Cleveland 20/20

by Algiers

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nofatclips I wished the song was even longer but then realized that it would mean there was more people "died in extraordinarily suspicious circumstances and whose deaths were explained away as suicide"

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	1.	Cleveland 20/20 33:48		buy track
	2.	Cleveland 20/20 (Vocal Mix) 15:30		buy track

about

ALGIERS have released “Cleveland 20/20” a 50-minute expansion and re-imagining of their song “Cleveland.”

In the original version – included on The Underside of Power (2017) algierstheband.bandcamp.com/album/the-underside-of-power – vocalist Franklin James Fisher used the track’s middle section to invoke the names of Black people killed by police or who died in extraordinarily suspicious circumstances and whose deaths were explained away as “suicide.”

“Cleveland 20/20” serves as a further meditation on the original in the context of the June uprisings and upcoming elections, ruminating on the tragic and perpetual violence exacted upon Black people in the United States. It updates the recording to include the names of 232 additional victims who have been murdered subsequent to the song’s release as well as the victims of the Atlanta Child Murders which took place from 1979-1981. To accommodate the extension of this memorial, the song's newly re-imagined middle section spirals into a multi-movement collage of rhythm, noise, and sub-bass. Fisher concludes the recitation amid a spare and haunting 15-minute "vocal mix.” All together, “Cleveland 20/20” clocks in at just under an hour. Even with this extended memorial sonic space, the song points to the fact that many more people have been and continue to be killed by police or white supremacist citizens in America than can be said in 50 minutes or recognized in official statistics, including Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and scores others murdered at the intersections of race, gender and class.

credits

released October 30, 2020

Cleveland 20/20 was recorded, mixed & mastered by Algiers in September 2020.

2020, Matador Records

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Algiers Atlanta, Georgia

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.

algierstheband.com

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