After releasing their latest album ‘Hardware’ in early 2012, Agent Side Grinder headed out on tour throughout western Europe. One of the dates were at Péniche le Sonic, a converted barge moored along a quay in Lyon, France, where this live recording was made on 17 May. ASG has built up a dedicated following through radio play in France and the gig was hotly anticipated. Agent Side Grinder prefer using analogue equipment and eschew the use of backing tapes when playing live.
Consequently this live album was recorded on a 1978-vintage cassette recorder, using no post processing except for some very basic mastering. This disc catches ASG at their raw hypnotic best, right at the crossroads between post-punk, bleak industrial electronics and psychedelia. Even without the visuals, it goes a long way towards explaining why they are such a brilliant live act.
Sweden's rocking electro behemoth Agent Side Grinder burst onto the scene in 2008 with their eponymous debut album and since then have not looked back. The music is an uncompromising, never-before-heard blend of industrial, post-punk, old style EBM and electro topped with the apocalyptic crooning of singer Kristoffer Grip. British music fanzine 20JazzFunkGreats called them a "sensation of uncomfortable pleasure" and genre forefathers Suicide invited them as a support act.
In recent years, Agent Side Grinder has moved towards a bigger and more textured sound. Their latest record Hardware sees the band once again stepping into their musical time-machine, while having a rendezvous with old masters such as Kraftwerk, Einsturzende Neubaten and Depeche Mode. The result is a reckless, rhythmic journey into a bleak future with zero compromise.
"One of the few bands, which is actually in a position to deal with the legacy of Joy Division." (Vice)
http://www.agentsidegrinder.com/
http://www.myspace.com/agentsidegrinder
https://soundcloud.com/agent-side-grinder
