Name: Karate
Brand: Karate

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

825764190374

Colour

Green

Colour details

Wintergreen

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2021-09-03

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Secre­tly

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

Total Cap

Green LP

Artist

Karate

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

Numero Group

Karate was an American indie/jazz band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1993. The band consisted of Geoff Farina, Eamonn Vitt, Gavin McCarthy, and later Jeff Goddard. With their unique blend of genres, Karate gained recognition in the music industry. Unfortunately, due to hearing problems faced by Farina after twelve years of performing with the band, Karate disbanded in July 2005.
Geoff Farina, Eamonn Vitt, and Gavin McCarthy founded Karate in 1993 as an indie/jazz band based out of Boston. In 1995, Jeff Goddard joined as the bass player while Vitt transitioned to second guitar. Their fusion of musical styles set them apart from other bands and earned them a dedicated following.
In 1997, Vitt made the difficult decision to leave Karate and pursue a career in medicine. Despite this setback, the remaining members continued to create captivating music that resonated with fans worldwide.

Newest Listed Items

Underground rock festered and splintered as it spread through the U.S. in the mid-’90s, the alternative boom giving rise to microcosmic regional scenes singularly focused on feral powerviolence or screamo songs about breakfast. Boston’s Karate emerged as a force that could grip a national youth movement whose disparate tastes still commingled in the inky pages of fanzines overflowing with florid prose and on concert calendars for volunteer-run DIY spaces, community centers, and bowling alleys. In this world, Karate’s music was an enigma, one equally inviting to sneering punks and highfalutin indie-rock aficionados. 

Their 1996 self-titled debut, issued on Southern Records, set the standard. Lassoing together white-knuckle posthardcore tension, sharply focused slowcore serenity, and resplendent jazz complexity, Karate eschewed settling in any one definable style. But they certainly used the language of punk to get their point across; occasionally, guitarist Geoff Farina abandons his warm, hushed cadences for a hoarse shout that made him sound ragged, intensifying an aggression that burst out with every snaggletoothed guitar riff or drum snap that went off like canonfire. Few followed their path—but who could keep up? Karate could make pensive moods blossom into feverish rollicking (“What Is Sleep?”), gracefully tip-toe around aggressive punk explosions without getting bent out of shape (“Bodies”), and stretch out slowcore’s quietest reveries till their reflective notes sound ripped from an improvisational jazz session (“Caffeine or Me?”). Karate formally introduced the trio as a vital part of an independent U.S. punk scene stubbornly flowering in the face of the major labels’ ’90s harvest.

Music US

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