Well, this is it, guys. We're
finally at number one. Thank you to all of you who followed, commented, and also to those who only saw this once, or even those who saw the thread and made an effort ignore it. I had a lot of fun doing this, and thoroughly appreciate all of the people who have stuck around these past couple months. I honestly didn't think anyone was going to really care, but you proved me wrong. One of my favorite things is sharing my favorite music with other people, and it's really great when someone actually discovers something that they like, and I really think that happened more than once during this list, so thank you again, everyone, for making this more than just me posting in an ghost town of a thread.
So now that I've got that out of the way, it's time for the most anticlimactic #1 reveal with an album that I am almost 100% sure none of you have ever heard of (which fits nicely with the rest of my list):
1. Karate – In Place of Real Insight (1997)
The 1990s were a great time for music. People were making money of everything, and the music industry was flourishing. Lost in all of the chaos was a small indie rock band from Boston called Karate. Their jazz influence was bursting from the seams of their punk infused jams, and their albums ensnared those lucky enough to hear them to come back for more. However, apart from a network of devout fans, they never really caught on, and after 12 years of touring the world, they were gone without so much as a detailed Wikipedia page, but not before they recorded six fantastic albums, and several EPs.
I’ve only listened to four of their six albums extensively (since they won’t be coming out with any more I’m taking my time), but In Place of Real Insight is by far my favorite of theirs. This is the one album that they released when they had four members, and it really opened up their music. Having two guitarists gave both players an opportunity to be more creative with their parts because there was someone else that was there to play an accompanying part that added depth to the compositions that couldn’t be there with only one guitar. The other benefit to having two guitarists, is that if both of the sing, and in this case they did, the possibility for a back and forth on the vocal end is possible, which added yet another element to this album that is not heard on any of their others which really stuck out to me (and still does). When all of the musicians are as talented as those that were featured on this record, there are such high possibilities that can occur, and with this album, they were somehow able to overachieve. It’s definitely more rock oriented than their future music, which had a lighter, jazzier tone, and while their other records are just as good musically, In Place of Real Insight just has an energy that over shadows the other five records.
Since the end of Karate, the members have all gone on to do other things, and it seems like the chances of a reunion get slimmer with each day that passes, if there was any chance at all. Only one of the members, frontman/mastermind Geoff Farina, is still in music, but the music he plays is much less rock oriented, and more engrained in folk due to hearing damage caused by years of being in the greatest band to ever exist. Karate lives on in the memories of those who were fans in their heyday, and those, like me, who are lucky enough to have friends who were fans of the band, and turned them on to their music. I’ll keep praying for a reunion, but for now I’ll have to make do with what they left behind.
Favorite Song(s):
New New, New Martini, It's 98 Stop, Wake Up, Decide, Die Die