Karate

784,095 plays (22,463 listeners)

indie, indie rock, post-rock, jazz, alternative… see all

Karate was a jazzy indie band, with some post-rock influences. The band was formed in Boston in 1993 by Geoff Farina, Eamonn Vitt and Gavin McCarthy. In 1995, Jeff Goddard joined the band as bass player, replacing Eamonn Vitt, who moved to second guitar. In 1997 Eamonn left the band to pursue a medicine career. Karate’s final line-up consisted of Geoff Farina on guitar and vocals, Gavin McCarthy on drums and Jeff Goddard on bass. Their music was released on Southern Records.

In July, 2005, Karate disbanded after 12 years. Their final show was played in Rome, Italy on July 10th, 2005.

This is the goodbye-message, as it appeared on Geoff Farina’s website (http://www.geofffarina.com):
Karate has disbanded after 12 wonderful years of making music together. We played our last show in Rome on July 10th, 2005. I could no longer continue with the band for a number of personal reasons, the most important of which is that I have developed hearing problems from many years of dangerously loud stage sound. After seeing a hearing specialist and attempting to continue working with Karate, it quickly became clear that I can no longer play at the high stage volume that Karate requires. Over the next year I will continue working with my other various bands and projects, and I will also start working on a new band with a different instrumentation and stage setup that allows me to continue performing the songs that I love to write and sing. Of course Gavin and Jeff will also continue to make great music, and we hope you will all continue listening!

1	Karate - Empty There full track	126
2	With Age	112
3	Sever	108
4	Water	105
5	Original Spies	91
6	Alingual	89
7	There Are Ghosts	88
8	Airport	82
9	Pines	81
9	Tow Truck	81
11	This Day Next Year	79
12	The Roots and the Ruins	78
13	One Less Blues	75
14	First Release	72
15	Number Six	69

Top Albums

Unsolved
Karate
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Pockets
Karate
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Some Boots
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The Bed Is in the Ocean
Karate
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strajnic wrote:
last month

Steely Dan of 21th century!

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tokuninashi wrote:
last month

sound of adult.

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sarina1113 wrote:
July 2008

Unsolved is so nice and chill <3

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karpisek wrote:
July 2008

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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xspikex wrote:
July 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvyFZbzHDQ4 Can anyone tell me what Karate song that is? Doesn't seem to be part of my Collection. Thanks.

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dropouttunein wrote:
July 2008

ASSHOLE SHOULD HAVE PLAYED LAST SHOW IN BOSTON

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_Frigo_ wrote:
July 2008

danny18, second that. 11 minutes, heartbreakingly well spent.

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Aleswy wrote:
July 2008

Unsolved is my album!

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danny18 wrote:
June 2008

This Day Next Year <3

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bossanovakid wrote:
June 2008

i sorely miss them...!!! one of the best bands ever. period.

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jersh wrote:
May 2008

i cant find the new live album.. can anyone help me out?

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boredbuddha wrote:
May 2008

new live album is super solid. check it out.

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Anacho_ wrote:
May 2008

It used to be emo in the early days...

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knivesoutbaby wrote:
April 2008

jazzy indie band? i think of them as an indie jazz band.

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VeryWavWetWipes wrote:
April 2008

emo? haha

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--irma-- wrote:
April 2008

EMO??????? NEIN!!

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korrontean wrote:
April 2008

I'd call it sexy jazz rock... and even if people used to yell at me when I said it, it strangely reminds of The Police. An awesome band, in any case. Enjoy!

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Darren22 wrote:
April 2008

I've been obsessive about Nirvana since the age of 10, but other than Slint, Karate are the closest any band has ever came to topping them...absoulutely love with age!

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houseatlantic wrote:
April 2008

amen to that.

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mfleckens wrote:
March 2008

makes for great sex music

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Recent Activity

yoleewilliams, lwade4900, faginebra and 2 other people added Karate to their libraries. Thursday morning
memorybabe79 tagged Karate with ‘whus’. Tuesday morning
xtheregretx, simonemello, brittanj and 14 other people added Karate to their libraries. Tuesday morning
datzo tagged Karate with ‘boring’. last month
zorba530 and janulamat added Karate to their libraries. last month
thereceivingend tagged Karate with ‘new england’. last month
modestique tagged Karate with ‘blues rock’. last month
thereceivingend tagged Karate with ‘indie’ and ‘post-rock’. last month
BugRogers added Karate to BugRogers’s library. last month
Arena-paula updated the Spanish wiki page for Karate. (diff) last month