Karate Boogaloo at Yes Manchester 2025-09-10T19:00:00
Making up the rhythm section of long-time Melbourne soul favourites The Cactus Channel, Karate Boogaloo remind us of the beauty of colouring outside the lines; their unconventional funk guided by a steadfast commitment to bending the rules.
The quartet spent their early-20s recording in mouldy home studios and sweaty attic recording spaces, reimagining deep funk and wonky soul into an off-kilter sound that leans heavily on cinematic themes, classic breaks and library music. A sound delivered with a highly refined sense of inelegance, tongue-in-cheek humour and a sometimes jarring dose of zany 21st-century surrealism.
KB consistently sit in their own lane – their combination of raw musicianship and sheer time on the clock playing together in the studio and on stage gives them a glowing presence rarely seen. Making records, they follow their own rules; recording and mixing on tape with no plugins and no edits, releasing exclusively in mono. It’s not about anachronism, it’s about the KB manifesto: a chosen set of limitations forcing a specific outcome, an outcome best appreciated through their “KB’s Mixtape” series of LPs.
2018’s KB’s Mixtape No. 1, a self-produced and released collection of interpretations of hip hop samples done in Karate Boogaloo’s immediately recognisable wonky style is fast becoming a cult classic amongst Melbourne’s diggers, selling out in local record stores through word of mouth alone. In 2019, KB’s Mixtape No. 2 was released in September through Hopestreet Recordings. Their KB’s Mixtape No. 3 is due out April 2, 2021 through College Of Knowledge Records.