Rami Fortis, Berry Sakharof, Samy Birnbach, Max Franken, Malka Spigel
Minimal Compact were a (mostly) Israeli band associated with the post-punk movement, especially with what is regarded as their most experimental 1984 album 'Deadly Weapons'. I discovered this album during another recent discovery of the band Opus Kink (from Brighton), after a user-comment was made on their Youtube single for sounding similar to this band (also recommend checking that full-length debut album out, especially for the referenced single, "Come Over, Do Me Wrong" as well as "Crucify!"). After listening to the comment-linked single, "Next One Is Real" (video below), I sought out the album and discovered one of the more weirdly infectious and unique post-punk/new-wave hybrids I've heard. "Next One Is Real" garnered them some radio play in US college radio stations and abroad, and alongside their following releases made them regarded as one of the only Israeli bands who had a successful touring career outside of Israel or "made it" during that period of the 1980's. They however never did play a show in the USA.
They initially moved to Amsterdam early in their career (before 'Deadly Weapons'), but many moved back then and since, and have played extensive reunion shows exclusively in Israel (aside one reunion show in Poland in 2012) since 2008-2019. The documentary on the band linked below will describe and showcase the band's history better than I can, which the title is a reference to their following 1985 album title 'Raging Souls'; with the documentary being released in 2002 after they were effectively done making studio albums (they however released 3 albums since 2003, only one of which features a new song, on their 2019 finale, 'Creation Is Perfect').
Part of what makes the album work so well for me is the distinct output from the 3 singers: Rami Fortis (whose solo album 'Plonter' in 1978 is why he's regarded as one of the pioneers of Israeli punk -- also the majority of his solo releases were sung in Hebrew), Samy Birnbach (I believe the one member not native to Israel who moved from Sweden, and who is the primary singer on breakout track "Next One Is Real"), and Malka Spigel, the solo female singer/bass player in the band whose voice was a big reason they shifted to more pop-oriented dynamics later in their career.
I won't pick this apart track by track, and a lot of the songs on the (re-release) album feature remixes/remasters of unknown recording dates (to me, anyways), some of which were songs originally not on this album but were on others (such as "Babylonian Tower remix", with the original initially on their 1981 debut). Remixes/remasters aside (like multiple variations of "Next One Is Real"), the original 9 tracks on this album have ear-wormed into my brain, largely because the album covers a wide dynamic range, further admirable that by this point in their career the whole band basically conceded guitarist Berry Sakharof was the only one who was a "musician" or was classically trained. In this circumstance I think the "imperfection" of a lot of it is what gives it so much of its character, both to the punk and pop elements that make it somehow rigidly refined. To re-iterate I really suggest watching the documentary below put together by Nathan Mandelbaum in 2002, to better understand the band and the finer details. I'm also excited to check out some of their other albums both before and after 'Deadly Weapons' released...the only thing I'm puzzled by is their 2019 album being absent from their Bandcamp.
Documentary
