Minka – End of the Affair

Philadelphia’s MINKA debuted their intensely felt, post-breakup EP, End of the Affair today – stream via your favorite DSP. The Valentine’s Day release marks the first of three individual MINKA projects planned for 2019 that take the band in a completely new direction. To celebrate the release, MINKA will host ‘MINKA Masquerade’ at Warehouse on Watts in Philadelphia on March 15. The band will headline the memorable event, alongside bands, DJ’s, and freaks all night.

MINKA has played over 100 shows in Philadelphia; in clubs, DIY, and themed show residencies. Once a year, the band throws a blowout party that has a curated theme led by lead vocalist/songwriter/keyboardist Ari “Dick” Rubin, with all different types of entertainment artists that make for an extremely unique experience for the audience. At last year’s event, MINKA hosted and headlined two carnivals at The Foundry – watch a recap of the wild nights here. The shows included a 6-person professional burlesque troupe, 3 professional contortionists, 2 professional jugglers, photo booths, face painters, live muralists, 2 DJs, and 1 opening band with MINKA headlining for 90 minutes.

This year’s MINKA Masquerade event is an all-encompassing experience, that sees the Philadelphia band doing what they do best: embracing eclecticism and celebrating life. Attendees should dress to impress, and Rubin will be giving out masks at the door to the first 200 revelers. MINKA will headline and perform all sorts of new songs and setlist material, with a high-energy lineup to be announced soon.

On End of the Affair, Rubin has forsaken the band collaborations of years past for an approach distinctly his own, turning to his love of ‘80s R&B/soul, a genre an ex-bandmate dubbed, “nostalgiacore,” though the term doesn’t quite capture the new songs’ emotional directness and thoroughly modern thump. Rubin has studiously avoided writing love songs up until now, but End of the Affair found him reeling after the demise of a year-long relationship.

Ari says of the EP:
as most people can attest, being single on valentine’s day is a mixed bag. you don’t have to go out and buy flowers that will die in a week, but on the other hand, you probably don’t have someone to take a bubble bath with. yet, despite my contempt for V-day’s naked commercialism, i still get caught up in the holiday’s sentimentality. maybe it’s pheromones in the air. or chemtrails.

either way, i find myself looking into the past through rose colored glasses. the high points of my relationships are loftier than they ever were in reality. all i can focus on are whispered sweet-nothings and shared climaxes. the lows, well, they’re scrubbed clean from my memory. it’s all too easy for me to fall into loops of nostalgic thoughts. but when the past is perfect, the future looks dire.

luckily, music presents an alternative. ‘End of the Affair’ is a collection of what i like to call “nostalgiacore.” sensual, a little sad – but with a deep groove throughout. these songs recount some of the fonder moments of my romantic life. i hope you enjoy listening to them as i enjoyed living them.

Other MINKA projects planned for 2019 include an EP of upbeat party tunes, and an experimental EP in which the classically trained pianist will interpret several of his favorite orchestral vocal pieces by the likes of Schubert, Schumann, Faure and Strauss and update them in his own words, with a modern pop production.