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Louisville, KY's Rachel's might record for the punk/noise label Quarterstick Records, but their ambitious blend of post-minimalist modern classical music and post-rock experimentalism (guests include ex-Volcano Suns bassist Bob Weston; ex-Rodan leader Jason Noble wrote several tracks with Grimes) has almost nothing at all to do with rock music. These seven pieces, recorded between 1991 and 1994, featuring a cast of 16 musicians in various combinations, range from the two-minute solo piano miniature "Frida Kahlo" to the chaotic fourteen-and-a-half-minute "Full on Night," which blends a full chamber orchestra with electric guitar and tape loops like a more sonically aggressive version of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. Well-recorded and gorgeously packaged (as are all Rachel's albums), Handwriting is probably not to be recommended to the usual Quarterstick Records fan, but admirers of modern classical music will find much to enjoy. ~ Stewart Mason
Personnel: Jason Noble (guitar, electric bass, tapes); Maria Christensen (violin); Christian Frederickson (viola); Eve Miller (cello); John Upchurch (clarinet, bass clarinet); Rachel Grimes (piano); Bob Weston (double bass, electric bass); Dick Barber (double bass); Barry Phipps (upright bass); Kevin Coultas, Gregory King (drums).
Audio Mixers: Rachel Grimes; Jason Noble; Christian Frederickson; Bob Weston .
Recording information: Baltimore, MD (??/1991-10/1994); Chicago, IL (??/1991-10/1994); Louisville, KY (??/1991-10/1994).
Unknown Contributor Role: Jeff Mueller.
Rachel's includes: Jeff Mueller (spoken vocals); Jason B. Noble (guitar, electric bass, tapes); Marnie Christensen, Jacob Pine (violin); Eve Miller (violoncello); Christian Frederickson (viola); Nat Barrett (cello); John Upchurch (clarinet, bass clarinet); Rachel Grimes (piano); Mark Greenberg (vibraphone); Bob Weston (acoustic & electric basses); Michael Kurth, Barry Phipps (acoustic bass); Richard Barber (contrabass); Kevin Coultas (drums); Gregory King (hand drums).
Engineers include: Tony French, Bob Weston, Jason Noble.
Melody Maker (6/17/95, p.35) - "...From the bonsai beauty of `Frida Kahlo' to the mathematical marvel of `Saccharin,' this record needs no words to be a lyrical masterpiece. From the drunken Lalo Schifrin opening of `M. Daguerre'...Rachel's takes tunes you barely remember and weave them into songs you'll never forget..."
NME (Magazine) (6/10/95, p.51) - 8 (out of 10) - "...a sprawling 16-member coalition of jazzers, avant-rockers and classically trained types improvising furiously. If it seems a pseudo nightmare on paper, in practice HANDWRITING is a lovely and unpretentious record..." Rachel's Handwriting Songs Handwriting Music Review Average Rating: (5 out of 5 stars)  dark and moody
I can't spout the usual platitudes that a normal reviewer would use for this group's music, since I'm just a civilian. I first heard them on WFUV in the Bronx, but I was hearing the music over the phone at my home in Florida. Even so, I was totally captivated, and that appreciation for their stuff hasn't faded. If you need a modern day comparison, think of a vocal-less version of San Franciso chanteuse Jill Tracy, or an acoustic Marconi Union. Surreal, grandiose, then almost hallucinatory at times, you'll be dragged under by the current and carried along for the duration.
Submitted by crash_clavin (Orlando, Fl.)
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Purchase Handwriting CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Neutral Milk Hotel In The Aeroplane Over The Sea CD (1998)
Handwriting album
 $12.55   
Neutral Milk Hotel leader Jeff Mangum is a popster who hears interstellar sounds as natural ingredients of his "pop." He was weaned with the inevitable four-track in his bedroom, schooled on a record collection stacked with John Cage and Captain Beefheart as well as the Beatles and the Kinks. There is an instant emotional intensity to Neutral Milk's music, and the seeds that were sewn on '96's lo-fi masterpiece ON AVERY ISLAND, bear an evolving fruit on IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA.
Mangum's psych-folk songwriter musings dominate the album's landscape. Confusion streams out in hallucinatory phrases, trying to outrace a manic acoustic guitar, which in turn propels a band whose general sound ...
| | Rachel's Music For Egon Schiele CD (1996)
Handwriting CD music
$13.25
MUSIC FOR EGON SCHIELE features incidental music written for a theater-dance piece about the Viennese artist Egon Schiele.
Composed for a live theater/dance production about the tragic life of Austrian artist Egon Schiele, the gentle majesty of Music for Egon Schiele is a welcome change of pace for anyone bored with popular music forms, transporting the ...
| | Rachel's Sea And The Bells CD (1996)
Handwriting music CDs
$12.15 
Formed out of the ashes of Rodan, this loose collective thrives on the neo-classical compositional skills of pianist Rachel Grimes, bassist/organist Jason Noble, and violinist Christian Frederickson. Augmented by a rotating cast of cellists, trumpeters, and drummers, the trio concocts an emotive symphony that, though thoroughly modern, seems timeless. The songs on The Sea and the Bells flow together so seamlessly, it almost seems like one brilliant hour-long epic composition. "Rhine & Courtesan" opens the album with a dynamic, wistful melody that evokes the feeling of riding on ocean waves, then crashes ...
| | Rachel's Selenography CD (1999)
Handwriting songs
$12.19
Rachel's is often lumped in with the "post-rock" crowd for its lack of vocals or 4/4 rhythms, but that's misleading. This forward-looking instrumental ensemble makes music that fits in no easy category. The heart of the sound is Rachel Grimes's piano, which lies at the center of most tracks on SELENOGRAPHY. The tunes combine a classical sense of arrangement and composition with an edginess that flirts with avant-rock. The closest comparison in the "rock" world, though, is to the avant garde "chamber" prog of groups like ...
| | Cat Power Moon Pix CD (1998)
Handwriting album
$10.15 
Principally recorded at Sing Sing Studios, Melbourne, Australia in January 1998.
Somewhere between the narcotic stillness of Mazzy Star and the quiet desperation of Lisa Germano, Cat Power's MOON PIX is a compelling, often powerful album of mostly-acoustic songs delivered in Chan (pronounced "Shawn") Marshall's clear, measured voice. Restraint is key here, although troubling images and a distinct undercurrent of unease percolate through songs like the hypnotic "Cross Bones ...
| | Rachel's Systems/Layers CD (2003)
Handwriting CD music
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Rachel's is a group that defies easy categorization. Variously described as neo-classical, experimental, post-rock, or a chamber ensemble for the indie-rock set, the enigmatic collective specializes in music that blurs the boundaries ...
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| | Killer In You - A Tribute To The Smashing Pumpkins CD (2005)
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If you've ever given a listen to one of the jillions of "tribute albums" issued since the '90s, it's usually expected that each release ...
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