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——— KARATE (US)FR/
Formé en 1993 à Boston par Geoff Farina, Eamonn Vitt et Gavin McCarthy, avant d’être rejoints par Jeff Goddard à la basse en 1995, Karate est un groupe qui, avec des racines punk bien ancrées, a ensuite oscillé entre post-rock, jazz-rock et slowcore, offrant un mélange riche en expérimentations progressives.
Avec six albums sortis chez Southern Records, le groupe décide de mettre un terme à son aventure en 2005, onze ans après ses débuts. En 2020, après une longue bataille pour récupérer les droits de leur catalogue, le groupe s’associe avec le label Numero Group pour rééditer ses albums en CD et vinyle.
À la surprise générale, Karate se reforme vingt ans après la sortie de son dernier album et dévoile son nouveau projet, « Make It Fit », en octobre 2024. Un album qui ne cherche pas à reproduire la magie de leur jeunesse, mais à refléter l’évolution des musiciens là où ils en sont aujourd’hui, avec un ensemble de compétences plus approfondi, des angoisses d’adultes entrecoupées de moments de joie, le tout ponctué de performances instrumentales fulgurantes.
EN/
Karate was formed in 1993 by guitarist/vocalist Geoff Farina, bassist Eamonn Vitt, and drummer Gavin McCarthy. Shortly after forming, the trio recorded the demo-quality self-released cassette Sometimes You’re a Radio, and then issued several 7″s and their 1995 self-titled debut album. Later in 1995, the band expanded to include Jeff Goddard on bass, with Vitt switching to second guitar. Their sophomore album, In Place of Real Insight, was released in 1997, after which Vitt left the band to pursue a career in medicine.
Once more a trio, Karate’s sound went in new directions from there, first exploring jazz-informed playing and experimentation with song structures on 1998’s The Bed Is in the Ocean, and applying post-rock approaches to 2000’s expansive double-album-length release Unsolved. The band’s interest in long songs and protracted arrangements continued with the 2001 EP Cancel/Sing, a two-song release that clocked in at nearly 30 minutes. Karate produced two more albums, 2002’s Some Boots and 2004’s Pockets, as well as several live albums and one-off projects before breaking up in 2005. In 2007, the posthumous live album 595 was released, capturing what was allegedly the 595th live show of the 694 that the band played between 1993 and 2005, and their favorite.
In 2021, after years of struggling to regain ownership of the rights to their catalog, the members of Karate teamed with Numero Group to begin reissuing the long out-of-print albums. The reissue series began with digital releases of the group’s first single and first two albums, and slowly the other releases followed, as did the 2022 box set Time Expired, which focused on their output between 2000 and their initial disbandment in 2005. In 2022, Karate re-formed to play their first live performances in 17 years. In 2023, Numero Group continued their revisitation of the band’s catalog with another box set, Complete Studio Recordings. This eight-disc collection included 69 tracks in total, with the entirety of Karate’s six studio albums as well as material from EPs and singles.
——— FOR FANS OF
Pinback, Low, Pile
——— PRESS
"A rock band guided entirely by emotion and atmosphere" — Pitchfork
——— INFO
• Orangerie (Botanique) / Doors 19:30
• Bota'Carte 21,50€ (https://bit.ly/Bota_Carte)
• Ticket 24,50€
• Day of Show 27,50€
(costs included)
——— TICKETS
FR: https://botanique.be/fr/concert/karate-2025
NL: https://botanique.be/nl/concert/karate-2025
EN: https://botanique.be/en/concert/karate-2025
——— TAKE THE CONCERT TRAIN
With the SNCB code on your concert ticket you can buy a nominative Bravo! Ticket Bota at a very budget friendly fare. These E-train tickets are available exclusively on bit.ly/BravoTicketBota
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Le Botanique, Kruidtuinstraat 236, 1210 Sint-Joost-ten-Node, België,Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Brussels, Belgium
Tickets
