Formed in 2019 in Toulouse (FR), KARKARA is a psychedelic rock band composed by Karim Rihani (guitar / vocals), Hugo Olive (bass / synth) and Maxime Marouani (drums / vocals). The band has since played over a hundred shows in France and Europe and released two albums (‘Crystal Gazer’ in 2019 and ‘Nowhere
Land’ in 2020), with UK label Stolen Body Records. KARKARA also played at Trabendo (+500 capacity venue in Paris) as well as headlining the Astral Festival in Bristol that same year. Influenced by The Oh Sees, King Gizzard, King Crimson and Black Sabbath, the power trio delivers uninterrupted psych rock that’s both furious and hypnotic. Screaming amps, overdriven drums and vocals that blend sweet melancholy with desperate rage. On stage, KARKARA manage to recreate this hypnotic fury, revealing to the audience a sound, an identity and energy that instantly grabs you by the guts. Fans of «wah wah» and repetitive «boom boom kraut» wrapped in exotic sounds from the other side of the Mediterranean, the band puts travel and trance at the heart of their art. KARKARA are back in 2024 with a third album, ‘All Is Dust’, to be released on March 22th, this time with three labels : Exag Records (Belgium), Le Cèpe Records (France) and, of course, Stolen Body Records (UK). The trio will also be touring with Slift in 2024 : March 13th at Le Bikini (Toulouse), April 3rd at Le Rockhal (Luxembourg), April 4th at Mascotte (Zurich), April 5th at L’Epicerie moderne (Lyon).
With this explosive new album, KARKARA takes us on a post-apocalyptic story that unfolds in a future where mankind finds itself powerless to cope with the lack of resources and the big collapse, already well under way, of society as we know it. During the 43 minutes of this album, we follow the trials and tribulations of a character trying to escape his miserable condition. Following a vision, he betrays his «tribe» and starts a frantic quest in search of an Eldorado, where nature and civilisation have been spared from the collapse : the city of Anthropia. The six chapters of the story - matching to the six tracks on the album - tell the story of this hellish quest of flight, confrontation and hallucinations towards this Eldorado, which we discover at the end, on the last track of the album : «All Is Dust». In reality, the city of his dreams is nothing but ruins and dust. In the midst of this rubble, in infinite despair and uncontrolled rage, the character understands that the paradise he thought existed has yet to be built, and that its foundations are to be found in what remains of humanity.
Observing the world around them, the three musicians project their apprehensions and anxieties in a contemporary reality where everything seems to be crumbling around them. Their aim on this record is to immerse the listener in a narrative : a music that is global and immersive, that will carry you away from track to track by perfectly executed transitions. With tracks ranging from stoner (‘‘On Edge’’) and psychedelic (‘‘Moonshiner’’) to heavy kraut (‘‘The Chase’’), the album is incredibly rich, and KARKARA even invited additional musicians such as Jérôme Biévelot on the saxophone and Simon Barrière on the trumpet. For the recording and mastering, the band worked with film music composer Olivier Cussac (Slift, Les As de la Jungle, Terra Willy...), reinforcing the cinematographic aspect and the invitation to travel that KARKARA offers us with this new album, «All Is Dust».