Karate, Guns & Tanning

Indianapolis/Louisville
1 projectsPost punk

Karate, Guns & Tanning is the culmination of a 15-year collaboration between the instinctive songwriting duo, Valerie Green and Paige Shedletsky. Their debut album Concrete Beach is an incendiary blast of industrial-tinged post-punk, shoegaze and dream-pop.

Born out of restlessness and pent-up aggression, and further intensified by the ambient dread of the early months of the pandemic, their fierce energy is palpable on standout moments like the rousing, militaristic cries of “Hot Bots,” as well as the synth-splattered “Badlands,” a nightmarish vision of a doomed journey into the darkest heart of the desert. “Breaking Teeth,” with its metallic guitars, gritty bass and chanted rally cries of “Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” (not to mention some blazing guitar solos from Mills), evokes the hyper-distorted noise-pop clamor of Sleigh Bells.


That brooding intensity percolates on “Fire,” a new wave-tinted track powered by technicolor synths, melodic bass and dreamlike lyrics. Meanwhile, “Artifacts” roars to life with pounding, Bonham-sized drums and hyper-processed vocals that serve as another instrument in the mix. Elsewhere, the band’s experimental dream-pop past is resurrected by the lush and soaring pop smarts of “Zenith,” a minimalist cut inspired by the SpaceX launch.

Consisting of Shedletsky on keyboards and assorted synths/noise-making, Green on lead vocals and bass, Joy Caroline Mills on guitar, and Daniel Guajardo on drums, the album was written remotely, recorded and produced by the band, and professionally mixed and mastered. Concrete Beach will be out in spring 2021. When touring resumes, catch Karate, Guns & Tanning breaking teeth at a concrete beach near you.

qrates.com/artists/karategunsandtanning
Limited Edition First Pressing of Concrete Beach
Karate, Guns & Tanning
Punk
Rock
Pop
Experimental
$25.00
FINISHED
101/100