Algiers at The Earl, Atlanta, June 5, 2015

I have seen the future, and it is called Algiers.

Algiers is an American experimental band formed in Atlanta, composed of vocalist/guitarist Franklin James Fisher, bassist Ryan Mahan, and guitarist Lee Tesche.  Their self-titled debut album was released on June 2, and last night, Algiers kicked off their first headlining tour at their hometown Earl.

Atlanta's Twins opened.

Landline played next.

Algiers took the stage a little after 11:30 pm and ignited the room.

If you think you hear traces of gospel and soul in their distorted post-punk sound, you'd be correct - last night's show simultaneously felt like a church revival, a political rally, and a call to arms, as well as a rock concert.  Genres weren't so much merged or fused together as reimagined and reinvented into a new, cohesive whole.

Since Algiers is such a new band and their debut album dropped just this week, I don't know many of their song titles, but I believe Blood was the second song in their set and that they closed out with Black Eunuch.

Not surprisingly, the show had sold out - on a chalkboard by the entrance someone had written, "Sold Out, Go Away!"  There were a number of Atlanta musicians among the audience, and I spotted The Indigo Girls standing just a few feet away from me.  Unfortunately, and not atypical for The Earl, the audience was loud and talkative through much of the set, to the obvious displeasure of Fisher during one of the few quieter moments, but the show was nevertheless nothing short of a triumph. Even if the band didn't come back onstage for an encore, the audience still stood in front of the stage clapping and cheering for a good five minutes.

Algiers may be too uncompromising, confrontational, and experimental for mass appeal and large-scale commercial success, but I don't think that's what they're aiming for,  Their critically acclaimed debut album and explosive live performances, however, may trigger a raising of consciousness and political awareness in modern rock music, and if that's the case, I think the band will consider their job to have been done.

Phoenix Festival, Atlanta, November 15, 2014

According to the organizer Davy Minor (Deer Bear Wolf), "Amongst the ruins of a derelict motel site in the Lakewood community of Atlanta, Urban Sprout Farms has created a sanctuary for growing fresh produce. On November 15th, a group of champions for the Atlanta arts community are getting together to present a day of music, literature and art to raise awareness for this creative repurposing of land that was once laying to waste."   

The emphasis really was on the visual arts, mostly by graffiti artists covering the outside of the old derelict motel, and installation artists set up in the various rooms.  Musical contributors included Atlanta's Lily and The Tigers.

There were also readings and unamplified acoustic performances over by the skankiest, most overgrown motel pool you'd ever want to see.

We saw performers Landline open for the Fresh & Onlys in only their second-ever performance as a band, and they played again today at Phoenix.

We didn't stay for headliners Little Tybee, even though we saw Brock and Nirvana walking the grounds, and guitarist Josh Martin and bassist Ryan Donald were pulling up in their car just as we were leaving.  Nothing against Little Tybee (quite the opposite, in fact!), but it was the kind of autumn day where it seemed more important to go find out if the Crimson Tide could hold off Mississippi State for three more quarters (they did).  

The day was a nice introduction to the Urban Sprout Farm site and another good merger of music, art, and literature by Deer Bear Wolf,  It would be nice of this became an annual affair.

Fresh & Onlys at 529 Atlanta, July 26, 2014

So on a hot summer night with nothing else to do, why not crowd into the sweaty confines of the 529 in East Atlanta Village for a set by The Fresh & Onlys and their supporting bands?

The opener was a new band called Landline, performing only their second set together as a band.  However, the band features Philip Frobos of Carnivores and Frankie Broyles of Balkans and Deerhunter, so they're not exactly strangers to the 529 stage.  There was a fairly large crowd for their opening set, many of whom seemed to be there just for Landline. 

Touring with The Fresh & Only's are the Vancouver quartet, The Shilohs.  As would be expected, their live sound is a lot more aggressive than the laid-back music on their albums, which only serves to enhance the jangle-pop, classic rock sound of their songs.

The audience, perhaps a little addled by the heat, were lackluster in their response, which visibly annoyed the band ("Hey, c'mon guys, it's Saturday night!"), which only alienated the audience that much more.  An early reference from the stage to "Hotlanta" didn't help win the audience over, either.  By the end of their set, the lone call for one more song was greeted with a "you-got-to-be-kidding" stare from the band.

All was forgiven by the time San Francisco's The Fresh & Only's took the stage.  Like the members of Lineline before them, The Fresh & Onlys are no strangers to the 529 stage, having played there before in 2010 and 2012.  

They got the audience moving almost immediately, playing their stand-out Waterfall as the second song in their set.  Then after Waterfall, singer Tim Cohen announced that they were going to play their entire new album, House of Spirits, all the way through, which they proceeded to do to spirited effect.

In addition to the music, I was fascinated by guitarist Wymond Myles' gravity-defying pompadour, while my companion for the show was mesmerized by something about Cohen's "most ill-fitting pants in the history of rock and roll." 

The music straddled the line between garage psych-rock and lo-fi shoegaze.  According to Pitchfork, "House of Spirits finds the Fresh & Onlys in a gloomy place. It’s a spooky, desert-rock answer to the Cure’s Faith, another record awash in both reverb and metaphysical turmoil. 'The point of forgetting is so you can live,' despairs Cohen on the chilly Animal of One. 'The purpose of living is harder to find.' The Fresh & Onlys’ music has touched on downcast themes before, but in the past, these bummin’ sentiments were often tempered a touch of self-effacing humor. Here, Cohen’s gonzo imagery and weirdo-narratives feel more earnest in their evocation of hard times."

Their songs included plenty of noisy passages and opportunities for some friendly pushing and shoving in the audience, and even one lone crowd surfer toward the end of the set.

For those of you keeping score at home, last night's show was the first of my seventh decade of existence.