Karma Ghost

So, about a week ago I posted a blog on BillyBlob.com: its still a winner, never doubt me. That said, I was at home in glorious SWVA (Southwest Virginia, jonx), surfing at about 2, 3AM, all jumped up on sugar, Diet Coke, Invader Zim, and Jack Daniels. I glanced at my blog to see if anyone had posted comments and remembered that the guy who did Billy Blob had mentioned on his site that a rock group had named themselves after Karma Ghost. I jumped on MetaCrawler and did a search and damned if there wasn't just such a band (hailing from Denver, CO) with artwork on their site suspiciously similar to that on the ol' Blob site. Well, they had exactly what makes my heart go pitter-pat: online music. I listened. I like it. I'm gonna' order their CD. And I'm recommending it to you-all. All Hail the Blogosphere.

Their music, well, its a little dark, kind of, I dunno', Pearl Jam-y or Dredj-esque or 10,000 Maniacs-ish. Heh. Strings on strings on strings with drums that blend with the music and vocals, rather than try to overpower them - kind of a nice change. My immediate reaction is that it is real rock and roll - not entrenched in any particular genre, just music for the sake of music. At first this had very little effect on me. I took it for what it was. Then, after my second listening to "Lady" I remembered what my pal Christopher Raines told me once: real rock is nearly extinct - its either so inbred that it suffers from all sorts of ailments or its crossbred out of recognition. I think I'm hyperbolizing, but hey, that's what I do.

My favorite song, so far (again, I don't have the whole album in hand) is "Orchids." Its "driving in the rain to grab a cold beer in late spring with a friend after his bad breakup when it's just a little hot but not uncomfortably so in a 1990s model sedan on I-81 after you've been on the road for two minutes and nothing more needs to be said" music or, alternatively, "sitting on a front porch in November watching the sun set before going to the party you don't really want to go to since you have a rocking chair and a full cooler here" music. Yeah. That.

Final Note: Take heed of Karma Ghost; if you're an aspiring musician, please, for the love of God, give us samples. In the 21st Century if we can't hear it, odds are we won't buy it and we won't come see you.

UPDATE: I got these in the magical, mystical "e-mail" the other day. . . thanks for reading Dave and Jace, and keep producing the good stuff:

1

Greetings,

Since the release of our record back in, well, November, I've been eagerlyawaiting its release on iTunes. I'm something of an Apple fanboy, and Iknow exactly how popular the music download service is, so more thanNapster or Yahoo! Music or being sold in stores or even Amazon.com, I couldn't wait to see our record on iTunes.

Imagine my excitement when it was finally made available yesterday. Onlya few months late.

I do this every so often. Whenever we hit some kind of milestone (orsometimes if I'm just bored), I'll Google our name and see if we've made any progress in usurping link rankings from Billy Blob. I love the name,and I'm thankful to him for giving us permission to use it, but damned ifI don't get tired of sifting through pages about his cartoon to get to theego-serving good stuff. This is what I get for naming my band after a webcartoon.

When I stumbled across your blog, I was a little taken aback. We've had nice reviews on Amazon and such, but yours was an honest retelling of yourfirst experiences with our music. More than that, it was well-written,interesting, creative, and most importantly, positive.

To usher in the point, would you mind terribly if we used your post in our press kit? To compensate, I'm sure we have a t-shirt or a sticker orsomething around here I could send you.

Thank you for the kind words.
Dave Christopher
Karma Ghost

PS - If the artwork on our site is in any way similar to Billy Blob's,it's an unintentional theft. I patterned the ghost after the littleghosts in Count Chocula. They're just so cute and tasty.

2

Hi. You don't know me. Hell, I don't know you. But you said some
awfully nice things about the band, and, well, we appreciate it. It's
hard, being a struggling musician, trying to keep a normal 40hr a week
job, and still devote a great deal of your time, blood, sweat, and
well, life, to doing what you're most passionate about - making music
with friends. And that's exactly what its all about for us... we do
it for YOU guys, the fans, and for us three, just because it's so
damned fun.
Anyway, I won't get all long-winded here, though I am a bit choked up.
Thanks again, for the kind words, it really does mean a lot to Dave,
Jan, and I. And if we can do as Dave asked, and use the bit you said
about us in a press promo, we'd really appreciate it, and of course
give you all the credit. :)
I can't say it enough... THANK YOU! It's the positive feedback we
continuously receive that keeps us going... and working on that next
album.
-=Jace=-
Karma Ghost
http://www.karmaghost.net
(Truin has been my 'handle' since the old BBS days... don't ask. )