At 03:40 PM 12/22/1999 -0500, you wrote:
quoted 5 lines Can someone give me a run down on what Chessie stuff is normally like?
>Can someone give me a run down on what Chessie stuff is normally like?
>I'm just listening to a track off 'Altered States of America', and really
>enjoying it. A crusty slow techno pulse with what sounds like slow guitar
>harmonics (could well not be) and a cool drum sample fading in and panning
>about in a different rhythm from the rest.
As the distinguished Mr Turgeon mentioned previously,
the Chessie track on the Altered States of America comp is
from his first cd/lp called Signal Series. That track is one
of the more experimental pieces on the cd. Other tracks
on Signal Series vary in style from experimental to indie
rock to chaotic murky d&b but all tracks incorporate some
form of guitar somewhere in the musical neighborhood of
Third Eye Foundation, My Bloody Valentine, and dropbeat
labelmate malcolm arthur.
The new Chessie album, Meet, adds a much darker
experimental electronic twist to the chessie sound. I have
yet to fully digest the new album only having listened
to it a few times but in that short span i've enjoyed it
alot - maybe even more than Signal Series which was
a favorite from last year.
Here is how Stephen Gardner (aka chessie) views his releases:
Chessie is a project I started in 1993 while I was in a band called
Lorelei. Originally, it was simply a venue for me to expirement
with the guitar, an instrument I could not touch by agreement
in Lorelei (I was the bassist), and explore my interest in trains.
As Lorelei came to an end, I started to devote more time to it
and at the suggestion of Drop Beat Records, I decided to release
something. Signal Series is a compilation of some of the material
I recorded between 1994 and 1997. Most of the material on the
record relates to my experiences either on or working with trains,
though I never use any "real" train sounds....
Here is the dropbeat writeup on Meet, the new Chessie album...
"With 1996's Signal Series,Chessie's Stephen Gardner
staked out a distinctive spot for himself on the electronic landscape.
Chessie blends live bass playing with heavily-syncopated beats
gathered and looped without samplers or sequencers, tempered
by a rigorous aesthetic more in line with the chance composition
techniques of modern classical artists than with your typical jungle
or IDM producer. The final result is music far-removed from the
strictures of the dancefloor, a soundspace that conjures images both
oceanic and gritty, a rhythmic train ride through that long, dark
tunnel..."
"The new Chessie album, Meet,goes so much farther into the
unknown that reasonable points of reference become harder to
find. Tracks like "Brake Test" and "Nowa Huta" move into a
slightly beatier realm, bringing to mind artists on the Karaoke
Kalk label, while cuts like "Between Asleep and Awake on
SP7591" and "Follow Me Home" defy analysis, plunging the
listener into fractured electronic sound wells that recall the
avant-rock group Laika if it was produced by 4 Hero at their
darkest. Yes, all the "right" influences are there in the grooves,
from Cage to Satie to Autechre, but Chessie is clearly onto
something quite different and special here. Where Signal
Series stunned with it's iconoclastic brilliance, Meethandily
surpasses it in every measure. It is an amazing, enveloping
album: a journey by railroad into the clanking, reverberating
night. "
For a better reference you can hear some RA snippets of tracks from
the new Chessie cd at
http://www.dropbeat.com/newbeats.html and
for RA snippets of older Chessie releases check the dropbeat discog/
sound bite page at:
http://www.dropbeat.com/label.html
Then you could also check out Chessie's official website at:
http://hamp.hampshire.edu/~sjgF94/chessie.cgi
-->-Lance---
lance@inaudible.com
p.o. box 450715
westlake, ohio 44145
united states
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