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AGENT SIDE GRINDER (S)
Contemporary bands that appeared on the wave of post-punk revival, aim primarily—and unfortunately—to copy the style of their great predecessors. The same cannot be said about the Swedish Agent Side Grinder—its musicians purposefully go back to the roots of the early 80s in order to seek inspiration, the post-punk/krautrock/industrial/electronic sounds they create, however, are genuine, not merely copied. The end result constitutes a radical and bold modern music, sprinkled with the apocalyptic vocal of Kristoffer Gripa. Their songs are clearly influenced by the masters of old—like Kraftwerk, Einstürzende Neubauten, Depeche Mode, Suicide, Cabaret Voltaire and Joy Division—but also spiced up with elements of Belgian EBM and a dash of the psychedelic à la The Doors. The mixture forms a unique, modern and fresh sound that will appeal to fans of all: industrial, electro, old school EBM and krautrock. Against the flow of time, Agent Side Grinder proved to be a band of great performers that utilizes only analog equipment. It's one of those formations in the music of which you can hear a plethora of different elements—they can play a song filled with complex, experimental sound only to surprise us with a clear melodic tune, served over an industrial background of noises and screeches. At times they can be dark as the original gothic bands, while on other occasions they can surprise us with liveliness and energy of their tracks.