Labels: Southern
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I put this record on on the morning I got it, and turned it off again midway through the b-side. Too damn slow! I thought. I’ve put it on a few more times now, and now that it’s dark outside and I only have the bedside light on, I can appreciate Karate’s laidback style to full effect. A lovely mix of pop and emo and something else, “Operation Sand” gently carries you a long in a Van Pelt fashion, even the vocals are slightly similar. At times it seems more of an instrumental than a full on song though, as the vocals have a habit of wandering off, then coming back again. But for some reason it hypnotises you, and you don’t notice.
On the other side, you get “Empty There”, which is a pretty accurate name for a song that seems to be basic and almost, erm, non-existant. Huh? Well, that’s an exageration, but this is minimal with a capital none. Like, a bit of drumming, a bit of guitar, and occasional lazy vocals help it all creep a long at sloth pace. So take my word for it, it’s pretty damn good. But not if you are only into rock music, and jumping around. There’s a time and a place for that, this song is neither.
I want to make a dumb joke about their name to finish this review off, but can’t think of one. Sorry.