Budo

Budo is Josh Karp, a Seattle-born, Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, recording artist, producer, and touring musician. Raised on a steady diet of Sam Cooke, Miles Davis, Emmylou Harris, and Howlin' Wolf, he manages to combine an incredible array of disparate influences to create a unique tapestry of textures, rhythms, and sounds that add a new dimension to just about everything he touches. A childhood and adolescence spent committed to both the formal study of trumpet and music theory, as well as an informal pursuit of as many other instruments he could get his hands on, the producer found solace in sound, texture, composition, and production from an early age. Making his mark as the producer of Seattle MC Macklemore's 2005 record, The Language of My World, Budo would go on to establish a name for himself amongst Seattle's elite set of burgeoning producers and musicians before striking moving out to Brooklyn in 2007.

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Partnering with Rhymesayers' Grieves in 2008, the two musicians worked together on their first project. What started as an idea for an online-only EP immediately grew in scope and scale, blossoming into the record that would become 88 Keys and Counting. Layering dense synths, horns, and guitars the two brought a wildly refreshing approach to a genre that was wide open for change. Over the next two years, the duo spent their lives on the road, touring tirelessly in support of their new record and grinding out a fan base that now stretches across several continents. As an integral and dynamic part of Grieves' live show, Budo adds guitar, trumpet, and synth layers behind Grieves unique synthesis of melodic singing and rapping. The two collaborated on Grieves' full-length Rhymesayers debut, Together/Apart (2011). 

The Finger and The Moon represents the beginning of a new chapter from this multi-talented musician, producer, and performer. Budo is stepping out from behind the boards and moving into a sonic world entirely of his own creation. Worn down from 4 relentless years on the road and in the studio with Rhymesayers recording artist Grieves, Budo took a step back into the studio in the Spring of 2012. Embarking on an exploratory creative process and drawing from inspirations as diffuse as James Blake, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, and Dinosaur, Budo has emerged with a record that is as at once strange, unique and immediately familiar. Trumpet lines float through the most intimate vocal melodies, weaving tales of heartbreak, hope, and sadness. The Finger and The Moon is, beyond anything else, immensely human.