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Carta

About Me

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 finished and will be out in mid 2009. It again features significant contributions from Alex Kort ..o, as well as vocals by new Carta collaborator Lorealle Bishop, and treatments by Gabriel Coan (formerly of Continental). It was recorded by Eli Crews, Sean Coleman, Carta, Gabriel Coan, and Jared Matt Greenberg in Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles throughout this past year and will be released on wonderful US label Silber Records.
"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 [email protected] if you are in the US, or $14 international.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 18/07/2005
Band Website: http://www.theglassbottomboat.com
Band Members: The new album features: Kyle Monday: Guitars; Ray Welter: guitars, keys; Sacha Galvagna: bass, guitars, keyboards; Raj Ojha: drums; Alex Kort: cellos; Lorealle Bishop: vocals; Gabriel Coan: keyboards, textures.
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!
Sounds Like: sleeping underwater; girls crying by train tracks
Record Label: Silber Records (now). Resonant (then).
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Hourglass, Live at the Hemlock Tavern in SF

http://vimeo.com/3011295
Posted by on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:41:00 GMT

Perdido, Live at the Hemlock Tavern in SF

http://vimeo.com/3011227
Posted by on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:41:00 GMT

New Track Up Now

We've posted another song from the next album on the profile, "Santander". This replaces "Small Lights" which we had up there since early this year, if you missed it, hold your horses, you'll be able ...
Posted by on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:16:00 GMT

Check out this event: Carta, John Vecchiarelli and Odessa Chen in SF

Hosted By: Carta When: Friday Sep 19, 2008 at 8:30 PMWhere The Hotel Utah500 4th StSan Francisco, California|5 94107United StatesDescription:Carta Click Here To View Event
Posted by on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:32:00 GMT

Kavan: The Declining Winter Mix

Hello,some movement finally in the Carta ranks...we are very close to finishing up our new album. Last week we spent a day with the wonderful Alex Kort in the studio, pouring cello syrup on our misera...
Posted by on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:32:00 GMT

oh and, Jan 4th show and setlist

Thanks to those of you who braved the worst storm of the season last friday and came to see us play with the Drift and Savage Republic. It was generally pretty great all around!Setlist for the night:1...
Posted by on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:41:00 GMT

new interview up

Two bits of press: I've been interviewed by Angry Ape.This is a more comprehensive interview than the one that ran in the SF ...
Posted by on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:40:00 GMT

Cartas 2007 End of Year List Extravaganza

This was an exciting year for the band, as we both released an album and offically revamped the lineup. We've been very happy to have Ray back and playing guitar (and even keys) as it's really added a...
Posted by on Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:29:00 GMT

Nov 30th show : Goodbye Continental

Playing with Continental is a humbling experience, especially when you find out they barely practiced for their last show. Someone out there recorded this, I hope you contact them or us. As for us: I ...
Posted by on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:31:00 GMT

oct 29th show/setlist

oct 29th show/setlist Many thanks to those of you who came out this week for our 'record release show'. I know...
Posted by on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:03:00 GMT