CanadianWasteland Archives: Okara

6/09/2023

Okara - Discography (1995)

(photo credit: Shawn Scallen)

Okara was a hardcore/math-rock band from Orleans, Ontario. The band started out in the mid-90s with the name Paincage and in early 1995, they changed their name to Okara. Okara recorded and toured with a fury, releasing 4 sessions worth of material before breaking up by the end of the year. When I first encountered Okara I was completely new to the "emo-hardcore" / D.I.Y hardcore genre. The 2nd ST 7" caught my eye one day when I was flipping though stacks of 7"s at Sloth Records in Calgary. I picked it up because I liked its simplistic packaging and stitched lyric sheet. When I put it on the turntable later that night, I was pleasantly surprised; they had a sound that was completely alien to me but I really dug it right away. After that I went back to Sloth almost every day to scour the 7" bins for more stuff like it. This band (and Sloth Records), are pretty much responsible for this entire blog and I would have never gotten into this music if I hadn't picked up all those wonderful 7"s way back when.

Okara were tight, noisey, talented and punk as hell. They had an incredibly full sound for a three piece, much like Unwound. You also could compare them to contemporaries Blake or Rockets Red Glare but they have much more of a slick, suave edge to them. I believe the 12" was recorded live, in one take; which is really impressive as they pull off an incredibly tight and in-sync performance. I got my copy of the 12" from Shawn Scallen, who probably still has copies available if you want a sweet piece of wax for your collection.