With roots in 2nd wave emo, slowcore, and math-rock, Karate became more jazz oriented as their career progressed. For many post-punk listeners, this was a perfect recipe for boredom, but I happen to like it. “This Day Next Year” is the closer of the album Unsolved, which provided much of the soundtrack for a drive down and up the West Coast that I took with my brother in 2000. The band ended in 2005, in part due to guitarist/singer Geoff Farina’s tinnitus, caused by years of exposure to loud drums and amplifiers. They can still be heard as interlude music between stories on NPR’s All Things Considered.