After watching the documentary “Kill All Redneck Pricks,” I became vastly fascinated by the Olympia, Washington post-hardcore (if you could even put them in a category) Karp. The trio – made up by Scott, Chris, and Jared – was one of the most unusual bands of the era. They weren’t grunge; if anything, they took their sound from bands like Unsane and Melvins: lots of distortion, but the vocal harmony between Chris and Jared wasn’t heard in some of these other bands. Listening to them, one becomes drawn to the music because it’s just so different and unreal.

From the opening track of this long out of print disc “Get No Toys (When You Pay The Money),” the musicianship and the singing/screaming from Jared and Chris just work so well together. It doesn’t even feel like noise, which is how most people would describe this band; it just feels like a twisted and torn apart pop song that sounds amazingly great.

Even a song as simple lyrically as “Pie” sounds good and something you would want to piss your neighbors off with. That’s the unique power of this band and what they were able to achieve during their short lifespan. The nine minute “Lorch-Miller” is an epic of noise and patience but if you’ve got the gall to see it all the way through “Connect 5” has the feeling of a Melvins song in the way the vocals come across but the music feels like the band’s own thing.

“Absolutely Fibulous” is definitely one of the more punk songs here, with its faster tempo and urgent vocals but a band like this comes off better with slower material. “See You at Lakefair” is a bit more the band’s speed and is something that would sound good covered by a newer band today, it’s just that good.

All in all, this is one of the more unique records to come out of Washington state during the ‘90s. Only the ten minute experimental track “Meet Me In Lacey” doesn’t really work and drags the thing down. Other than that, this is definitely a record that has to be heard to be completely believed.

Rating: B

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