Audio Karate - Lady Melody

LABEL: Kung Fu Records

RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2004

Towards the end of high school I finally checked out the Ataris' first few albums and was consequently stoked on life. I naturally sought out any band that remotely sounded like them, and with Audio Karate's first album, Space Camp, I'd found a pretty good example. The band managed to land tours with the likes of NOFX and Blink-182 but didn't really seem to build any sort of substantial fanbase.

When Space Camp came out it was 2002. Two years later I was naturally seeking more than pop-punk to fulfill my musical appetite. In the time since Space Camp's release I'd come to appreciate a more diverse set of bands, and apparently so had Audio Karate.

Lady Melody was pretty much unprecedented. For starters, the band had recorded the album with Bill Stevenson (dude was in Black Flag and Descendents) at his Blasting Room Studios (place has recorded everyone from Propagandhi and Good Riddance to Rise Against and A Wilhelm Scream).

Vocalist/guitarist Art Barrios had a few moments of throatier delivery on Space Camp, but Lady Melody sounded like Barrios prepared by gargling buckets of glass. His vocals were consequently way more desperate and intense and fit the honesty and up-front nature of the lyrics nicely.

I've best heard this album described as "Cursive covering a Jawbreaker album." That about sums it up.

For all the energy and crunchy, intricate guitar work of this album the band was disappointingly staid in the live setup, as I saw them play Warped Tour a month or two after this album dropped. Maybe it was the sparse crowd; maybe it was because it was Warped Tour. Who knows.

Kung Fu hasn't really put out much since releasing this, but why bother trying to follow this one up at all, really.

I guess the band agrees in some way, as they've been largely inactive since its release. They built and opened their own studio, where they've recorded a few weird, not-as-enjoyable and way stylistically different demos. Oddly enough, they also recorded the soundtrack to some Spanish indie flick called "Maquillaj." The few songs they showcased from that were a bit more film-background-oriented if you get my drift, which you can't fault them for. But it didn't seem worth much of a concentrated listen.

They haven't announced any sort of formal breakup, so I'm still holding out hope they'll get their shit together and record a new full-length. Even if it's the bizarro stuff they're demoing.

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