The Contributing Talent Team: Sarah Bell: keys, vocals; Alex Kort: cellos, innuendo; Jason Perez: aesthetics, writing songs he's forgotten, guitars, keys
Influences
Anna Kavan, rusty nails, blue lights, dead crustaceans, ice floes, Atom Egoyan films, whirly propellers, holiday lights, automatons, coin-operated fortune tellers, Hyde Park mud, the Angel pub in Soho, the Sutro Baths in San Francisco, roundabouts, skulls, greenhouses, music from labels like Static Caravan, Pehr, Wurlitzer Jukebox, Earworm, Sarah, Rocket Girl, and Acuarela. And Resonant of course!
Carta began as a bedroom recording project in 2002 by Kyle Monday,
Jason Perez, and an assortment of San Francisco musicians. Ambient
instrumental songs developed organically from looped guitar melodies,
which also served as metronomes in the absence of a drummer. As
members joined and left, the desire to perform the songs in another
setting arose, so the duo formed a band with bassist Ray Welter honed a set of material for live shows, including some songs with vocals (supplied by contributing keyboardist Sarah Bell).
In 2005 the band began recording the album "The Glass Bottom Boat"
with engineer Eli Crews (of Beulah). The album features contributions from keyboardist Jared Matt Greenberg and bassist Sacha Galvagna (both of Charles Atlas), and cello by Alexander Kort (of Subtle).
Reviews of The Glass Bottom Boat: Boomkat: "A close point of reference would be Hood ... the title track ... features an Espers-style dark folk theme, largely thanks to the Meg Baird-alike vocals by Sarah Bell. As the song gathers steam ... a unfolding sense of shoegaze texture builds up, distancing the whole affair from its initially quite rustic beginnings, until by its end there's screeching distortion flying about all over the place."
The Deli SF: "Carta's Glass Bottom Boat is an extremely well crafted work of instrumental music. "
The Silent Ballet: "like a plot-twisting film or novel identifiable by its lush characters, the album offers a whirlpool of listening experiences over time, each one laced with the promise of a new discovery."
The Organ: "a beautifully radiant album, a welcomingly warm album to relax in to, an album full of depth and refined joy, an album that will leave you feeling overwhelmingly happy."
Opuszine: "If there’s perhaps one word that I can use to describe Carta’s music on The Glass Bottom Boat, it would be “pure”.
AllMusicGuide: "Like many fine bands before it -- Joy Division, Low, Mogwai among others -- Carta seeks to use rock band instrumentation to emphasize reflective mood rather than simply traditional performance. Unlike many other predominantly instrumental rock acts of recent years, though, Carta are blessedly free of the go-nowhere dullardry that ended up giving post-rock a bad name -- the group's songs are all miniature portraits that benefit from careful variation within a generally propulsive structure."
In late 2006, Kyle began working closely with Sacha, Ray, and new drummer Raj Ojha (ex-Run Return) on new material. The album, tentatively entitled "An Index of Birds" is in the process of being recorded now. "Kavan" and "The Glass Bottom Boat" are currently being remixed by the likes of Sybarite, Hood, randomNumber, Raj Ojha, Yellow6, Small Sails, and Absent Without Leave and will be available in some format later this year.
"The Glass Bottom Boat" is available now via Amazon, Boomkat, Norman Records, and most credible online establishments. Limited copies are available from the band; you can PayPal $12 to akmonday@yahoo.com if you are in the US, or $14 international.
What an incredible work you had made on all these compositions ! We admire your fascinating and moving atmospheres and the way they are made. The time seem stopped when we hear one of them.
If you have the time, come on listen our sounds and let us know what you're thinking about it. It will be nice ;)
Thanks and good continuation to you All our best wishes, Cheers from France, Eepocampe ------------------------------------
Season's Greetings ! I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ! My very best wishes with two new titles on line on my site, "Voici comment" and "Sonnet". I hope you'll enjoy them !
Just a quick reminder that our new record drops next week... join us at the Rickshaw in SF to celebrate?
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5 The Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF
9:00PM, 21+ $8
w/Excuses For Skipping and French Miami ****Boxcar Theatre benefit! Presented by our friends at Wiretapmusic.com****
