One of the most interesting bands of the post-punk era, Minimal Compact made music that bridged genres, and obliterated easy labels. The group gained some fame thanks to a track on the soundtrack to Wim Wenders' masterpiece, Wings of Desire (1987), but they earned loyal fans because of numbers like "Statik Dancin'", shown in the video below.
The members -- Berry Sakharof (guitars/ keyboards/vocals); Malka Spigel (bass/keyboards/vocals); Samy Birnbach aka DJ Morpheus (vocals); Rami Fortis (guitar/vocals); and Max Franken (drums) -- reunited recently and enlisted Colin Newman (Wire) to produce. The results make up Creation is Perfect, out now. "Take Me Away" churns and throbs, sounding not entirely unlike some things that Wire tried out in the Eighties, while "Raging Souls" is more expansive. The old cut, re-recorded here, has a nice blend of fusion-y hooks mingled with the kind of art rock that King Crimson and Adrian Belew pursued some decades ago. Elsewhere, "Holy Roller" is purposeful and propulsive, while "Nada" is more contemplative. The players here have clearly not lost their grip of this kind of material, and a listener is left marveling again at their combined chops as musicians.
More details on Minimal Compact via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Roy Tee]