Review: Audio Karate Releases ¡OTRA! Album

Audio Karate released their latest album, ¡OTRA!, today March 18^th. This is the first new music from the East LA pop punk band since 2018’s Malo. The band, formed in 2001, was influenced by punk bands such as Descendents and Jawbreaker. Their sound is a mix of melodic and emo punk.

After releasing Space Camp (2002) and Lady Melody (2004), the band took a 12-year break, before releasing Malo. Audio Karate starting work on ¡OTRA! soon after their return. The album is a collection of rare, unreleased material which spans the band’s history. It features guest appearances by alt rockers Agent M and Emily Whitehurst of Tsunami Bomb. Songs were produced by Bill Stevenson (Descendents) and Trever Keith (Face to Face).

Lead singer Arturo Barrios pushes his vocal cords to the limit in punk fashion on “Segway”, “She Looks Good”, and “Black Covering”. In the latter, he sounds almost like Paul Westerberg of The Replacements. The band makes good use of dynamics in “Care Carelessly” alternating between bright and harder vocals with key changes thrown in the mix. The sound is dominated by overdriven guitars, but occasionally cleaner sounds are employed with “End Won’t Justify The Means” featuring a Joe Walsh style solo.

¡OTRA! is out now via Iodine Recordings.

Article by Scott Raymer (Website | Instagram | Facebook)

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