Blue Plate Special: Mick Karn
Mick Karn (born Andonis Michaelides) was the fretless bass alchemist at the heart of Japan’s art-rock metamorphosis, threading rubbery, vocal-like lines through post-punk, synth-sleek atmospheres. A Greek Cypriot who emigrated to London as a child, he rose to fame with Japan’s cool, androgynous poise and Far-East inflections, his singing bass becoming the band’s second front-voice on albums like Gentlemen Take Polaroids and Tin Drum. He also doubled on sax, flute and the Chinese suona (“dida”), and cultivated a visual world beyond music as a sculptor and painter—an aesthetic sensibility that bled into the group’s lacquered suits, sharp silhouettes, and pale stage lighting.
After Japan’s split, Karn remained restlessly collaborative and singular: the Peter Murphy duo Dalis Car, solo sets like Titles and Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters, the textural trio Polytown with David Torn and Terry Bozzio, and the Medium Productions era with Jansen and Barbieri (JBK). His Klein and Wal fretlesses spoke in swoops and sighs—grooves that felt part Middle Eastern cantillation, part modern dance, always unmistakably Karn. Even admirers debated his lineage; Karn himself quipped about avoiding Jaco’s shadow while forging his own lyric, sliding tone. He worked with Gary Numan and Kate Bush among many others, and remained a cult beacon until his death in 2011, by then widely regarded as one of the most distinctive bass voices of the era.
Some of my favorites from his catalog:
Buoy – from the album Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters (1987)
After a Fashion – from the single After a Fashion (1983)
Bestial Cluster – from the album Bestial Cluster (1990)
His Box – from the Dalis Car album The Waking Hour (1984)
Travelor’s Diary-Meets Mick Karn – from the album Liquid Glass (1998)
Plaster the Magic Tongue – from the album The Tooth Mother (1978)
The Sound of Waves – from the album Titles (1982)
Sound Cloud – from the Dalis Car album Ingladaloneness (2011)
The Forgotten Puppeteer – from the album Each Eye a Path (2000)
