Demdike Stare

Demdike Stare was a project founded in 2009 in Manchester, England by two well-known characters from that city's music scene, Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty. The project's name is an extension of Whittaker's main act Pendle Coven, which is named for the infamous 1612 witch trials centered around Pendle Hill in Lancashire. It follows that the duo's music should be suitably creepy, and it is; their haunting soundscapes, rooted in dub and the stark minimalism of techno, are infused with exotic rhythms and samples, and at times have a disturbingly otherworldly quality, as though transmitted from the other side. Their debut album, Symbiosis, was issued in 2009. ~ John Buchanan