Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong completing the line-up, they went on record 2017's follow-up 'The Underside of Power' with producer Adrian Utley from Portishead.