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An Index of Birds
CD 2010 | Silber 077 13 tracks, 58 minutes $12 ($18 international, $5 download (256 kbps, ~119 megs)) :
Listen to the track Building Bridges
Track Listing:
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Reviews: This is a really pretty and melancholy record thats in the vein of slow-core and post-rock, sort of like Low. Very delicate strings and piano peppered with vocals here and there to create an atmospheric calming album. fun little fact: member Sacha Galvagna can be heard on the "Up In the Air" soundtrack. ~ Matt Buga, KUCI This San Francisco based instrumental
band plays ambient and experimental music with gusto and flavor. Together
in different shapes and forms since Kyle and Jason began forming their
band in a bedroom in 2002, their first full-length album is akin to taking
a trip - an experience to be had.
Post-rock Carta, whose gently soothing,
hypnotic approach is a delicious & skillful reinvention of the sounds
pioneered by the likes of Mogwai, flow through subtly-building series of
grooves to melodic, moving conclusions. They embellish their work
with subtle brush strokes, allowing their music to flow gently into your
mind almost before you know it.
Carta are an American band whose checkered
career has seen them change line-ups, studios and record labels, but who
now emerge with a terrific album "An Index Of Birds," that loosely covers
shoegaze/indie territory and is released by well known slowcore post-rock
lovers Silber Records. A brief electronic opener leads into the first main
cut, the mesmeric 'Building Bridges,' which in its atmosphere, sinister
vocals and stunning drumming courtesy Raj Ojha opens the album as it means
to continue. Bass thrums, guitars evoke, and the vocals are low-key, augmented
by female vocalist Lorealle Bishop. 'Hourglass' has a more positive feel
- major key, not minor - while 'Small Lights' is essentially a cut-up of
electronic and acoustic textures. 'The Likeness Is Undeniable,' another
instrumental, bursts with power, while 'Sidereal' follows a similar path.
'Descension' is a lengthy track, eleven minutes of subtle evocation and
restrained muscularity that features Lorealle Bishop's vocals, while 'Prettier
At Night' is another terrific instrumental, this one quite psychedelic
in places. 'Bank Of England' is a gentle cut, while 'Who Killed The Clerk?'
closes the album in melodramatic and uptempo style. Still better, the album
improves on repeated listens. Highly recommended.
Start with a slowcore anthem, then
raise it into a post rock drum pushed epic. After that, the vocals, the
rhythm, pulls me into some deep Talking Heads memory, maybe Remain In Light
era. Then there’s more jazzy hit slowness, a few instrumentals, classical
soundscapes, underwater swervegazing, nice, lush beats keeping the melodic
experimentations from drifting too high, and garbled whispers of forgotten
lyrics. I get thrown back into some beautiful Codeine dream on an Eno ocean,
with heartbreaking violin drifting like seagulls. The eleven minute long
“Descension” pulls in some female vocals, sliding the song into Low territory.
Then later, we are hit with a heavy and dark vocal pushing like Sonic Youth
crashing between Joy Division and Magazine, and then we are let down gently,
the end.
This combines elements of post rock,
slowcore and shoegaze to create an album worthy of adding to your collection.
The recording and mixing of this was intended to "make things sound like
they have been recovered from a broken ship" resulting in thirteen tracks
of reflective mood with a sinister tone. Another fine release from Silber.
Please support this label!!!
Carta's second album finds bandleader
Kyle Monday and a supporting sextet of players, most prominently multi-instrumentalist
Sacha Galvagna, creating an hourlong work that, like its predecessor, works
within a clear tradition of moody, romantically inclined rock-as-atmosphere
bands while finding its own space over its 13 tracks. Monday certainly
isn't trying to pretend otherwise -- calling a song "The Likeness is Undeniable,"
which in its slow moody build into a rock arrangement inevitably suggests
bands like Slint and Mogwai, is a clever way of acknowledging the connections,
but Carta know that simply repeating one style song for song would not
reward multiple listens (or potentially even a first). So for every song
like "Who Killed the Clerk?," which sounds like it could end a big thriller
movie, there's a sweeter, calmer ramble like "Hourglass," with its shuffling
pace and easy grace. As with The Glass Bottom Boat, vocals are few and
far between through An Index of Birds, but when they do appear their impact
is almost shocking -- thus, the lengthy "Descension" may be the slowest
build of all throughout the album, but the addition of singing gives a
focus that makes the song's fantastic conclusion all that much more powerful,
an arrangement that showcases Monday's ear for the dramatic at its best.
Other songs like "Building Bridges" and the striking "Santander" show Carta's
ability at creating a feeling that's quietly entrancing instead of dramatically
gripping, while "Sidereal" is the closest thing to full-on peppiness on
An Index of Birds, following a calmer start with a more energetic conclusion.
"Bank of England," meanwhile, suggests another path for the future, with
the electronic beats and filtered textures sounding like nothing so much
as Depeche Mode's darkly powerful Ultra.
Looking for the latest dance tracks?
Or something that is perfect for your MP3 player while working out at the
gym? If so, you're reading about the wrong release. The folks in Carta
write and record peculiar moody underground music that can and will only
be appreciated by a small segment of the listening population. The band
formed in 2002 and has apparently gone through various personnel changes
over the years. Describing An Index of Birds is a difficult task. This
band's music could be described as mood music, modern classical, slowcore,
or shoegaze...but it never actually falls into any of these specific categories.
Some of the tracks are instrumentals while others include vocals. There
are so many wonderfully inventive tracks here. We love the really cool
atmospherics in the piano track "Small Lights," the unbelievable bass sound
in "The Likeness is Undeniable," and the cool, distant Curved Air-like
vocals in "Descension." Decidedly subdued and very, very groovy.
This Oakland-based septet baosts numerous
multi-instrumentalists (including input from four keyboardists), so the
first thing that strikes you is the fullness of the sound. That’s not to
suggest we have the bastard offspring of Phil Spector at play here. Rather,
a carefully constructed collection of songs that benefits from the multilayered
instrumentation. Gorgeous, cascading guitar interplay from the main protagonists,
Kyle Monday and Ray Welter imparts sonic teardrops to emotional outpourings
like “Hourglass,” complete with syrupy cello embellishments from Alex Cort
and soft, wordless vocal stylings from Lorealle Bishop.
Laconic as hell, Carta's An Index of
Birds is practically a sonic ode to minor keys and sublimated doom. The
release's bric-a-brac only drives the point further home: two decapitated
wax figurine heads, rusted wire, decaying botanicals, ghost redwings, and
a cobalt-blue medicine bottle inscribed "Poisonous: Not to be Taken", all
bylined with "You're going home in an ambulance". This is probably not
the CD you're going to want to take to a marriage or any Optimists Club
meeting.
San Francisco’s Carta made quite an
impression here at TSB with its 2007 debut, The Glass Bottom Boat. Jonathan
Brooks praised the group’s ability to make compelling music without being
overly technical or complex, likening the band's work to “a plot-twisting
film or novel identifiable by its lush characters.” That record also
earned a spot on our coveted Top 50 records of the year list, leaving many
in anticipation for the next release. At the time of that writing,
the group was unsigned, and would later re-release the album through Resonant.
At times they make me think of a more
subdued Abunai!, especially when the male singer takes the lead, but they
are far sadder than that band ever was. In their instrumental modes they
sometimes sound like a slow motion collision between Tortoise and Rachels.
Whatever their modus operandi, their sound is rich, plush, melancholic,
luxuriously deep and resonant. I’d place this album near the top of the
best releases Silber has yet unleashed upon the world. Guitars, keyboards,
and drums, mix with cello, piano, melodica, marimbas, bass, and vocals
to weave a stately seductive sound that ranges from bombastic to ethereal.
This is a lovely collection of ambient,
shoegazy, and sometimes psychedelic tracks. Many are instrumental, although
strong male and female voices arise out of the ether with solemn lyrics.
Guitars, cello, percussion, keyboards, and programming evoke mellow and
melancholy images of nature. No actual bird sounds, except you can imagine
them on 7 and in 12. Really pretty and right up the alley of many.
Carta’s first album Glass Bottom Boat
on the now defunct Resonant label was a pretty dull affair, jammed to the
gills with aimless post-rock noodling. Its saving grace was the magnificent
twelve minute title track, a piece unlike anything else on the record,
and significantly the only one to feature vocals. Although it was released
in 2007, it had actually been recorded in 2005. Five years is a long time
away, and the Carta of 2010 are a very different beast to the old model.
Indeed, out of the seven members who appear on An Index of Birds, only
two contributed to the debut – leader Kyle Monday and guitarist/pianist
Ray Welter.
Carta formed in 2002, but the band
has undergone an extensive overhaul. An Index of Birds is the first album
by this new version of Carta realigned around Kule Monday. The group blends
post-rock, shoegaze and a light Gothic touch. The album boasts rich arrangements,
and it doesn’t overdo textures, relying instead on strong though plaintive
songwriting. I can’t say I’m won over, but I sure didn’t dislike it, on
the contrary. By the way, I want to point out that Silber Records, with
these two releases (their 76th and 77th) has gone digipak, and the graphic
design for those two releases is downright GORGEOUS.
Last, and most definitely not least,
is ‘Index Of Birds’ (Silber, February 16) from San Franciscans Carta, the
long awaited follow up to ‘Glass Bottomed Boat’ which totally rocked our
world back in 2005. ‘Index OF Birds’ is more of the same, but that’s in
no way a bad thing. It is utterly luscious, gorgeous strings back beautifully
crafted melodies and all are accompanied by wonderfully laconic, understated
vocals. ‘Building Bridges’ drifts in like the suggestion of a breeze but
before you know it it has wormed it’s way in to your head and you find
yourself humming it for days. The catatonically epic ‘Descension’ is another
high point, a Slowdive like an excursion in to the dark depths of the soul
beautifully accompanied by Lorealle Bishop’s heartbreaking voice. In all,
a magnificent record.
Sounds of an out-of-print classic that
is very much available. Gorgeous slowcore/post-rock album with its roots
firmly planted in forgotten nineties subgenres languishing on used CD shelves
somewhere in the midwest.
The jewel in the Silber-y crown this
month has to be “An Index Of Birds” by Carta (Silber 077). Whilst typical
of the label’s Low-inspired slowcore output there is an impressive depth
of quality here reminiscent of genre-masters like God Speed! You Black
Emperor and Mogwai without ever seeming to copy either. The sound is fuller
than the previous two Silber releases reviewed here, with a greater emphasis
on conventional instrumentation and arrangement to provide a deeply gratifying,
lush and multi-textured effect. The rare vocal track “Building Bridges”
is the nearest thing here to being radio-friendly and provides an early
benchmark for what is an entrancing and quietly-stimulating mini-masterpiece
of its kind. “The Likeness is Undeniable” is a calm-and-storm epic that
is both relaxing and exhilarating by turn, featuring tripping drums, resonant
bass and a deceptively simple guitar motif that is the trademark of lynchpin
member, Kyle Monday. However the album highlight is the gorgeous “Santander”,
another master class of textural loveliness - the clear repetitive guitar
sound supplemented by cello as well understated drums and bass. In fact
the next few tracks, particularly the dreamy “Descension” the toe-tapping
but still wonderfully laconic “Prettier at Night” and gentle slumber of
“Bank of England” help maintain a vibrant purple patch on what is a golden
journey. The first time I heard this was after a helluva day at the old
coal face and the relaxing yet uplifting effect of “An Index of Birds”
was immediate and lasting. They really ought to offer this kind of stuff
on prescription.
At 1.1 hours, Carta’s An Index of Birds
feels like one very long song. One excellent long song, however. I’m usually
easily bored by albums without a whole lot of variety, but Carta managed
to intrigue me from beginning to end. The sound waxes and wanes between
quieter, almost ethereal tracks like “Hourglass” and builds to more intense
songs like “Back to Nature”, the latter of which really is reminiscent
of Goo-era Sonic Youth – which is a major compliment coming from me, because
just like any other indie cliche, Goo is among my top favourite albums
ever.
Like several bands whose releases are
championed by this enthusiastic and dedicated US label, Carta arrive from
that mould where rock music is reconfigured into something more pastoral
and atmospheric. However, unlike, say, Mogwai, whose music has forever
retained an edge that can occasionally touch on those emotions some might
deem ‘negative’ (count me out on that one, though, please!), Carta’s take
on matters is mostly quite polite yet subtly bitterwsweet at times. Throughout
the thirteen songs on An Index of Birds, tempered textures, shades of electronica
and slo-mo rhythms, sometimes embellished with other instrumentation such
as piano and strings, evoke a a rainswept and starlit world where beauty
and dreariness merge like some kind of lost film about failed romance.
On the surface, it is adept but feels a little too workmanlike. It is almost
as though Carta are nodding towards their own heroes (which include Joy
Division, as a couple of songs testify…) rather than doing what such music
depends on and exploring their emotions. For sure, the promise to do just
this arises from time to time, but it’s needs to be explored. Fully and,
indeed, extremely.
After the debut album "The Glass Bottom
Boat" recorded in 2005 some changes happened in the line up of Carta. It
finally led them to a new album and a new label as well. It's quite difficult
to define the style of Carta, but we definitely can speak about some experimental
stuff here. If I try to be a bit more explicit I would dare say that we're
listening to a band with revealing a few psychedelic elements. The songs
could be interesting as minimal soundtrack while some post-rock definition
could be another label. I here recognize some of the typical items launched
all over the years bySilber Records. Most of the songs from the album are
quite minimal. Some piano sounds on "Small Lights" aren't exactly refining
the composition or adding a neo-classical touch as this song is pure experiment.
3hourglass" is another experimental extract featured on the beginning.
On "The Likeness Is Undeniable" we get this specific psychedelic touch
that gets things more interesting and heavier as well. It's just a pity
Carta doesn't experience a bit more with this style. "Descension" is a
little bit comparable, but is more diversified. I here like the progression
running through the song while female vocals are joining in. "An Index
Of Birds" is an experience you better try when being totally familiar with
Silber Records.
Back in early 2000, when my first encounter
with the term ‘post-rock’ happened, I didn’t realize how you can make post
something, that literally happens in the here and now. So I looked it up
and discovered that the press calls an album like Ecim by Cul De
Sac – post rock – the year, 1989.
I was somewhat surprised to learn that
this slow-moving (but sporadically urgent) post-rock-cum-slowcore act has
no relationship to Chicago's L'Altra, as the two share a rather striking
likeness of sound. Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised; any fly-by-night
mopey outfit can slide chiming guitar churns, cello drones, piano notes,
and vacant-eyed vox into expansive song structures (especially gargantuan
“Descension”). But few execute their tropes with as much, um, success,
as these folks. Sure, the formula is a perilous one – put simply, the combo
is a cut-and-dry recipe for severe tedium – but this able septet (along
with their Chicagoan doppelgangers) manage to stay on the sweeter side
of the absolute sopor which the bulk of slowcore tends to elicit.
Album dei debutto per la band recentemente
scritturata proprio dalla Silber, i Carta hanno realizzato questo primo
lavoro come unione di due lavori precedentemente separati: uno più
song-oriented e uno più strettamente strumentale.
Vous vous rappelez de ce prof de Français
de 5° qui n'arrêtait pas de vous asséner qu'il ne faut
pas se contenter de dire "j'aime" ou "j'aime pas" mais argumenter
et expliquer ce qui vous a plu ou déplu (peut-être qu'il n'y
a que moi sur ce coup-là...) ? Et vous n'y arriviez pas. Vous trouviez
ça trop dur. Eh bien parfois on a le même problème
au moment de parler d'un disque... La différence, me direz-vous,
c'est qu'on n'est pas obligé d'en parler. Certes, et du coup, quand
on n'a pas aimé un disque, on s'abstient finalement la plupart du
temps de le dire. Mais quand il s'agit d'un album qu'on aime beaucoup et
qu'on aimerait faire partager, c'est un peu plus délicat...
Kyle Monday scheint es nicht sehr eilig
zu haben, mit seiner in der Besetzung häufig wechselnden Band CARTA
eine umfangreiche Diskografie vorweisen zu können. Schon kurz nach
der Jahrtausendwende in der kalifornischen Bay Area gegründet, dauerte
es ein halbes Jahrzehnt, bis der erste Longplayer „The Glass Bottom Boat“
das Licht der Öffentlichkeit erblickte. Es war die Zeit, als Begriffe
wie Postrock (noch immer) und Shoegaze (erneut) in aller Munde waren, weshalb
sie jenseits des großen Wassers auch mit Handkuss von Kritikern und
Publikum empfangen wurden. Vielleicht ist die Tatsache, dass im deutschsprachigen
Popdiskurs seit Jahren ein Abgrund zwischen Subkultur und progressivem
„Indie“-Mainstream konstruiert wird, ein Grund, dass CARTA in unseren Breiten
bislang der Empfang mit Pauken und Trompeten verwehrt blieb.
L'ambient rock dei Carta continua a
sedurre con languide frasi di pianoforte, chitarre tremolanti e melodie
lunari suonate a lume di candela. Il nuovo album, “An Index Of Birds”,
esce dopo un riassestamento della band americana che ha portato nuova linfa
all'interno del gruppo. Tra ballate degne dei Low più malinconici
e strumentali che fanno tornare in mente i capolavori dei Rachel's non
mancano sull'album passaggi più elettrici ed infuocati come i quattro
minuti e mezzo di “The likeness is Undeniable”. Bel digipak assemblato
dalla sempre attiva Silber Records di Brian John Mitchell.
Perdu de vue The Glass Bottom Boat
paru en 2007 (mais enregistré en 2005), Carta revient sous un tout
autre jour. Des années à composer et enregistrer dans leur
coin, un line-up complètement remanié - finalement seul Kyle
Monday, fondateur du projet, est encore présent -, les points cardinaux
de Carta ont complètement changé. Si le groupe suivait l’étoile
du berger Bark Psychosis en offrant de belles plages instrumentales vaporeuses
empreintes tout d’un sentiment de mélancolie bleuté, An Index
Of Birds suit un parcours bien plus alambiqué, avec des changements
de caps, suivant des détours sur des chemins cahoteux pour flâner
et des portions bien plus roulantes où les paysages défilent
comme les idées dans la tête, voire une plongée claustrophobe
dans la circulation d’une mégapole. On n’imaginait pas la bande
de Kyle Monday capable de délivrer un morceau aussi noisy et percutant
que Sidereal, de se heurter délibérément à
un mur du son sur The Likeness Is Undeniable ou carrément de foncer
à tombeau ouvert (Back To Nature, instrumental frontal et obstiné).
Ailleurs, les Américains distillent des chansons bien plus apaisées
(Building Bridges) ou des instrumentaux cotonneux (le très "Hood-esque"
Santander). Sous-titré You’ve Going Home In An Ambulance ( !!) laisse
place aux échanges vocaux, à un traitement électronique
discret, tantôt sur un ton dramatique et affecté, tantôt
serein et onirique (comme l’odyssée de 11 minutes, Descension qui
rappelle L’Altra ou The Halifax Pier). Entre ambiant, shoegaze, new-wave
et post-rock, ce deuxième album frôle souvent l’excellence,
mais ne laisse pas d’autre choix sur la longueur (presque 70 minutes !!)
que de se laisser transporter au gré des humeurs du groupe, au risque
de perdre l’auditeur en chemin.
Het geweldige Resonant label is helaas
ter ziele. Daarop is twee jaar geleden nog wel het prachtige debuut Glass
Bottom Boat van de Amerikaanse band Carta verschenen. De band bestaat al
sinds 2002, maar het heeft even geduurd voor ze hun eersteling bij een
label weten te slijten. Onbegrijpelijk want de muziek is van een ongekend
niveau. Ze begeven zich op dat album aan de spannende en meer sfeervolle
spectrum van de postrock, waarbij de opbouw sterk is maar waar ze dikwijls
ook stuurloos de mooiste dingen laten horen. Ze ondersteunen dit naast
gitaren met cello, piano, elektronica, trompet en zo nu en dan zang. Nu
is de groep terug met hun tweede werk An Index Of Birds. De formatie rond
Kyle Monday (gitaar, zang, bas, keyboards) is flink uitgedijd en bestaat
tegenwoordig uit ex-Rosa Motta en Charles Atlas lid Sacha Galvagna (piano,
bas, keyboards, zang, gitaar, perccussie), Raymond Welter (gitaar, keyboards,
piano), Raj Ojha (drums, percussie, programmering), Alexander Kort (cello)
uit Subtle, Lorealle Bishop (zang) en Gabriel Coan (keyboards, programmering).
Ondanks de grote bezetting maken ze er een behoorlijk rustiek en sfeervol
geheel van. Ze zitten met hun geluid nog steeds in postrock-hoek, maar
trekken dat meer naar de emocore en gitaarambient toe. Op bedachtzame wijze
ontvouwt hun muziek zich waarbij soms de zang maar dikwijls juist de meer
instrumentale, filmische desolaatheid op de voorgrond treedt. In dat laatste
verwerken ze fraaie samples van stemmen en/of veldopnames. Alles staat
in het teken van het scheppen van een broeierige atmosfeer, waardoor het
continu een spannende aangelegenheid is. Heel spaarzaam laten ze een eruptie
horen, maar dat lijkt vooral als doel te hebben om de opgebouwde spanning
even te kunnen ontladen en niet om per se een hard moment neer te zetten.
Het klopt van begin tot eind tot in de puntjes. Niet dat ze nu één
op één met iets te vergelijken zijn, maar denk aan een subtiel
midden van Low, Red House Painters, Tindersticks, Giardini Di Mirò,
Piano Magic en Godspeed You Black Emperor. Ze weten alles op het juiste
moment te doseren, van het gebruik van strijkers en zang tot aan de inzet
van gitaren en elektronica. Dat levert een uitgebalanceerd en subliem album
op dat elke melancholicus innig zal omarmen.
I sette musicisti di San Francisco
si tuffano sulla scena internazionale con il secondo album, frutto di un
intenso lavoro scaturito da una "registrazione da camera". Forse proprio
per questo le melodie che lo caratterizzano tendono a sciogliere i nervi
dell'ascoltatore e a renderlo docile, salvo per rare tracce dai toni movimentati,
quale "The Likeness Is Undeniable". Eppure, nonostante la linea guida delle
tredici canzoni sia perlopiù ambient e quasi totalmente priva di
liriche, i Carta riescono ad esprimersi con chiarezza grazie alla notevole
sapienza con cui maneggiano gli strumenti, in particolare i violoncelli
e le chitarre.
A tre anni di distanza dallo spigoloso
esordio per la Resonant “The Glass Bottom Boat”, i Carta cambiano label
e tornano con una formazione riveduta e corretta (la vocalist Lorealle
Bishop, la bassista Sacha Galvagna e il batterista Raj Ojha hanno affiancato
il leader superstite Kyle Monday) con l’obiettivo di ricreare “il suono
di qualcosa che è stato recuperato da una nave affondata”. L’effetto
“naufragio” mi sfugge anche dopo ascolti reiterati, ma intorno al disco
aleggia un innegabile fascino “moody”, tra shoegaze estatico (“Hourglass”,
“The Likeness Is Undeniable”, “Sidereal”), post-rock ambientale erede di
Yellow 6 e Piano Magic (“Small Lights”), echi slowcore di vaga assonanza
Low (“Santander”) e vertiginose impennate di pathos (“Descension”, “Who
Killed The Clerk?”). Con una maggiore spinta promozionale potrebbero fare
breccia in molti cuori.
I
ritmi sono lenti, le parole appaiono stanche ed assonnate...Il post
rock dei Carta è inamovibile ed onirico. "An Index Of Birds" risplende
di una luce intermittente. Questa opera si svela poco alla volta, i
suoi colori sono tenui e non si vogliono mostrare. Le composizioni di
questo lp amano il buio, tutta l'oscurità di questo mondo devastato
dalla paura del vivere...Una paura destrutturata e pianificata nella
musica di questa band. Tredici pezzi (per circa un'ora di ascolto) dove
il suono celebra se stesso, una divina bellezza scolpita nel
cièlo...Consiglio l'ascolto di questi suoni al buio ed in cuffia. I
movimenti debbono, necessariamente, essere brevi e distanziati...Fate
tutto con calma, elaborate un impegno e portatelo a compimento. Il
tempo volerà come per incanto. Strumenti precisi come metronomi
indicano una via precisa, non si può sbagliare...Il solco è tracciato,
ogni simbolo è compresso e l'aria è rarefatta, l'oscurità è finalmente
arrivata...Buon lavoro. |