Earlier this year I had the opportunity to delve in deep on creating a remix for Sweden’s acclaimed, long running electronic post-punk group Agent Side Grinder for their track “Madeleine” off their most recent 2023 album, Jack Vegas. I had been following the band for quite some time before, having first seen them perform live during the very early days of Soft Riot when still living in London, having seen the band at a number of London underground venues around the time their 2012 album Hardware was released. Since then over the years I’ve had sporatic correspondence with the band on various occasions. Then, earlier this year, I approached the band about doing a remix of their latest album Jack Vegas which I had become familiar with, and cemented my intention after seeing them in small club in Edinburgh shortly after the new year.
Agent Side Grinder were into this proposition and suggested placing the remix on an forthcoming 20 year anniversary compilation on a Swedish label they’ve worked with over the years — Progress Productions — which is now finally out in a 2xCD format.
Here’s my artist statement regarding this remix:
I have been following the music and releases of Agent Side Grinder for a good number years now, having seen them play at a number of bustling, small venues in London in the early 2010s when I was still living there. Their live show and music impressed me, as well as their approach to arrangements and electronic instrumentation. More recently I had the opportunity to see them playing in Edinburgh, Scotland (one hour from my home in Glasgow) at the beginning of 2024 during those early weeks of January when people tend to hole up indoors and make resolutions and health goals that seem to get abandoned a month later. The show was on a Wednesday oddly enough, but the venue — an old medieval cellar — was packed full of bodies awaiting music to guide them into the new year. Being familiar with tracks on their latest album “Jack Vegas”, it was at that show that the ideas started to materialize about contacting the band to offer up doing a remix, which the band gladly accepted. I ended up gravitating towards the track “Madeleine” — a slower and mechanical, yet gradiose track from the album and moved it into a more uptempo track, subtly pulling influence from classic minimal synth pop references but overall where the feelings took me with re-interpreting what was already a great song. I thank them for the opportunity!