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Feb 07, 2025 By Caleb Campbell

Karate School Dropout is the latest project from Chicago-based musician, Arnold Madlangbayan. Arnold debuted under the moniker in 2023, releasing a pair of albums, Welcome to the Dojo and Hoku Psychosister, both of which evoked his upbeat DIY blend of power pop, shoegaze, and noise pop.

This year, Arnold is back with another new album, Kapwa, a collection of collaborations with longtime Chicago indie underground vets. As he explains “Each song stands out in their own way because they were intentionally written for each artist I have collaborated with. Even though the collaborative musicians differ from genre to genre, they have been tainted with the signature melodic noise powerpop sensibility of KSD’s dojo, but have also made an impression on the song with their own style!”

Today, along with news of the album, they are sharing a new single, “Keep It Up,” featuring Marnie Sher, premiering with Under the Radar.

“Keep It Up” trades off between glittering guitar lines, sticky synth hooks, and drum machine percussion, knitting them together in a blur of infectious pop songcraft. Arnold and his collaborators know their way around a pop song, but they also lend the track hints of scrappy, noisy energy, steadily ratcheting up the tension before letting the track take flight with the chorus. At its height, churning guitars and gleaming harmonies from Marnie Sher drive the track forward, buoyed by an instantly infectious refrain: “A sudden change when I call your name / And I don’t know why you care / I’m in denial just for a while / And it’s something I have to bear / Keep it up, keep it up, keep it up.”

Arnold says of the track, “‘Keep It Up’ comes from a place of connection, confusion, and rejection. It is about the longing of intimacy and falling in love with someone completely unavailable. But love comes in different forms and I realized that this love is authentically genuine and organic. I thought to myself that I would not want to jeopardize something, or someone, very special to me.”

Check out the song below and stream it here. Kapwa is due out everywhere later this spring.