Review: Some Boots - Karate
February 20, 2008
Josh Gregg
Moving on from more angst-based song structure, Boston’s own Karate took a new step in 2003 with their album, Some Boots. I consider this album a classic, and have found that it is becoming unknown. Here’s some background.
Karate underhandedly crawled out of Boston in 1993. The band consisted of three members. Geoff Farina was the singer/songwriter/guitarist. Farina’s passion was initially poetry, and most fans are attracted to his novel capability to write so simply, but to reveal so much.
Uniquely talented and creative, Karate blended aspects of rock and jazz ingeniously. I had the wicked experience of seeing them play at a small gig in San Francisco. Farina plays and sings with incredible authenticity. (He also does solo work and plays/sings in Karate’s sister band Secret Stars). Unfortunately, Farina developed severe hearing disabilities a year ago. He inevitably announced Karate’s defeat after the completion of In the Fish Tank.
Some Boots is nestled into the mid section of Karate’s career, a marker that would bind the many different styles and ideas Karate had. The songs are a sort of shy jazz that develops slowly before the listener. The guitar solos are clear and focused, compared to the fumbling, more fuzzy texture of Karate’s older albums.
Farina’s voice, also better developed, retains this shy, quiet atmosphere that the musicians create, and also seems sensitive to the way the drums, bass and guitar knit the song together. The drums are also worth mentioning in this album – so incredibly precise that it’s difficult to recognize just how complicated of a beat the drummer is playing.
Overall, this is a very strong release in the Karate catalog. If you enjoy a little Mingus and Phish, with a hint of Pavement and Fugazi, this might be the record you are searching for.
Now you go...
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