1. Algi… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least three artists which use the Algiers name:
1. Algiers is a band of musicians born in Atlanta, Georgia, the rotten hub of the Ol’ American South, where W.E.B. Dubois once saw a riot goin’ on, and where the hell and highwater swirls ‘round to the knees.
Holed up in our perches in London, New York, and a small town in France, plague up to our necks, we conjure the dead sound to life.
The click clack of the keyboard brings us to worship. The shrieks of slaves and rebels pummeling through.
Our tongues, twisted in the service of Paul Robeson, Lee Moses, Selda Bağcan, et al, slur a call in the darkness.
Algiers is the experimental gospel noise soul pulp response, slurping Francophilia - Gainsbourg and Dutronc, Saint Just and Fanon, Badiou and Baudrillard - Black Power - Nina Simone, Public Enemy, James Baldwin, Fred Hampton, DJ Premier, and Fela Kuti - and Southern Gothic - William Faulkner, Nick Cave, and Flannery O’Connor - into a stew thicker than bourguignon in the Algerian sun.
Algiers is:
Franklin James Fisher - vocals, backing vocals, guitar, bass, cello, double bass, piano, keys, sampling, wurlitzer, tambourine, percussion, drum programming
Ryan Mahan - bass, synths, baritone guitar, guitar, backing vocals, drum programming, samples
Lee Tesche - guitar, prepared guitar, prepared piano, sax, harmonium, synth, music box, tape loops, electric cymbal, backing vocals
Matt Tong - drums, guitar, glockenspiel, drones, chimes, backing vocals
http://algierstheband.com/
https://twitter.com/algiersmusic
https://www.facebook.com/Algierstheband
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2. Algiers - Not so much a country but a place. Algiers are two, spawned from two groups of more, born in Sheffield with roots which extend to Manchester and Middlesbrough.
Both on hiatus from their older musical ventures, John and William enrolled to study at university in Sheffield. A chance meeting in May 2011 led to one rehearsal which turned into 4 months of collaboration.
It would be churlish to say they’ve cherry picked the best parts of post punk pop from the last ten years. What they’ve amalgamated from their influences is something both heady and visceral. A sound that feels weightless and timeless. Reference points are far and wide with some already likening the wandering guitars and heart on sleeve vocals to everyone from Phoenix to Death Cab.
But there’s much more to these two. The ‘Four Priests’ EP is the culmination of a few months in a rehearsal room which now serves notice for something much more ; Bright futures and even brighter melodies.
www.facebook.com/wearealgiers
www.soundcloud.com/wearealgiers
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3. Algiers - is an avant-drone, experimental noise, tape manipulation, occultronics, tape music project started by Levi Berner of Portland, Oregon - USofA, who began recording as Algiers in 2007 with the release of his "Bleak Village" cassette album and Ground Tissues split release.
Berner also works under his own name as well as in or as the projects Witches, Visible/Invisible Wall and the Ratface "Salton Sea" releases in collaboration with the good folks at Basement Tapes.
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Algiers
BLOOD
Algiers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All my blood's in vain
You say your history's over
All of my blood's in vain
Your television coma
All my blood's in vain
It's gone too far to change
All of my blood's in vain
Flash across your screen
They got you in their hand
Fifteen minutes of freedom
Still 3/5 a man
Sterilize your conscience and
Disgrace your name
A healthy simulation
All my blood's in vain
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
All of my blood's in vain
Liquor stains your table
Women change you bed
You rise on Sunday morning
Just like the living dead
Your Hell is fornication
Your Heaven is the same
But master is complacent
So all my blood's in vain
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
All of my blood's in vain
Four hundred years of torture
Four hundred years a slave
Dead just to watch you squander
Just what we tried to save
Now death is at your doorstep
And you're still playing games
So drown in entertainment
Cause all our blood is in vain
The lyrics of Algiers’ song “Blood” speak to the disillusionment and despair felt by those who feel powerless in the face of forces beyond their control. The repeated phrase “All my blood’s in vain” conveys a sense of futility and defeat, as if everything the singer has fought for and sacrificed has been for nothing. The use of the word “soma” suggests a reference to the fictional drug in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, which was used to pacify and control the population. This could be interpreted as a criticism of modern society’s reliance on technology and media to distract us from larger problems.
The reference to being “3/5 a man” is a direct allusion to the Three-Fifths Compromise of 1787, which declared that only three-fifths of slaves would be counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation. This was a way for slave-holding states to gain more representation without actually giving slaves any rights. The use of this phrase in the song suggests that even after all the progress made since then, black people in America are still being reduced to a fraction of their humanity.
The final verse of the song brings together many of the earlier themes and adds a sense of anger and urgency. The lines “Four hundred years of torture / Four hundred years a slave / Dead just to watch you squander / Just what we tried to save” speak to the long history of oppression and exploitation suffered by black people in America, and the sense that even after all that struggle, progress is still being eroded by a culture of complacency and entertainment. The final lines, “So drown in entertainment / Cause all our blood is in vain,” suggest that the time for passivity and distraction is over, and that it’s time to take a stand before it’s too late.
Line by Line Meaning
For all your love of soma
Despite your love for the numbing effects of drugs
All my blood's in vain
My efforts are wasted
You say your history's over
You believe that the past no longer matters
All of my blood's in vain
All the sacrifices made in the past have amounted to nothing
Your television coma
The state of being numb from watching too much TV
All my blood's in vain
All efforts to change things have been useless
It's gone too far to change
Things have gotten too out of hand to be improved
All of my blood's in vain
All the sacrifices made in the past have amounted to nothing
Flash across your screen
Displayed prominently on your TV
They got you in their hand
You are under their control
Fifteen minutes of freedom
A brief moment of being uncontrolled
Still 3/5 a man
Still seen as less than human
Sterilize your conscience and
Make your moral compass barren
Disgrace your name
Tarnish your reputation
A healthy simulation
A mock representation of true health
All my blood's in vain
All efforts to change things have been useless
Liquor stains your table
Alcohol has become a staple in your life
Women change you bed
Women come and go in your life without care
You rise on Sunday morning
You go to church like a zombie
Just like the living dead
Similar to the state of being dead inside
Your Hell is fornication
Your experience of Hell is related to sexual immorality
Your Heaven is the same
Your view of Heaven is no different from your view of Hell
But master is complacent
Those in power are content and unwilling to change
So all my blood's in vain
All efforts to change things have been useless
Four hundred years of torture
Centuries of agony experienced by black people due to slavery
Four hundred years a slave
Four centuries of being enslaved
Dead just to watch you squander
Lives were lost simply for you to waste what they died fighting for
Just what we tried to save
The very things that were fought for to preserve
Now death is at your doorstep
The result of a long history of actions is now imminent
And you're still playing games
You continue to ignore the impending danger
So drown in entertainment
Lose yourself in the meaningless distractions of modern society
Cause all our blood is in vain
All the sacrifices made in the past have amounted to nothing
Contributed by Sadie A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.