Chessie (band)
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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. post-rock 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.[1] In 2000 Gardner was joined by Bailes and they have since worked as a duo.[2] While Overnight received critical acclaim[3] and a spot on a New York Times music critic's best-of-2001 list,[4] a follow-up record did not materialize until 2008, when the group released Manifest on Plug Research. The repetitive nature of their music is inspired by trains and railroads.[5][6][7][8]
Reviewing Signal Series, M. Tye Comer of CMJ New Music Monthly considered Chessie a product of the closing gap between post-rock and experimental electronica in the late 1990s. He noted that the album was a sound collage with raw loops and influences from dub music and drum and bass.[11]
