Audio Karate Return with ¡OTRA!

¡OTRA! is a special record because it’s an opportunity for us to bring to light songs that either no one outside the band has heard, or songs that only die-hard fans know.  Some of my favorite The Smiths tunes are those found on Louder than Bombs, not the conventional albums proper.  This is our homage to that in a way, a collection of the unreleased tracks from our three albums Space Camp, Lady Melody, and Malo. We were so fortunate to work with producers like Bill Stevenson and Trever Keith, who helped us find that sound.

I think the result is a nod to how consistent our sound is, the songs flow as though this was a proper album of songs written and recorded at once rather than over a span of nearly a decade.  Lovely Residence has our old friend Agent M (Emily Whitehurst) singing duet with Art, and they kill it.  Segway has some of my personal favorite guitar work, and Black Covering and Betrayed have some of Art’s most honest (and pretty sad) lyrics. The songs bring us back to a more simple time when we gave everything for this band, writing and playing together for so many years.

I’m really happy through working with Iodine, this record is seeing the light of day and getting such a special treatment with 7 exclusive variants.  Digital remastering from the original 2” analog tape sessions of Space Camp before we remixed it in ProTools (and ruined the warm indie vibe), remastering at the Blasting Room off their archived masters, and the self produced songs Care Carelessly, Black Covering and Lovely Residence.  

Working on ¡OTRA! has even gotten us writing and recording again, perhaps this won’t be the last Audio Karate release.

~ Jason Camacho 
January 14, 2022
Somewhere on the West Coast

Photo by: Forrest Locke