In a musical void filled with floppy-haired dopes with shit jeans and pointy shoes, North London’s Karova come as a welcome and raucous sonic antidote.
Out of London’s spirited Kentish Town, the seven-piece represent the much-needed cockney answer to the Happy Mondays – but with less smack and more good coats.
In a live-band culture which, in our opinion, severely lacks acts with balls that straddle the string between dance and indie, the eclectic seven-piece have recently sought the tightknit production skills of Baby D and have prospered all the more for it.
So far Maxim have called them “the best new band in Laahndan” a “breath of Brandy-sceneted fresh air” and “just fucking good – go and see ’em!” and this week has seen the underground realease of The Pickled EP with a stellar line-up of croaky Karovan cockney clangers including the irrepressible Nutget ("ya grabbed me by the balls yeah, flicked yer long dark hair, and you made all the other boys just turn around n stare"), jangling Jimmy ("he had pockets full of red, green ‘n’ blue pills, he’s the one we’d go to to get rid of the week’s ills") the gig-defining She Said and the infectious Septic ("though it’s taken me quite a wh-ile, I can see right through that smile upon your face").
Citing eminent live acts such as The Who, The Small Faces, New Order, Madness, The Ragga Twins, Massive Attack and Primal Scream as their aural influences, seeing the lads perform live is certainly one of the London live circuit’s rare treats and one that we vehemently recommend.
Go and listen to the The Pickled EP at their MySpace and sign up for the Facebook page. We’ve also got ten copies of it to give away, so email us with a good reason why we should give one to you on chaps@maxim.co.uk.
More news on Karova soon.
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Karova are Paul (lead vocals), Tom (lead guitar), Tommy (rhythm guitar), Owen (bass), Paul (drums), MC Micro (vocals, trumpet) and MC Nino (vocals, magic box, keys) and they’re the brightest band we’ve seen in London for some time. One hopes there’s a recording deal round the corner.
With a cold can of Red Stripe in its hand.
And no fucking flip flops.
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KAROVA MYSPACE
KAROVA FACEBOOK
Email: wearekarova@hotmail.co.uk
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