Algiers – Shook (sealed UK import)

Shook is the fourth studio album by American experimental band Algiers. It was released through Matador Records on February 24, 2023. The single “Irreversible Damage”, featuring Zack de la Rocha, was released in October 2022.³

Shook was well-received by contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79, based on 16 reviews, which indicates “favorable reviews”.

Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Heather Phares described it as, “More of an experience than a set of songs, Shook’s stunning, often harrowing journey of surviving and resisting is well worth taking.” Jon Pareles at The New York Times wrote that, “Algiers lashes out at injustice, exults in its sonic mastery and insists on the life forces of solidarity and physical impact.” At Pitchfork, Matthew Ismael Ruiz noted that, “the group sounds most natural at their darkest—the reverbed growl of guitars, the synths colored with dirt and grime… They benefit from Matt Tong’s virtuosic drumming, which feels looser and more alive than any drum machine.”The Daily Telegraph writer Andrew Perry concluded that, “for uninitiates, Shook’s sensory onslaught may resemble Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, updated for the post-Trump era.” Mojo’s Stevie Chick determined that, “Shook‘s stories of struggle, pain and healing are painted in edgy electro, impassioned punk-soul, cloudbursts of jazz and rattlesnake trap pulses.”

MINT SEALED.