Audio Karate's Landmark 'Lady Melody' Receiving Special 20th Anniversary Release

08-20-2024

(Atom Splitter) Iodine Recordings is proud to present the 20th anniversary edition of Audio Karate's landmark Lady Melody on limited colored vinyl. This deluxe edition of the classic California punk record has been completely remastered for vinyl by Jason Livermore at Blasting Room Studios and includes all new artwork and a retrospective by the band and Bill Stevenson (Descendents, ALL).

In 2001, four Mexican American kids from the suburbs of East L.A. came together to form Audio Karate, their unique mix of melodic, emotional punk rock made it difficult to place them in any one genre but it also garnered a legion of fans. Their knack for writing infectiously catchy songs with deeply personal lyrics caught the attention of Kung Fu Records, who signed them in 2001 alongside bands like Blink-182 and Tsunami Bomb.

Audio Karate spent the early 2000s touring heavily and sharing stages with bands like NOFX, The Ataris, and Face to Face, among many Vans Warped Tour appearances. Their first studio album Space Camp was met with much acclaim from critics and fans and featured frequently on MTV and Fuse TV.

Their follow up album Lady Melody was produced by Bill Stevenson of The Descendents and straddled pop-punk convention and technical oddity, with unique key changes and riffs that seemed to sound "wrong," while sounding gloriously right. Even Stevenson wondered how they did it, marveling at times during their recording sessions: "Technically, this shouldn't work."

Stevenson says, "Lady Melody will always mark a special point in time for me. We had so much fun together during the pre-production, and then during the recording! I love this band so much, and it has been such a great pleasure getting to know each of them. 'Jesus Is Alive and Well (And Living in Mexico)' is one of my favorite songs to have ever produced."