RhoDeo 1911 Aetix

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Today's artists are from Tel Aviv, Israel were one of the little-known post-punk acts outside of the usual suspects. Formed in 1981 by vocalist Samy Birnbach, bassist Malka Spigel, and guitarist Berry Sakharof, they incorporated native Middle Eastern sounds into dark European rock, breaking ground that groups would eventually cross. What prevented Minimal Compact from becoming completely obscure because of their geographic roots was that they relocated to Amsterdam early in their career and therefore found support within the European music community. The band wanted refuge from their native land's provincial attitudes; moving to Amsterdam enabled them to fulfill their dream of international recognition. The group was signed to the Belgian label Crammed and released a self-titled EP in 1981. A year later, Minimal Compact issued their first LP, One by One. Minimal Compact's arty sensibilities and adventurous, experimental spirit made them true cult favorites.  ......N-Joy

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Between its foundation in 1980 and its dissolution seven years later, Minimal Compact played an important role in the European rock scene. Malka Spigel (bass, vocals), Samy Birnbach (vocals, lyrics) and Berry Sakharof (guitars, keyboards, vocals) left their native Tel-Aviv in 1981 for Amsterdam in search of an escape from the provincial attitudes of their own city. Of the trio, only Berry was a "real" musician. Malka was "learning to play the bass", while Samy was better known as a DJ (Morpheus) and a music fan who dabbled in poetry. They recorded a 2-song demo at home, and became one of the first artists signed to the Belgian Crammed label.

During the recording for a speculative 7" in a little studio in the Belgian countryside, it became quickly evident that the trio had hit upon something worthy of development and their first, self-titled, mini album Minimal Compact was the fruit of this. Their burgeoning style was a heavily Middle-Eastern coloured brand of post-new wave, based on driving rhythms, scratchy guitars and their own very un- "Anglo-American" style of vocalisation. In this way they both prefigured alternative dance and later fascinations with so called world music. This mini-album (now re-released on CD along with its successor "One by One") features "Statik Dancin' " which remained a live staple throughout the band's career, and "Creation Is Perfect", based on a text by the beat poet Bob Kaufman.

One by One, the second album, was recorded in London in 1982, and like its predecessor co-produced by Dirk Polak (from Mecano (Dutch band)) and Crammed supremo Marc Hollander. It includes tracks such as "Babylonian Tower", "Disguise" (another live staple), "It Takes a Lifetime". With this release Minimal Compact had become a "real band" with the addition of the native Amsterdammer Max Franken on drums. Now Minimal could play live, this was to prove a strong element in their career. As Minimal began to tour more extensively they went from strength to strength as a live band. Deadly Weapons, produced by Gilles Martin and Tuxedomoon's Peter Principle dates from 1984 and is considered by some their most experimental album. Nonetheless it threw up a "club classic" of the time in the shape of "Next One Is Real" (famously remixed by Dick O'Dell, one time boss of the Guerilla label). The sleeve was by Neville Brody. On this album the "classic" 5-person line up became complete with the addition of guitarist/vocalist Rami Fortis a long time Minimal cohort from Tel Aviv who was arguably Israel's most innovative post-punk musician with his solo debut Plonter (knots). Fortis had previously collaborated with Malka on their "7 codes" tape (a low-fi home tape effort which had been sold in the indie shops in Amsterdam).

Touring by this point took them further and further afield, everywhere from Palermo to Kyoto fell to their conquest, although British success was limited to an NME single of the week and a John Peel session. Raging Souls was released in 1985. Produced by Colin Newman,[1] with artwork by Eno/Sylvian collaborator Russell Mills, it has proved their most popular album, with tracks like "My Will", "When I Go" (which was included in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire movie soundtrack), "The Traitor", "Autumn Leaves" all of which became live favorites. By this time Minimal had become established in Brussels and were at the hub of the local "International Indie Scene" which featured at various times, Tuxedomoon (both individually and collectively), Bel Canto, Colin Newman, Sonoko, Gilles Martin and Benjamin Lew. As a follow up Minimal Compact recorded a 12" Immigrants Songs (featuring a Led Zeppelin cover) with Israeli Uri Barak. Like "Next One Is Real" before it the 12" received extensive US college/dance attention and figures amongst their most enduring work.

The Figure One Cuts was their last studio album, recorded in 1987 with producer John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Fade Gadget). Tracks include "Nil-Nil"", "Inner Station", "New Clear Twist", "Piece of Green". The Lowlands Flight instrumental album was released at the same time in Crammed's "Made To Measure" series. The touring continued but their goal of following up their record success in the USA was never achieved as several planned tours were cancelled because the US immigration authorities refused to grant them visas. Minimal Compact Live was recorded in 1987 in Rennes, France, this last album came out after the band split in '88.

In 2003 there was a minor flood of releases: There's Always Now (Remixes & Remakes) and Returning Wheel (Classics, Remixes & Archives). In 2004, The band reformed briefly for a series of shows in Israel and a European tour. Crammed published a "best of" compilation and a box set containing unreleased material and remixes to coincide with the reunion. Berry & Fortis are currently collaborating under the name Fortisakharof, Malka & Max are in Githead & Samy continues to DJ and make music under the name DJ Morpheus. In July 2008, the band reunited for series of live shows in Tel Aviv, Israel, starting on July 8, 2008, marking the 60th birthday of Samy Birnbach. Raging and Dancing - The Anthology was released in 2011, it was announced that Minimal Compact would be reuniting for a short tour of 5 dates in Israel in January–February 2012. The band would perform in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, between January 25–February 2, 2012. Minimal Compact reunited once again for 2 dates in Israel in January 2016. The high demand caused the band to extend the short tour to 4 dates, the band would perform in Tel Aviv, between January 20-26, 2016

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"One" is Minimal Compact's originally self-titled debut mini-album, which was recorded and released in 1981. The band was still a trio at the time (consisting of Samy Birnbach, Berry Sakharof and Malka Spigel). They were assisted for this recording by Dick Polak (from Dutch band Mecano, who played accordion), Marc Hollander (woodwind & organ), Corrie Bolten (synth) and drummers Pieter Bannenberg and Stephane Karo. Containing a.o. the emblematic Statik Dancin', which became a classic, this mini-album immediately put Minimal Compact on the map.

"One By One" was the first full-length album by the band, who had become a quartet with the adjunction of drummer Max Franken. It was recorded during the Spring & Summer of ‘82, first in Dordrecht then in London’s Berry Street Studio. Dick Polak and Marc Hollander co-produced and guested on various instruments. The MC sound of that period is best exemplified by a song like “Babylonian Tower”, with its driving rhythm, funky guitar, apocalyptical lyrics and Middle-Eastern flavouring.

Minimal Compact - One + One By One ( 289mb)

One
01 Statik Dancin' 3:47
02 Creation Is Perfect (I Am A Camera) 4:28
03 Ready-Made Diary 4:37
04 To Get Inside 5:18
05 Happy Babouge 3:29
One By One
06 Invocation (For Things To Come) 3:17
07 Cold Life 3:55
08 Take Me Away 2:45
09 It Takes A Lifetime 3:01
10 Disguise 4:42
11 Babylonian Tower 3:30
12 Orkha Bamidbar (The Wandering Song) 4:25
13 Head Section 2:20
14 Morpheus Secrets 4:48
15 Ships 1:55

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Despite the Colin Newman ties, Minimal Compact made long-limbed post-punk from a bleaker, less-spastic perspective. Deadly Weapons emphasized the situational decay of a lot of what had become standard in early-'80s anti-pop. Minimal Compact's world was stiff and artificial, made to underscore the bizarro funk of the brass and the woefully droning and distorted vocals. Everything, in fact, was swollen with a phobic sense of performance, as if the band was afraid to touch their instruments. "There's Always Now," an exaggerated shadow play of the Cure's Pornography, is still fantastically depressing; the title track is almost synth pop in spirit; and "The Howling Hole" is a mangled interpretation of a repetitive, barely decipherable, tribal-drum Middle Eastern snarl. Underappreciated, if nothing else.

Minimal Compact - Deadly Weapons + Next One Is Real EP ( flac  345mb)

Deadly Weapons
01 Next One Is Real 3:03
02 Losing Tracks (In Time) 3:46
03 The Well 3:04
04 There's Always Now 3:03
06 5Nada 4:19
07 Not Knowing 4:08
0D eadly Weapons 4:24
08 Burnt-Out Hotel 3:55
09 The Howling Hole 3:22
Next One Is Real
10 Next One Is Real (Radio Remix) 3:46
11 Not Knowing (Remix) 3:57
12 Babylonian Tower (Remix) 3:37
13 Hole Version (Incidental Remix) 3:27
14 Next One Is Real (Extended Remix) 5:51
15  EPIntrospection 4:54

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It is dark, but it's very pleasant, with excellent atmosphere, although drums sometimes sound too harsh, too mid 80s - for years I thought that was rhythm machine. Also, as great as it is, there are some less than perfect moments: first Sananat which isn't bad, but isn't as good as the rest of the album. Secondly, Shouts & Kisses is the weakest song on the album and is pretty unnecessary, still, the rest of the album is just perfect. For minimalism sake, I think it was their best one, their peak of inspiration. In this album you can clearly hear the amazing voice of Malka Spiegel (singer, bass), especially in a lovely brilliant (and quiet) song called "When I Go". It seems the album deals with the powerful emotions of the human nature. It's so good that it's painful for being a little bit short work.

Minimal Compact - Raging Souls ( 225mb)

01 The Traitor 4:27
02 My Will 3:43
03 This World 3:59
04 When I Go 3:14
05 Autumn Leaves 4:26
06 Raging Souls 5:17
07 Returning Wheel 4:30
08 Sananat 4:05
09 Shouts & Kisses 5:45

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When post-punk’s Minimal Compact album The Figure One Cuts ebbed from my stereo I half heartedly swore that David Byrne had to be lurking somewhere in the background, as the music wasn’t so much post-punk, ... it was more of a multi cultural ensemble where art-rock meets world music head on, showcasing a sense of mature refined versatility; yet the band has been able to avoid that scheme of self-conscious artistry that often fails to find either intelligence or tastefulness.  Minimal Compact mange to do all this and more, including the development of every member of the band or perhaps more formally, a troupe, where each member is a character in their own right. Perhaps most evident is the band’s ability to switch gears and interweave British art-rock with Middle Eastern inspired folk, creating a sound thats slightly Afrocentric, mixed with a baroque infused Beatlesque pop, and all with a danceable atmospheric beat.  The producer John Fryer (This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins) Produced the album.

As part of the Made for Measure series of records of soundtrack material, Lowlands Flight diverges from Minimal Compact's usual avant-garde rock songs. One side of the disc has music that accompanied a performance by Blue Ran Dances, while the other side contains background music for a Dutch radio program, and as might be expected, most of these pieces are atmospheric and moody instrumentals. Not that some of Minimal Compact's more typical moves don't show up, from the bits of Middle Eastern melody that sift through on many of the tracks to the slow and clunky, but thunderous drum rhythms on "The Conference of Snakes," to the dark but elegant atmosphere that permeates the record. A few tracks like "Scums & Halfwits" have some distorted vocals, and several more pieces, especially on the second half, add in bits of spoken word. There is some nice piano work on several of the pieces, especially "Clock Bird" and "Waterfall." On "Clock Bird" the slow gloomy melody is carried on the low end of the keys while a pair of repetitive chords at the high-end act as rhythm, and on "Waterfall" the piece starts off with a bouncy guitar lick before more complex piano blossoms out of it. "Naked as You Came" is an even stranger piece, even in Minimal Compact's repertoire, as some crooning and Hawaiian guitar are thrown in for a haunting and beautiful piece of avant-lounge. A few of the other pieces don't really rise above their status as "background" music, but Lowlands Flight does offer a different take on Minimal Compact, and is one of the more dynamic records in the Made for Measure series.

Minimal Compact - The Figure One Cuts + Lowlands Flight ( 441mb)

01 Nil-Nil 4:52
02 Everything Is Wonder 4:54
03 Inner Station 4:13
04 Fading Light 3:31
05 This Scent Of Love 4:15
06 Piece Of Green 5:16
07 Is It So? 4:22
08 New Clear Twist 4:47
09 Childhood's End 5:01
10 Night Light 2:15
11 Immigrant Song 3:26
12 I Imagine 4:08

Minimal Compact - Lowlands Flight

01 Clock Bird 6:44
02 Ararat 2:34
03 Scums & Halfwifts 3:08
04 Low Flight 4:07
05 Fatapolis 3:24
06 How Do You Regard Suicide? 4:52
07 The Conference Of Snakes 5:22
08 Waterfall 3:40
09 Naked As You Came 4:02

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