Read the Excellent Reviews for Illuminate:

Melodic.net Review for Illuminate:
Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area to bring the world a melodic genre-blending third album release is Karmacoda, the female-fronted four-piece band with a message of emotion and the talent to back it up. The band’s new CD Illuminate brings together several of the genres they have toyed with in the past including pop, rock, jazz, electronic, trip hop and punk. Visual imagery fills the lyrics which are brought to your ears by the richly sweet voice of Heather Pierce and delivered to completion by the band’s multi-instrumental development of sound. The melody of the CD’s first single, “Turn” is almost trance-inducing, but it is the complete package of the CD from start to finish which really demonstrates the way the band has blended multiple influences to create a sound of their own.


SanFranVoice Review for Illuminate:
If you haven’t heard of Karmacoda, then you aren’t quite tuned into the live electronic music scene in San Francisco, because this band has been around since 2001, performing throughout the area (and elsewhere).  The band cites as their objective, “to create music to reflect the emotion of a specific time and space in our modern world”.  They go beyond achievement of that objective, not only creating that music but doing so in such a listener-friendly manner so as to elicit emotional reactions from those who hear their songs.

Karmacoda is, at heart, an electronic music band, but what gives the band their infectious emotion is their forays into experience with other forms of music.  With trip hop, pop, rock and even some jazz acting as the icing on their electronic cake, Karmacoda created for themselves a San Francisco following which has eagerly awaited their long-time-coming third album.  The just-released album, Illuminate, brings all of the old Karmacoda to the table and gives it a tinge of punk edge.  With twelve tracks to show off the four piece band’s array of musical talent, Illuminate grabs you from the beginning and demands that you pay attention.

I haven’t yet had a chance to check out a live show, but the impression that I get from what I’ve learned about Karmacoda is that the live stuff appeals to multiple senses.  The group is a highly visual group with music which translates well to the numerous film and television soundtracks that they have been heard on, and as they grow musically, they continue to blend the mediums of music and film.  With Heather Pierce’s vocals being the ear-catching thing that sucks you in and the rest of the band contributing equally to polish off their complete sound, Karmacoda paints a lyrical picture infused with images which your mind wants to wrap itself around.  The band plays again in San Francisco at 330 Ritch on April 7th, but you can hear their stuff ontheir website or on MySpace before then.


iTunes Review for Illuminate:
If Karmacoda didn’t exist we’d have to invent them. This band walks with credibility as members of the new urban San Francisco late-night sound.

To get a hook on Karmacoda’s nonesuch music surprise yourself by Googling some of Picasso’s early work. A realist painter who showed a mastery of the zeitgeist before writing his own rules for art. If Karmacoda’s early releases demonstrate the same mindset, then their latest, Illuminate, is their mature and deliberate break with convention. Illuminate sounds less like a film soundtrack than Karmacoda’s first discs, which is ironic since some of its tracks appear on the very pro-looking indie film, Voyeur.

As electronica goes it’s very listenable. This groove is downtempo trip hop, but with a haunting, sometimes melancholy, vocal fix throughout. It feels dangerous to listen to it.

The hits are probably Spectre and Turn. The latter because of Heather’s beautiful voice entwined with a folkish acoustic guitar melody. Make Like Me has a genuinely sweet flow, a backbone which thumps just slightly and a ringing distant piano line which we hear again on Skylines. The musicianship of Karmacoda is apparent throughout, although the duets of Heather and B work better in some places than. The album itself is produced within an inch of its life.

It will be interesting to see if Karmacoda releases tracks from Illuminate to the DJ hipsters for a remix album as they did with Evidence (Altered Evidence). Music from Altered Evidence always anchors my iPod workout mix and road trip soundtracks.


Amazon.com Review for Illuminate:  
Illuminate brings to light a mature Karmacoda, an album full of much more than interesting soundscapes and dream-inducing vocals. Illuminate features a band that has masterfully created a new, authentic sound: their own.

Solid, songwriterly form, fresh instrumentation, top-notch production and of course Heather Pierce and B.'s gorgeous vocals captivate the listener, drawing them into Karmacoda's world straight away. Opening track 'Something' highlights dense, hooky harmonies with an upbeat, smirky attitude. 'Turn' combines lush strings and a hypnotic melody, creating a song that sticks in ones mind for days. 'Chapel' features the two singers sharing a striking duet, conjuring a melancholy so beautiful that one starts to feel uplifted. 'Spectre' evokes the dark sexiness that Karmacoda may best be known for, while 'Skylines' could catapult the band to stardom.

Illuminate is a shining album whose parting message is this: Karmacoda has upped their sound and with it, their game.

Triphop.hu Music Review for Illuminate:
...Vocalist Heather Pierce (is) getting sexier... Illuminate's 'Something', 'Hope over hope' and 'Spectre' are definitely worth listening to time and again.