Chessie is an American experimental music group consisting of Stephen Gardner and Ben Bailes. Gardner started Chessie in 1994, while he was a member of the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

band Lorelei. His first full-length as Chessie, ''Signal Series'', was issued in 1998 and was named Best Dance and DJ Album that year by

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

. In 2000 Gardner was joined by Bailes and they have since worked as a duo. While ''Overnight'' received critical acclaim and a spot on a ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' music critic's best-of-2001 list, a follow-up record did not materialize until 2008, when the group released ''Manifest'' on

Plug Research Plug Research is an independent record label, based in Los Angeles, California, US. Created by Allen Avanessian in 1994, the label specialized in IDM, folktronica and experimental music. The label began with young artists that have made its rep ...

. The repetitive nature of their music is inspired by trains and railroads. In 2022, Gardner became president and CEO of Amtrak.

Musical style

Reviewing ''Signal Series'', M. Tye Comer of ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'' considered Chessie a product of the closing gap between

and experimental electronica in the late 1990s. He noted that the album was a

sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage. This is often done throug ...

with raw

loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

s and influences from

dub music Dub is an electronic musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican re ...

and

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

Discography

Albums

*''Signal Series'' ( Drop Beat Records, 1998) *''Meet'' (Drop Beat, 1999) *''Overnight'' (

, 2001) *''Manifest'' (

, 2008)

EPs and collaborations

*''Approach Limited 7"'', 1996 *''Lost, Not Found 10"'', 2000 *''Alpha-Arvonia DVD&CD (with Colby Caldwell)'', 2004 *''Suburban Shore (as Camping, with Henning Fritzenwalder)'', 2004 *''Dual Mode EP'', 2006

References

External links

Chessie
American experimental musical groups Plug Research artists American post-rock musicians Electronica musicians American electronic musicians {{US-experimental-band-stub