Unglued

Project Bio :

Fusing elements of electronica, r&b, rock and pop with a danceable groove, San Francisco’s Karmacoda creates music that is modern yet deeply moving and emotional. Central themes of transformation: love, loss, lust and longing show up as story lines in their songs, pulling instrumental inspiration from a myriad of musical genres and time periods. It’s been over a decade since the band was founded as a personal writing and recording project by founder and vocalist B. What started as an experimental music project while he was between bands, has turned into seven studio albums, numerous remix records and a live album.

Their songs, often cinematic in scope and vibe, have been featured prominently in film and television soundtracks and have won a number of music awards. Bassist, Eric Matsuno joined the band during the release of their 2007 album success, Illuminate and vocalist, Jessica Ford joined adding her amazing vocals following the release of their 2015 album Love and Fate.

From the very beginning, Karmacoda has recorded their albums at The Amsterdam Room, B.’s personal studio. In 2009 the band built The Briefing Room, a combined dedicated, rehearsal space and recording studio on Treasure Island, in the heart of the San Francisco Bay. All their albums since Eternal released in 2011 have been recorded and mixed at both studios. While their albums have always featured stellar production, live, the band brings an emotional intensity generated by their dynamic performances, more akin to a rock show than a DJ set.

Their 2018 album Intimate built upon the organic meets electric sound Karmacoda has been cultivating since their inception, and is filled with lush musical landscapes, hooky choruses, moving vocal performances and melodies that linger. Intimate also features guest collaborators Andy Korn (Ronnie Spector, Joey Ramone) on drums and percussion and Mark Pistel (Consolidated, Hercules and Love Affair, Meat Beat Manifesto) on synthesizers and guitar.

In late 2019 and 2020 the band began writing and recording what would become Slow Down, Melt and Catch Fire their seventh studio album. The album is a product of 2020 and all that the band have gone through in California. The COVID pandemic and historic wildfires, where on some days looking outdoors was like looking at Mars, had a major influence on the writing and recording of the record.

When lock-down began in mid-March, instead of shutting my down their creative process, it actually somehow amplified it and during a time of self-reflection and angst, they wrote over 25 song throughout the spring and summer never having been so productive or driven as they were for this album. They were inspired to create something meaningful to themselves, and the people who will eventually listen to it.

Each song is emotional, romantic, meaningful, deep or all those things at once. When it came time to name the album, so influenced by 2020, they thought about the year and how everyone was impacted. When COVID hit and and they went into lock-down everyone literally slowed down. Then as the impact of everything began to take hold, people began to melt, mentally and emotionally. And then of course the world of California actually caught fire. But there will be a time after COVID and this album, about relationships and people and feelings and how we’ve all changed will be part of that time too. And then people will be affected by that just as much as they were by 2020. They will take a deep breath and slow down from their worry of the pandemic and the world. They will begin to live and love again, and their hearts will melt, and hopefully if they’re lucky, their hearts will also catch fire with love and hope. We wanted the album’s title to reflect that coming time as well.