fc<p><a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/AlternateFridayMusic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlternateFridayMusic</span></a><br>May 23 2025<br>The prompt is <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/Karate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Karate</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/Boston" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Boston</span></a>’s Karate, one of a gazillion <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/indie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>indie</span></a> bands in and around the city in the <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/90s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>90s</span></a>, formed in ’93 and disbanded in ’99 but got back together in 2022.</p><p>Here I present the closing track of their 1995 eponymous release, the <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/slowcore" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>slowcore</span></a> “Caffeine or Me?” This track is full of that indie loud-quiet-loud energy, and as someone who has been known to introduce herself saying “without alcohol or <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/caffeine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>caffeine</span></a> I’d have no personality at all,” I find the singer’s plaintive cry, “Is this me or caffeine?” utterly relatable.</p><p><a href="https://karateallston.bandcamp.com/track/caffeine-or-me" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">karateallston.bandcamp.com/tra</span><span class="invisible">ck/caffeine-or-me</span></a></p>