Stream ‘Lights Out’ below.
Following in the tradition of scrappy rock duos like Bass Drum Of Death and Jeff the Brotherhood, Ireland’s Kid Karate is poised to make its mark on the American alt-rock scene.
The first guttural howls on the EP’s opening track, “Two Times,” feel like a warning shot. What follows is a swift 15 minutes of raw, emotive music that wanders from dark, heavy blues-rock to upbeat, 80s inspired disco-punk.
“Two Times” and “Heart” make up the harder first half of the EP. “Heart” has all the makings of a huge crossover hit. The song’s big vocals and bombastic guitar riff over a blippy synth loop add a controlled feeling to an otherwise raw, unhinged rock song. Kevin Breen’s tortured yelp–“If I had a heart, I would love you,”–is visceral perfection, while Steven Gannon remains fairly measured behind the drum kit until the song’s final thunderous refrain.
Kid Karate cites LCD Soundsystem as a big influence on its music, and that is most apparent on “This City.” Breen sounds remarkably similar to James Murphy on this track. The song is major departure from the weight of the previous two tracks, but the result is a welcome 3:40 of danceable disco-punk goodness.
The fourth and final track on the EP is “You Need Violence.” Like the previous track, this is a more up-beat song. Though the whole EP has some punk-rock leanings, this track is more upfront about it: “You need violence/And I will provide it.”
This is the band’s first EP, and it stands to reason that it will not be its last. Kid Karate’s music is exciting and raw, and it is reminiscent of the energy that made the Black Keys early work so compelling. We certainly hope Kid Karate has the same amount of success.
