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12"
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LOK 022EP
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CD
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LOK 022CD
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"It is no secret that we here at Lok musik love railways. So, imagine how excited we are to bring you a new release by Chessie, the US-based duo that has been making beautiful, compelling music inspired by railways for over 10 years! Chessie is one of the pioneers of the -- now ubiquitous -- pairing of experimental electronics and contemplative song-craft. Their timeless tracks, which have always transcended genre and fashion, never fail to draw attention and accolades. Chessie's three full-length releases, on the Drop Beat and Plug Research imprints, have been genre-defining works. Marked by off-kilter rhythms, dense textures, and a haunting harmonic core, Chessie's music has been the blueprint for the work of countless other artists. Dual Mode shows Chessie at the top of their form and features exclusive remixes of some of Overnight's stand out tracks. The EP begins with 'Velvet,' a spare, cinematic composition that showcases Chessie's magical ability to invoke both complexity and simplicity simultaneously. Next up is fellow Plug Researcher, Dntel (of The Postal Service fame), with a lush and triumphant remix of Overnight's 'Eyes and Smiles'. San Francisco's tech-house champion, Sutekh, follows with an explosive remix of 'Daylight'. The 12" closes with 'The Century,' Chessie's nod to their indie roots; a track that makes you wonder if the guys shouldn't start a side project making radio-hits. On the CD version of the EP, a meditative and pastoral remix of Overnight's 'K Tower' by New York's Basidium brings this brilliant set of recordings to a close."
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2LP
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SPL 012 LP
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Double LP version, last copies.
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CD
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SPL 012 CD
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"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 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 its iconoclastic brilliance, Meet handily surpasses it in every measure. It is an amazing, enveloping album: a journey by railroad into the clanking, reverberating night."
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LP
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SPL 05 LP
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LP version of this 1998 release.
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CD
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SPL 005CD
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First full length on Drop Beat and a major entry in the world of American-based experimental, drum'n'based-flavored sound. "Chessie is the working name for Virginia resident Stephen Gardner, a young and talented multi-instrumentalist who began his music career several years ago at the age of 16 with cult anti-rock group Lorelei. Bass is Gardner's main instrument, and it was his depth-charge deep dub-influenced basslined that gave Lorelei it's signature sound. Electronic music was always an interest, with a particular leaning towards modern classical electronic composition and the sample-heavy works of groups like Moonshake and Laika... It is on this organic base that Gardner adds live bass and guitar, creating a mesmerizing mixture of edgy beats, unsettling soundscapes and often improvised melodies. His ongoing college studies into composition and improvisation clearly pay off in tracks that cannily blend structure with chance, the familiar and the startling. It is truly a new music -- one that refers to the currently popular strands of jungle, post-rock ad dub, but moves well beyond the usual facile and superficial 'experiments' into a more ambitious and far deeper realm."
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