Chessie - "Overnight"

From DJ Martian Archive - Sunday, September 30, 2001

"I received this info from an IDM discussion group on Yahoo Groups. Chessie - I received this info from an IDM discussion group on Yahoo Groups. Chessie - Overnight will be released on Plug Research on November 14th.

Comparisons to such disparate artists as My Bloody Valentine, Laika and Aphex Twin are all equally valid and give some idea of the wide-ranging influences at work on the Chessie sound

RELEASE INFO CHESSIE 'OVERNIGHT'


Artist: Chessie
Title: Overnight
Format: CD / 2xLP
Label: Plug Research (CD), 2.nd rec (LP)
Cat. Nr.: PR 31 / 2-nd 004
Distribution: EFA
Release Date: 14.11.2001

Tracks:
Electro-Motive, Daylight, K-Tower, Lineside, Pantograph Up, Cross
Harbor Interchange, Northern Native Junction, S To U, Eyes And Smiles



- "Overnight" is a ghostly meditation on the aesthetics of late night
train travel.

- One of the first projects to combine post-rock and experimental
electronic music.

- A swirling, indistinct realm of sonic abstraction with influences
ranging from the Beach Boys to My Bloody Valentine and Satie.

- 3rd album by an artist who combines live instruments, found sounds,
and non-sequenced electronics.


Somewhere between asleep and awake there is a suspended dream state
where sounds float and pulsate, where you can no longer trust your
senses. Chessie is the soundtrack to this special place.

Over the course of three albums, Chessie's Stephen Gardner has
plumbed a swirling, indistinct realm of sonic abstraction. Inspired
by the sounds of railways, his work has blended electro-acoustic
production
techniques, live playing and non-sequenced electronics in an effort
to capture the spirit and emotion of rail
travel. The propulsive, inexorable clank of steel on track forms the
rhythmic backbone of the Chessie
compositions, and makes a particularly American counterpart to the
motorik rhythms of much post-Kraftwerk music.

Begun in 1993 as a solo project, Gardner released two brilliant and
highly acclaimed albums of Oakland, CA's Drop Beat: "Signal Series"
in 1997 and "Meet" in 1999. Sparked by a love of chance composition
and avant garde rock and electronica, these seminal albums combined
acoustic instrumentation and processed found sounds and beats in an
entirely unique and seamless way. Comparisons to such disparate
artists as My Bloody Valentine, Laika and Aphex Twin are all equally
valid and give some idea of the wide-ranging influences at work on
the Chessie sound.

During the production of "Meet", Gardner began working with Ben
Bailes, and it is this very fruitful partnership that brings us
"Overnight." The nine songs on "Overnight" are a deliberate
meditation on the aesthetics of late night travel, and especially
travel by train. Tracks like "Cross Harbor Interchange" and
"Daylight" are positively mesmerizing with circular rhythms, graceful
strums of melodic guitar and pulsing, gated blasts of steam-like
noise. More abstract cuts like "Electromotive" are tone poems
constructed from samples and
displaced, skeletal sounds. The overall effect is ghostly and
penumbral, redolent of echoey tunnels and that last bit of darkness
just before the sun rises.

CHESSIE BIO

Begun in 1993 as the project of Stephen Gardner from Arlington, VA,
Chessie explores the physical,
emotional, and aesthetic aspects of railways through sound. Gardner,
who has worked for and traveled extensively on railways, processes
his railroad experiences through various Electro-acoustic production
methods including analog tape techniques, acoustic instruments, and
sequencer-less recordings. Following two full length LP/CD's (Drop
Beat's 1997's "Signal Series" and 1999's "Meet") and various singles,
Gardner was joined full-time by Ben Bailes, a sound engineer and
producer based in New York City, who has been listening intently to
the world around him for as long as he can remember. The two started
collaborating in 1998 while Gardner was recording "Meet", and came to
enjoy working as a duo. In the summer of 2000, Gardner and Bailes
began writing and recording "Overnight", a new LP/CD that features 9
compositions dedicated to railways and train travel throughout the
night."

Check out his blog listings archive. Goes all the way back to Sep 2000.