Its been 11 years since the release of Minuits debut album, The 88.
In 2003, tunes like ‘Menace’, ‘Except You’, ‘Body-Shaped Box’, and ‘The Boy With The Aubergine Hair’ popped up out of nowhere thanks to a loyal live following and a spooky music video directed by Alyx Duncan. Released on record label Tardus, the album went gold.
Herald reviewer Russell Baillie wrote: “Minuit have something many electronic acts studiously avoid - a sense of personality.”
To celebrate and say “cheers” Minuit are doing a handful of shows - then theyre out. Yes, the kiwi band with the french name, are calling last drinks. Leaving a legacy of macabre media photos, eery music videos, the smouldering groove of Aotearoa, lyrics mixing sinister with salvation and memorably rib-rattling live shows, the band are surprised they made it this far.
Partway through recording their second album The Guards Themselves, singer Ruth Carr was diagnosed with cancer. She finished recording all the tracks the day before undergoing major surgery. With a new lease of life, Minuit toured far flung venues from St Petersburg to the Czech Republic; storming The Crystal Methods DJ night in Los Angeles; playing the hotel where Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction in Amsterdam; and headlining the Hanoi Festival in Vietnam. A slew of European remix vinyls released on Dollhouse Records had them invited to record a 30-minute live set for Annie Nightingales BBC Radio 1 show in the legendary Maida Vale Studios. Describing their third album Find Me Before I Die A Lonely Death dot com, Rolling Stone magazine pointed out: “despite an album title as dark as midnight, Minuits music is often as joyful as a fat kid with cake.”
From September onwards, the bands backcatalogue will be discounted online and in stores and you can ransack the virtual racks at their online merch store. Mini-garage sales will pop up at the shows with whatevers left over, Tshirts, badges, stickers, vinyl, posters, books, possibly a backdrop or two, the knitted Minuit tour banner, TomToms plasticene props from the Sum of Us stopmotion video... Everything must go!
“I never kept anything I stole, I never stole anything I kept, except you”
MINUIT: The Final Fling
Saturday 15 November- San Fran, Wellington
Saturday 22 November - Dux Live, Christchurch
Friday 28 November - Tuning Fork, Auckland
Plus a very special hometown (Nelson)
gig to be announced
Tickets on sale from undertheradar.co.nz (Wellington / Christchurch) and Ticketmaster.co.nz (Auckland)
