The only thing that Karate breaks is musical boundaries — not wooden boards. The band’s name conjures up images of some sort of ass-kicking, tight, fast punk band. But make no mistake about it — this Boston trio creates jazzy rock more suited for shoegazers than punk rockers.
This makes sense, however, since all members are classically-trained jazz musicians. Karate formed in 1993 with singer/guitarist Geoff Farina, bassist Eamonn Vitt –later replaced by Jeff Goddard in 1997 — and drummer Gavin McCarthy.
Karate has been very prolific. In its nine years together, the band has played countless shows, released four 7″ singles and five full-length LPs, with its latest Cancel/Sing on the Chicago-based indie label Southern Records. All this effort was not taken in vain. Karate’s 2000 release Unsolved stayed at number 20 on the College Music Journal’s Core Radio play list for three weeks.
Karate’s Cancel/Sing is just about as unconventional as an album can get, expanding the meaning of a song’s capabilities. For starters, the album has only two tracks, yet clocks in at over 26 minutes. Nevertheless, Cancel/Sing is just as filling as a 10 or 15-track album. The first song, “Cancel,” is a little over 11 minutes long; and the second song, “Sing” is just shy of the 15-minute mark. A typical song by any other band would be laborious and boring when played for these lengths of time, but Karate makes the two aforementioned songs ever-changing and interesting.
However, there are a few recurring elements such as flittering jazz guitar chords, low, single-note bass grooves, lazy solos, tightly wound drum rhythms, clinking cymbals and witty lyrics. Geoff is able to create his reverberating, lush jazz chords and extended solos with his own specially crafted amplifiers.
Before Eamonn Vitt left Karate to pursue a career in medicine, he taught Geoff some physics principles that proved fruitful in the design and construction of these amplifiers. This took place inside a van during one of Karate’s eight U.S. tours back in 1996. Geoff has created his own amplifiers ever since.
In both tracks of Cancel/Sing, Geoff’s “singing” voice is actually a deadpan that sounds like a cross between Doves’ Jimi Goodwin and post-Velvet Underground Lou Reed. This makes both songs’ smart yet abstract lyrics all the more effective and lasting.
Karate has no qualms about admitting the difficulty in making lyrical interpretations among listeners. For example, “Cancel” starts with, “Part of this safety is some routine locked in code/predictable, like each next stripe on the road./We stash away surprises underneath our several beds/ like clown coats and fire suits/as lost basketballs meander to the edge.” All in all, trying to find a universal meaning in Karate’s lyrics proves futile as exemplified in the song “Sing” by the lyrics, “So its best not to comment/on objects and content/because that shit’s for beginners/as tested in the teens.”
The actual music in Cancel/Sing is like a labyrinth of twists, turns and a few surprises. “Cancel” starts with a single-note bass groove that seamlessly turns into a lazy, slow guitar solo that brings along a simple drum beat. Reverberating jazz guitar chords flow in and out of the song fluidly along with various bass grooves and the clink-clinking of cymbals.
“Sing” is quite different. It starts with a chime-sounding guitar solo slowly going into abstraction while building momentum and intensity along the way. The lyrics of this song are backed with the same five chords, as in traditional rock ‘n’ roll. The low bass grooves change intermittently while accompanying the drums and gently piercing guitar notes into abstraction and chaos.
The direction of future Karate releases is unknown; however, you can be sure that there will be more breaking of musical boundaries.
