Powerfully anchored by the poignancy and politics of the album’s title track, The Underside Of Power harkens back to a bygone era when the Motown sound of young America was taking it to the streets and acts like The Temptations and Edwin Starr helped give voice to the nation’s youth with scorching tracks Ball Of Confusion and War. And as much as those records were a sign of the times so is the latest by Algiers, current, modern and of it’s day. A head turning genre bending trip through soundscapes of indie rock, gospel, R&B, EDM techno pop, punk rock and soul, The Underside Of Power is music with a message, as dense as it is danceable, echoing the eternal mantra of the gods of funk “free your mind and your ass will follow”.
Rating: 8/10
