http://cartamarina.bandcamp.com/
Chicago & Illinois as a whole, What needs to be said about its street cred in the world of music over the years home to Wilco, Andrew Bird, The Smashing Pumpkins , John Prine, Miles Davis, Eddie Vedder was originally from Evanston, Illinois. RATM guitar master Tom Morello from Libertyville, Illinois. And an entire Blog could and probably is devoted to what Chicago Blues has given to the world.
Out of that amazing lineage comes Carta Marina –
consisting of
Chris Reehoff – Guitar, Glockenspiel
Justin Shields – Keys
Jeff Palac – Vox, Bass, Guitar, Harmonica
Rick Gladkowski – Drums
Anthemic, Spacey, Touching, At times Raw is just some of the ways their collective sound could be described along with many more adjective’s. But I’ll leave that to each individual set of ears who has the pleasure of listening to their album End Of An Era. Recorded live @ Uptown Recording. It’s so refreshing to hear a band at the top of their game being able to track live and nail each song with energy and precision. Strong and melodic vocals from singer Jeff, Which at no point over the course of the 9 tracks does he grate on the listener, Instead by the end your ready to press play again to hear his soaring refrain of Arcadia also featuring some great interweaving guitar lines by Chris. Not to leave out the Rhythms provided by Rick who has power and accuracy with every hit. Never over indulgent he creates a solid frame for the melodies and textures to live and breathe. Textures enhanced by subtle delays, reverbs and the perfect licks and phrases of keys man Justin and sounding at times like Garth Hudson if he was let go through The Edge’s FX setup.
The album can be purchased from the bands Bandcamp site with some great extras for those who are inclined to help a band by parting with those few extra dollars.
