Rachel's at Knitting Factory (Los Angeles, CA)

Rachel's - 2005 October 28Knitting Factory, Los Angeles, CA01: Moscow Is in the Telephone02: Even/Odd03: Cypress Branches04: Unknown05: And Keep Smiling06: First Self-Portrait Series07: Water from the Same Source08: Lloyd's Register09: A French Galleasse10: Unknown11: Tea Merchants See below to downloadFirst there was Johnny Cash. Then Bauhaus. Then David Byrne.The list of artists I wish I had seen in their prime is not a short one. Some I eventually got to see; some not.Chicago - where I lived '95/'96 - was in its post-rock heyday, but if you paid me it seems I couldn't have missed out on any more bands: Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, Gastr del Sol ... you name it, I missed it. So, it was with a mix of melancholy and anticipation that I headed out to see Rachel's play LA's Knitting Factory last October. I was of the mind that they'd play competently, but would have veered too far to be nostalgic and too wide to anymore be relevant.I was so wrong.Suprisingly, only four of the 11 songs heralded from their latest release, Systems/Layers. (At least I think so ... I don't own the album, and ID'ing instrumental numbers can be a bit tricky.) The best of these is "Water from the Same Source" which brilliantly exemplifies a description of Rachel's which I read somewhere: that they sound like the soundtrack to a happy movie with a sad ending. Of the three tracks from The Sea and the Bells, my personal favorite is "Lloyd's Register," which might well be among the band's finest songs to date. There are also two songs I can't identify ... track 4 was introduced as a "new song" and track 10, while it sounds familiar, I just can't place. (If anyone knows the names of these tracks, please do message me!)I don't recall who specifically was onstage during the show, but I understand that the opening act, Invert, sat in with Rachel's on this tour to augment their string section on "Cypress Branches," "Even/Odd," "Clusters" and "Four or Five Trees," some of which previously they had never been able to perform outside of the studio. Thus, enjoy this unique performance of a phenomenal band.Download the gig: mp3 format at multiply.com (personal listening only) lossless shn format at Dimeadozen (for trading / seeding)Buy Rachel's recordings: iTunes | AmazonPS: To record this show, I clipped binaural mics directly to the stage-left PA. One of the two channels was blown out completely, so I copied-and-pasted the better of the two into both channels, making this a mono recording. In doing so, I'm pleased to say that the more delicate moments in the recording now sound excellent. However, the louder bass/drum bits get distorted a titch, especially if you're listening over headphones. I did what I could to compensate for this in Adobe Audition, and this mastered version is the result.PPS: A poster from this tour is available for download here.Note: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.