Rachel's were an
American chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small num ...
group that formed in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...
, in 1991. Former
Rodan
is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', which first appeared as the title character in Ishirō Honda's 1956 film '' Rodan'', produced and distributed by Toho. Following its debut standalone appearance, Rodan went on to be featured in numerous en ...
guitarist Jason Noble played music individually and referred to himself as Rachel's but then began collaborating with core members violist Christian Frederickson and pianist Rachel Grimes. The group's work was strongly influenced by
classical music, particularly inspired by the
minimalist music
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...
of the late 20th century, and its compositions reflect this. While the trio formed the core part of the band, the group's recordings and performances featured a varying ensemble of musicians, who played a range of string instruments (including
viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
and
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
) in combination with piano, guitars, electric bass guitar, and a drum set that included a large
orchestral bass drum
The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. T ...
. A key influence on the music of Rachel's was the music of the English composer
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film scores (many written during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Green ...
, whose music the group's work resembles in both instrumentation and compositional style.
A profile of the band is included in the book ''Second-Hand Stories: 15 Portraits of Louisville'' by Michael L. Jones.
Noble died of cancer on August 4, 2012, and Edward Grimes died on March 25, 2017.
Discography
* ''
Handwriting
Handwriting is the writing done with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil, in the hand. Handwriting includes both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface
A typeface (or font family) is ...
'' (1995,
Quarterstick Records
Quarterstick Records is a sublabel of Touch and Go Records.
Artists
*Bad Livers
* Calexico
* DK3
*Dead Child
*June of 44
*Kepone
Chlordecone, better known in the United States under the brand name Kepone, is an organochlorine compound and a ...
)
* ''
Music for Egon Schiele'' (1996, Quarterstick)
* ''
The Sea and the Bells'' (1996, Quarterstick)
* ''
Selenography
Selenography is the study of the surface and physical features of the Moon (also known as geography of the Moon, or selenodesy). Like geography and areography, selenography is a subdiscipline within the field of planetary science. Historica ...
'' (1999, Quarterstick)
* ''
Full On Night
'' Full On Night '' is a collaborative EP between Rachel's and Matmos. It was released on Quarterstick Records in May 2000 and contains two tracks. Matmos remarks that:
:"The Precise Temperature of Darkness" is a reconstruction of "Full On N ...
'' Split disc with
Matmos
Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their per ...
(2000, Quarterstick)
* ''Significant Others'' (2002, Tour-only CD available at ATP)
* ''
Systems/Layers'' (2003, Quarterstick)
* ''Technology Is Killing Music'' EP (2005,
Three Lobed Recordings
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...
)
Band members
* Christian Frederickson – viola
* Edward Grimes – percussion, vibraphone (deceased)
* Rachel Grimes – piano, organ
* Greg King – vibraphone, djembe, film projections
* Eve Miller – cello
* Jason Noble – guitar, bass (deceased)
Contemporary usage
The Rachel's song "Water from the Same Source" was featured in the
movie
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
''
Hancock'', although it did not appear on the official
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
, and in the Italian film ''
The Great Beauty
''The Great Beauty'' ( it, La grande bellezza ) is a 2013 art drama film co-written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Filming took place in Rome starting on 9 August 2012. It premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it was screened in c ...
''. Furthermore, "Water from the Same Source" was featured in
Kirby Ferguson's fourth installment of his ''Everything is a Remix'' series. Their song "Even/odd" was used in
Reha Erdem
Reha Erdem (born 1960 in Istanbul) is a Turkish film director and screenwriter.
Biography
He attended Galatasaray High School and studied history at Boğaziçi University before leaving to study film in 1983. He obtained a B.A. in Cinema Studie ...
's film
''Kosmos''. "Lloyd's Register", from the album ''The Sea and the Bells'', made it into the French movie ''
Une liaison pornographique''. Their song "An Evening Of Long Goodbyes" provided the inspiration for the title of
Paul Murray's novel of that name. The 2017 satirical war film ''
War Machine'' features "NY Snow Globe".
See also
*
List of post-rock bands
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rachels
Chamber music groups
Musical groups from Louisville, Kentucky
American post-rock groups
Quarterstick Records artists
1991 establishments in Kentucky
Rock music groups from Kentucky
Musical groups established in 1991