Rachel Carns (born August 13, 1969) is an American musician, composer, artist and performer living in Olympia, Washington, U.S.[1][2] Raised in small-town Wisconsin, she went on to study painting and drawing at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, where she completed her B.F.A.

She is a celebrated graphic designer, working under the name System Lux, and plays drums and percussion with experimental performance art group Cloud Eye Control.

Kicking Giant played around New York City and the northeast with bands like Codeine, Uncle Wiggly, and fellow "love-rockers" Sleepyhead; Carns continued to expand her stand-up kit, building around the central floor tom, anchor to Yu's whirling guitar and bedrock of their unique sound.

Live, their largely improvised mash of punk, free jazz, sugar-candy pop, and pure poetry meant that Kicking Giant never played the same set, or even the same song, twice.

Through the underground fanzine network, Yu became penpals with Liz Phair and members of Bratmobile, trading tapes and letters and zines and introducing the band to Riot Grrrl, a movement that merged Do It Yourself culture and feminism.

In the summer of 1991 Kicking Giant played the International Pop Underground Convention in Olympia with bands like Bikini Kill, Beat Happening, Fugazi, L7, Unwound, and Jad Fair.

The energy of the northwest punk scene was infectious, and both members were ready to leave New York; the duo parted ways temporarily in 1992 when Yu moved to Olympia and Carns to Washington, D.C.

After the band's demise in 1996, Carns continued playing drums and keyboards with CeBe singer and future filmmaker Miranda July and guitarist Shannon Tragedy (later known as Radio Sloan); they named the new line-up The Need.

The Need's unsettling brand of cyborgian deconstructive art rock (and Carns' distinctive artwork) both set them apart and ensured their versatility; they played shows at venues such as DUMBA with such diverse acts as Glass Candy, Tribe 8, Fugazi, and The Ex, and toured with Le Tigre, BS 2000, and Blonde Redhead.

In the meantime, Carns collaborated with future bandmate Kwo (later known as Ghost) to write an original score for the punk performance art cabaret Dr. Frockrocket's Vivifying (Re-Animatronic) Menagerie And Medicine Show.