Song You Need: Algiers’ Atlanta love letter to New York City

The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.

In two weeks, Algiers will share their fourth studio album, SHOOK. The Atlanta-based, globally conscious group have now shared a sizable chunk of the towering, 17-track record, with “Bite Back” (featuring billy woods and Backxwash), “Irreversible Damage” (featuring Zack de la Rocha), and “I Can’t Stand It!” (featuring Samuel T. Herring & Jae Matthews) arriving in September, October, and January, respectively. Today (February 8), they’ve shared “73%,” a track that joins the grand pantheon of tributes to the city that never sleeps.

The new song is a ball of tense energy, two-and-a-half frenetic minutes of white-knuckled no wave centering a skronky guitar line that exudes downtown punk sleaze. A twitchy drum line adds an element of desperation to the mix, and frontman Franklin James Fisher smoothly delivers free-associative post-beat poetry a la Patty Smith, cutting through the scrum. “’73% is an impressionistic love letter to the energy and movement of New York City that I missed so much when I was exiled in ATL during quarantine,” Fisher writes in a press release.

Watch the new song’s official visualizer, view Algiers’ upcoming tour dates, and check out SHOOK’s cover art and tracklist below.

February 9 - Dublin, IE - Workman’s
February 15 - Brussels, BE - Botanique Rotonde
February 16 - Winterthur, CH Salzhaus
February 17 - Ravenna, IT - Bronson
February 18 - Pordenone, IT - Capitol
February 20 - Ljubljana, SI - Kino Šiška
February 21 - Vienna, AT - Flex
February 22 - Linz, AT - Posthof
February 24 - Prague, CZ - Lucerna Music Bar
February 25 - Warsaw, PL - Niebo
March 1 - Dresden, DE - Beatpol
March 2 - Berlin - Hole44
March 3 - Bielefeld - Forum
March 4 - Schorndorf, DE - Manufaktur
March 5 - Cologne, DE - Club Volta
March 7 - Paris, FR - Petit Bain
March 8 - London, UK - The Dome

March 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW
March 16 - Austin, TX - SXSW
March 17 - Austin, TX - SXSW
March 19 - Phoenix AZ - Rebel Lounge
March 20 - San Diego CA - Soda Bar
March 21 - Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory NoHo
March 23 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill
March 25 - Portland, OR - Show Bar at Revolution Hall
March 26 - Seattle, WA - Madame Lou’s
March 29 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th St Entry
March 30 - Chicago, IL - Sleeping Village
March 31 - Louisville, KY - Whirling Tiger
April 2 - Knoxville, TN - Big Ears Festival
April 3 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook
April 4 - Washington, DC - DC9
April 5 - Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA
April 6 - New York, NY - Racket
April 7 - Montreal, QC - Casa Del Popolo
April 8 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison

1. Everybody Shatter (ft. Big Rube)
2. Irreversible Damage
3. 73%
4. Cleanse Your Guilt Here
5. As It Resounds (ft. Big Rube)
6. Bite Back (ft. billy woods & Backxwash)
7. Out of Style Tragedy (ft. Mark Cisneros)
8. Comment #2
9. A Good Man
10. I Can’t Stand It! (ft. Samuel T. Herring & Jae Matthews)
11. All You See Is
12. Green Iris
13. Born (ft. LaToya Kent)
14. Cold World (ft. Nadah El Shazly)
15. Something Wrong
16. An Echophonic Soul (ft. DeForrest Brown Jr. & Patrick
Shiroishi)
17. Momentary (ft. Lee Bains III)