Photocredit: Joyce Abrahams

BIOGRAPHY

In partnership with the Initiative Musik/Neustart Kultur, in 2020, Kenneth Minor entered the studio  developing the freshly pressed 12-track-LP they have titled "Retirement". To be released on vinyl & CD in the summer of 2022 by Unique Records/The Orchard.

With two 4-track-EPs released in the interim and three fully produced music videos available on various channels, Kenneth Minor must be playing to their humor when they talk of Retirement.

Four new titles and two more videos to come, as a collection, Retirement reveals Kenneth Minor’s dynamic range. They pull directly from their deep reservoir of influences for the thrill of the ride. There’s an organic feel to the whole record and just like they did it holed up in the same room for days, it’s not their musicianship alone which keeps them producing with refined, famliar clarity.

Doubling down on the family in-house vibe, on Retirement, Kenneth Minor drummer Florian Helleken takes on the production role.

Recorded in its entirety in his Hersbrooklyn Recordings Studios in Hersbruck. Retirement was mixed by Hannes Plattmeier at Ashfield Street Studios, London and finally mastered by Hans Wagner, SolidArt Mastering, Vienna.

Band:
Bird Christiani (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, lapsteel), Andreas Lüttke (bass), Florian Helleken  (drums, percussion, keys)

Deutsche Version

PRESS

Press excerpts on the latest album "Retirement" (released 2022)

"Without much fuss and long prelude, twelve songs are slapped around the listener's ears here that it is a joy."

- Schall Magazine
"Americana, lo-fi and indie garage rock with psychedelic moments is played by the trio in a stylistically confident, exuberant and tricky way."

- Sounds and Books
"Anyway, KENNETH MINOR is a strong band with a potential sound that could bring them into higher places."

- Strutter'zine
"To risk an ear here I can only recommend."

- Das Hörspiegel
"It has become another great album full of melodies and melancholic vocals. 8/10

- OX Fanzine
"The Paisley Underground celebrates its rebirth here, which is not only due to Bird Christiani'sguitar playing, complete with strumming, twang and wild fuzz moments, but also to his casual, oily vocals."

- FAZ
"Here and there "Retirement" seems a bit introverted, other moments leave plenty of roomfor reflection but also enjoyment. The album can be enjoyed in any case, but it does not need a smoky bluesno smoky blues pub, the living room at home will do."

- Musikreview.de
"Full of fine details, the tracks meander along, turning out to be promising indie hits for the niche. Da capo."

- Diabolo Mox
"[...] and at the latest when the calm sounds of the bouncer "Pictures" are heard, you have taken the album in its entirety to your heart. 8.5/10"

- SLAM Alternative Music Magazine
"This album goes in the always-listening box."

- Amplified Mag
"[...] and stamped with almost youthful recklessness a whole twelve garage pop pearlsout of the ground, which float in space like soap bubbles because of their lightness."

- Betreutes Proggen
"A terrific album for me with lots of nice twists and turns!"

- Vinyl Keks
"It's rock music that doesn't disguise its roots in the blues. In such a pretty simplicity that it brings tears to your eyes. So you can also bear that something like this is called in 2022:  garage rock and psych. The actually German band celebrates on their current album a musical journey through the USA in a Greyhound bus. And in the meantime really Lou Reed joins in. This is refreshingly oldschool and yet never boring."

- Unruhr

Press excerpts on the album "On My Own" (released 2019)

"An infinite amount of thanks and love for this praiseworthy version of Neil Young's My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) with which Kenneth Minor ended their all-round successful third album On My Own. A reduced picking, the indispensable harmonica and a voice that will melt any country club. It just doesn't take much more."


- Curt München
"Regardless of individual strong songs,"On my own" works so well as a whole, because the record paints a diverse, but coherent panorama.
And this range can also be found in the lyrics, it goes wildly confused, from the personal to the political and back again. The formidable opener “Age of Reason”, for example, leaves no room for doubt that folk once consistently stood on the side of the weak and oppressed. "Dear poor people / Please don't give up / Steal from the rich / 'Cause they don't give a fuck about you"."


- Plattentests.de (7/10)
"As if the Rheinauen were a huge trailer park. Here the Violent Femmes, They Might Be Giants, Eels, dEus are in cahoots with musicians who don't give a damn about where you come from and how you are expected to sound like. Rock and roll can never die. There is humor, irony and a fine aesthetic spirit as a topping on top."

- Curt München

Press excerpts on "Phantom Pain Reliever" (released 2017)

"A confident, captivating song album by Ryley Walker, Mark Kozelek, Elliott Smith and the great stranger Simon Finn"

- flight 13
“Instead, there are quirky folk pop songs with a weird charisma, guitar technique that is brushed on the left, cranky" Dylan-goes-too "singing, funny play on words and ultimately great songs with a certain ironic distance that never turns ridiculous. "

- geasteliste.de (Platte der Woche)

“Because what KENNETH MINOR present to us on this black disc is so wonderfully playful, beautiful, so lost in thought, so current retrospective that it is a pleasure to listen to this album and to plunge into all the ravines, to all heights to soar that open up and offer here before us. ”

- blueprint-fanzine

Press excerpts on "In That They Can't Help It" (released 2010)

“Mature, often similar to the Eels and an appreciation for the creeping melody. Brilliant and absolutely ‘un-German’. Lovable as folk can proceed.”

- Intro
“He’s likeable, because this guy from the Rhine District (Rheingau) comes up with melodies that could have also been invented by Mark Everett, Ray Davies or They Might Be Giants. And in addition, he presents them in a gentle, astute and charming way.”

- Rolling Stone
“It needs exactly one song to fall in love with Kenneth Minor. Plain and beautiful –  the arrangements, the melodies and the concert.”

- Szene Leipzig

Photocredit: Joyce Abrahams

TOURDATES

2023
11.03. Rauenthal, Weingau (solo)
13.04. Düsseldorf, Kassette
29.04. Frankfurt a.M., Brotfabrik
13.05. Rüsselsheim, Bel R Festival (17:30)
31.05. Darmstadt, Frischzelle
08.07. Idstein, Jazzfestival
17.11. Würzburg, Cairo


2022
02.07. Wiesbaden, Coron-Arts Festival, Schlachthof-Gelände (19:30)
30.07. Breitenbach, Burg Herzberg Festival
05.08. Stoffel Open Air, Günthersburgpark, Frankfurt am Main
03.09. Viechtach, Altes Spital
09.09. Wiesbaden, Schlachthof/ Kesselhaus (Release Show)
16.09. Dortmund, Subrosa
15.10. MUZ Club, Nürnberg
12.11. Karlsruhe, Kohi


2021
07.05. Das Rind, „Kunstraum“ Rüsselsheim (Live-Stream/Stunde)
12.07. Neu-Isenburg/Studio 8 (Live-Stream) 
20.08. Parkside Studios, Offenbach (Open Air) 
04.09. Café Wakker, Wiesbaden (Solo/Open Air)


2020
12.02. Nürnberg MUZ Club
13.06. Darmstadt, Centralstation
20.02. Dortmund, Subrosa
14.08. Wetzlar, Franzis
29.06. Frankfurt a.M., Batschkapp/Sommergarten
19.09. Café Wakker, Wiesbaden (Solo/Open Air)
15.10. Subrosa, Dortmund
17.10. Schlachthof Wiesbaden (w/ Fooks Nihil)


2019

12.01. Wiesbaden, Schlachthof „Sommermucke Festival“
28.03. Frankfurt a.M.  Kleiner Mann mit Blitz (solo/Support für Joel Fafard)
13.04. Köln, Lichtung (solo)
17.04. Frankfurt a.M., ZOOM (solo/Support für Juniore)
27.07. Breitenbach, Burg Herzberg Festival
02.10. Nürnberg, Z-Bau Festival
04.10. Viechtach, Altes Spital
09.10. Mannheim, Kulturbrücken Jungbusch
05.10. Hof, Galeriehaus
10.10. Leipzig, Noch Besser Leben
11.10. Wiesbaden, Schlachthof (Albumpräsentation)
31.10. Wetzlar, Café Vinyl
01.11. Chemnitz, Aaltra
19.11. Darmstadt, Schlosskeller
21.11. Mainz, Schick & Schön
14.12. Frankfurt a. M., Feinstaub
28.12. Frankfurt a.M., Batschkapp (50 Jahre Woodstock Festival)

VIDEOCLIPS

CREW LOVE IS COMING
THE DAY SHE CAME BY
DOWN IN OUR HEARTS
IS THIS THE WORLD WE'RE LIVING IN
DOWN MY SPINE
A SONG TO DREAM AWAY
ON MY OWN & WRAP UP A DEAL
OH MY MY (JJ Cale Cover / live)
BAD CONSCIENCE BLUES (live)
HAPPY MAN (live)

DISKOGRAFIE

Retirement (VINYL / CD)

2022 / EDITION AM ENDE DES TAGES / MELODIE DER WELT GMBH & CO. KG / UNIQUE RECORDS

TRACKLIST:
A

Down in Our Hearts    
Down My Spine   
Always  
From What We Know
Crew Love’s Coming
When It’s All Gone  

B
Is This the World We’re Living in?   
The Day She Came by  
All Your Demons  
Tears Don’t Dry in Rainy Season  
You  
Pictures  

Bandcamp
Spotify

Down in Our Hearts (EP)

2022 / EDITION AM ENDE DES TAGES / MELODIE DER WELT GMBH & CO. KG / UNIQUE RECORDS

TRACKLIST:
1. Down in Our Hearts
2. Is This the World We’re Living in?
3. From What We Know
4. Pictures

Bandcamp
Spotify

Down My Spine (EP)

2022 / EDITION AM ENDE DES TAGES / MELODIE DER WELT GMBH & CO. KG / UNIQUE RECORDS

TRACKLIST:
1. Down My Spine
2. Tears Don’t Dry in Rainy Season
3. Always
4. When It’s All Gone

Bandcamp
Spotify

LIVING ROOM SESSIONS (EP)

2020 / Edition Am Ende des Tages / Melodie der Welt GmbH & Co. KG / UNIQUE RECORDS / DL


TRACKLIST:

01. Grim Reaper
02. Simple Twist
03. A Song to Dream Away (Still Me)
Video
04. Family Tree






Bandcamp
Spotify

ON MY OWN

2020 / Edition Am Ende des Tages / Melodie der Welt GmbH & Co KG / UNIQUE RECORDS


TRACKLIST:

01. Age Of Reason
02. Fed Up
03. Wrap Up A Deal
04. On My Own
05. True
06. Happy Man
07. Bad Conscience Blues
08. Breach
09. Hidden Berries
10. Dash Of Sadness
11. Girl From Berlin
12. My My, Hey Hey

Bandcamp
Spotify

Phantom Pain Reliever

2017 / LOTTE LINDENBERG


TRACKLIST:

01. Hitch
02. Spring Cleaning in the Wintertime
03. Riding on the Assembly Line
04. Instrumental 
05. Spots
06. Positively Grey
07. A Woman's Passin' By
08. No 92
09. My Life's Thicket
10. Limb
11.Overboard
12.Hollywood in Paris

STREAM / KAUFEN

IN THAT THEY CAN'T HELP IT

2010 / HAZLEWOOD VINYL PLASTICS / HAZ 067


TRACKLIST:

01. Bird Cage Scenario
02. Friendship Ring
03. Call You Mine
04. Fireman's Truck
05. Barking Up The Wrong Tree
06. Deep Inside My Bag
07. What A Lie Can Do
08. Anyone I Know
09. The Balance
10. Magnetic Field
11. Clever Move
12. Hospital Holiday

AUSVERKAUFT

CONTACT

Management:
Schnitzel Hoffmann for DIE 4MA
km@die4ma.com

DIE 4MA: www.die4ma.com

Record Label: www.unique-rec.com

Booking
mail@kennethminor.com


Technical Rider: Kenneth_Minor_Techrider.pdf

Pressekit:
Kenneth_Minor_Press_Info.zip

Band contact:
mail@kennethminor.com

Homepage:
www.kennethminor.com

Airplay:
WDR5, HR1, HR2, BR2, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, ByteFM, MDR Sachsen, Antenne Thüringen, MDR1 Sachsen, Radio Fantasy, SWR 1 RP & other university/independent radio stations