Caffeine Or Karate?

Last summer my opinion completely changed on Karate. I initially downloaded a few of their albums way back in the early 2000's, but they never really moved me, and after a while I ended up throwing out those old burned CDRs that I'd made. So no one was more shocked than I was when I decided to casually check them out after reading Ralf's post over at It All Comes Down To This, and then Karate quickly became one of my most listened to bands over the past 12 months. In that time, I'd picked up In Place Of Real Insight (1997), The Bed Is In The Ocean (1998) and Unsolved (2000), but I'd never gotten down to check out the eponymous debut from 1995.

Karate is one of those rare examples where I think that I like the band's later records more their first. There is a real cool jazzy feeling from stuff later on that isn't so prevalent here on the debut. Don't get me wrong, it is still great stuff, but it is a bit more straight forward indie than the more original sound that they developed in the records after. I still really dig this, and have been spinning it a lot since picking up the record.

There were a few different pressings to pick up for this record, but all of the ones that I've picked up for Karate have been recent Numbero Group colored vinyl reissues, so I went with that for the self-titled too... plus the webstore had it on sale for only $20.

Karate Insight

Last year, Karate ended up back on my radar. I made an attempt to get into the band in the early 2000's, and downloaded four of the band's albums in an effort to check them out. Honestly, I think I tried to do too much too fast, and I never latched on to any of them. The songs were eventually deleted from my computer and I didn't give them another thought until last year when out of nowhere I fell in love with The Bed Is In The Ocean. I was then surprised with how good Unsolved was. I wasn't rushing things like I did 25 years ago... I was taking my time getting to know each record and loving the experience with each one. As we rolled into 2025, I figured that it was time to reach back and check out another Karate record.

This time I decided to check the record that Karate released prior to The Bed Is In The Ocean, In Place Of Real Insight from 1997. Damn, this is so good. Last year I was thinking that The Bed Is In The Ocean was going to be the only Karate record that I needed, but each time I check out something else from them I continue to really enjoy it. I expected that their laid back style would have limited interest with me, but these past couple of years I've discovered that I really appreciate what they were doing. Fuck, I'm currently spinning In Place Of Real Insight for the third time today, so it is safe to say the I'm really digging the band.

Like the other two Karate records that I've picked up, I wanted one of the colored vinyl reissues. 500 pressed on clear teal in 2021 from Numero Group.

Karate Fires

There have been a few older indie bands that I've really connected with this year. I've been on a steady diet of stuff like The Cure, Modest Mouse and The Smiths.... but the biggest surprise this year has been my rediscovery of Karate. When I first heard this band in the late 90's/early 2000's, I thought that I might enjoy them, and proceeded to download three of their albums through Napster (or one of the many file sharing services that I was using at the time)... and even though I would give those albums a listen once every year or so, Karate never quite clicked with me and ultimately were forgettable.

20 years later, and looking back on where I was musically, I'm impressed that I even made the attempt back then because this is far outside of what I was listening to on a regular basis. Nice try, younger self.

When I decided to try Karate again this year, and started listening to The Bed Is In The Ocean, I was surprised with just how much I loved it. It was ridiculous just how much I listened to that record over the summer, and as we moved into the Fall, I figured that maybe it was time to try another album from the band. I jumped into Spotify and queued up their record from 2000, Unsolved, to see how it sat with me.

To be honest, I really wasn't expecting much with Unsolved. When I started listening, my 2000-brain kicked back in and I figured this record would be slow and boring. I was fully prepared to accept The Bed Is In The Ocean as the exception rather than the rule, and that it would probably be the only Karate that I liked. I love being proven wrong... because while Unsolved is more laid back, jazzy and chill, I still can't get enough of it.

Because I had picked up a colored vinyl reissue for The Bed Is In The Ocean, I wanted the same deal for Unsolved. After debating for a couple of weeks which version to get the "small fires" color which was on sale at the label's webstore for only $22.

Karate Is In The Ocean

There was a period in the early 2000's when my new dial up internet connection collided with my intense desire to find new music. I was hungry for something new and tools like Napster, WinMx and Soulseek gave me access to download full albums of bands that I was curious to check out. I was grabbing anything that I had the slightest interest in... nu metal, hip hop, rock and indie bands. It was kind of overwhelming as I was downloading multiple albums a day and ripping them to CD so that I could listen in the car and at work, and there was realistically no way that I was able to give any of it the time an attention it probably deserved. A few bands made a decent impact on me and stuck around, but for the most part there was a lot of stuff that just became a blur of background noise. During this time period, I downloaded a few albums from Modest Mouse and Karate... and at the time, none of them made much of an impression and those burned CDs that I'd made for them hit the trash and I forgot all about those bands. Earlier this year, a friend had me check out a Modest Mouse song and much to my surprise I found that I really liked the band and I could not get enough of them... and then in the midst of my Modest Mouse obsession, Ralf over at It All Comes Down To This put Karate back onto my radar.

I hadn't thought about Karate for probably 20 years. I really liked the Cherry Coke song that they had on the split with The Crownhate Ruin, but I remembered everything else that I'd checked out as being rather dull. With my new found appreciation for Modest Mouse, and inspired by Ralf's post, I figured that maybe I should check out Karate with older ears and an open mind. I went to Spotify and pulled up the album that Ralf had posted about, The Bed Is In The Ocean, and started listening. The first couple of songs had my attention, but once we started making our way through Diazapam, I found that I was really enjoying it. The more that I listened to these songs, the more I loved them. The songs are so laidback, but for some reason when I listen to this album I have to turn the volume way up. It's like there is a hidden power rumbling through the songs, and they just demand to be played loud. Honestly, I'm fucking floored by how much I love this record. I don't even know if I dare check out other Karate albums because this one is so perfect.

I could have picked up an original 1998 black vinyl pressing for a decent price, but that tri-colored reissue from 2022 looked too good to resist... and for only $18 on Discogs, the price was right as well.