Agent Side Grinder news: cd album, tour, remix EP

Out now on Kill Shaman is the re-release of the sold out debut LP by Agent Side Grinder. This CD version of the album is released under license from Enfant Terrible and especially put together for the USA market. It features a new tracklisting with one previously unreleased song and new artwork. In Europe this CD will be available from the Enfant Terrible webshop and at the live concerts of the band.

Agent Side Grinder will be on tour in early May in Europe. The dates are the following:

-Saturday 1 May – Amsterdam (NL) at OCCII (Enfant Terrible label night with Milligram Retreat and Duflan Duflan)
-Monday 3 May – Leipzig (D) at Liwi
-Tuesday 4 May – Berlin (D) at Lovelite
-Thursday 6 May – Haarlem (NL) at private party
-Friday 7 May – Paris (FR) at Le Klub (Enfant Terrible label night with Distel and Bran)
-Saturday 8 May – Lille (FR) at La Peniche

After this tour Agent Side Grinder will be opening for Psyche (12 May) and Cold Cave (18 May) in Stockholm, Sweden

Next to this there is a remix EP planned. Dutch elektro veteran Rude66 already delivered an excellent dancefloor filler. Minimal electronics cult act Crash Course In Science have confirmed their collaboration and also Dutch upcoming elektro act Lesbian Mouseclicks are working on their interpretation of the sound of Agent Side Grinder. This remix EP is planned for autumn 2010 on Enfant Terrible.

reviews: Monster Apparat, Kord, Rodent Plague

Recently some nice 7 inches are spinning round here on the turntable. From Sweden came a big suprise as a band I had never heard from before called Monster Apparat landed here on the doormat. It seems this band came into existence somewhat like an accident, but it is a new act I keep an eye on for sure.
After some little examination of the sleeve and insert I discovered that Monster Apparat consists of the musician behind Kord (see below) and one of the guys from Adolf Filter. Well... since I like both acts nothing could really go wrong... but the music even surpassed my expectations.
You get the best from both world: the excellent more uptempo rhythms and synth sounds from Kord with the atmospheric elements of Adolf Filter. Really... this is pumping and energetic stuff but with a nice mood to it. Easily some of the best synth pop / elektro pop recently released! It comes in a very nice fitting sleeve as always with Kernkrach releases.

While the person behind Kord is doing nice things with Monster Apparat he also released a new 7 inch on Börft Records. As Kord he also released records in 1998 and 2006 so it is not a very active project as it seems. But who cares if the quality of his output is that good as with Monster Apparat and this new 7 inch!?
The A side is a killer track. It is a slow rather funny and druggy tune. I can imagine stoned people going crazy on this and seeing pink elephants or something. But... still even as a non user I am enjoying this tune so much. Like you are walking on clouds and the sun is shining so nice...
On the B side is a more uptempo track I can imagine being played on parties. The vocals are done well with a little twist and the melody takes the track onwards while the beat is running strong. Simply excellent!

More weird and fitting perfectly in line with the A side of the Kord release is Rodent Plague. This is a side project by one of the musicians from the guitar band A-Frames. With this Rodent Plague 7 inch on the Kill Shaman label (Factums, Pink Noise) the sound goes into wierd synth and strange surf music. The A side is like the Beach Boys being totally drenched in LSD. Nice... but far more excellent is the B side which goes much furthur... a procession tune done as an eerie circus theme... truly a small masterpiece...
Only I discovered recently after numerous playing turns the record should be played at 33 rpm and I play it on 45 rpm... well I checked but decided I prefer it on 45 rpm... it gives it that nice little extra wierd twist...

I have some copies left of all three 7 inches in my webshop...