What would it take to get out now?
The first time I saw Karate I had no idea who they were. Robot Jon had booked a small, free show at our college back in the spring of 2000, and Karate was headlining with Haywood. Since there were very few folks in the crowd (a dozen maybe?), Karate opted not to play any old favorites. Instead they played Unsolved in its entirety from start to finish, in album order. The album wouldn't come out for at least another six months, so none of us knew any of the songs. By the time Farina hit the "Boys forget promises" chorus of "Small Fires," I knew I was going to be a life-long fan. I mean, the tension these three created was nothing short of phenomenal. They had the tightness of a punk trio, but were fluid like a jazz combo. They had melodies cribbed from countless other bands, but they never went for the big payoff, instead of shifting off in a minor chord direction. No soaring emo choruses, no post rock grunt-alongs. It was all just one obtuse angle after another, dripping with sweetness and seasoned with enough expert instrumentation to keep even the most jaded scenester interested.
So I'm pretty sad that Karate has broken up. I've bought all of their releases over the years, and missed seeing them a handful of times. And now, knowing that I probably won't see them again is really sad. They were masters of their craft, and they'll definitely be missed.
If you don't already own any of their albums, do yourself a favor and rummage through their back catalogue over at Insound. I recommend all of their albums, but Unsolved is a good a place to start as any.