DOUBLE LEOPARDS

Krautrock • United States

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Double Leopards biography
Double Leopards were an American post-industrial krautrock ensemble from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally formed in New York City around 1997 or 1998. The group began as the vision of Marcia Bassett (aka Za�mph; of GHQ and formerly un), Chris Gray (formerly of Wicked Finger) and Jon Chapman (aka Co., Inc.; of Sinking Infinities); with the latter's departure in 2001, the remaining members invited Mike Bernstein (aka Workbench) into the fold, who in turn recruited Maya Miller (aka Black Quarter), a visual artist and Double Leopards' only classically-trained member.

Double Leopards played strictly-improvised sustained drones imbued with the DNA of kosmische musik, industrial and space rock, emitting a bleak, viscous murk which took cues from Taj Mahal Travellers, the Theatre of Eternal Music, Cluster's first two LPs and Throbbing Gristle. The band achieved this sound through the use of vocals, guitar, keyboards and bass, processed beyond the point of recognisability via all sorts of junk electronics. Double Leopards' discography consists of twenty-five recordings of mostly limited edition cassettes, CDRs and LPs, issued on labels like American Tapes, U-Sound Archive and Bernstein and Miller's now-inactive Heavy Tapes (with a handful of collaborative releases featuring Detroit noise legends Wolf Eyes and their satellite project Dead Machines). Several releases are documents of the group's immersive live shows, known for the band members crouched over their equipment/FX on the stage floor and unfurling infinitely-delayed vocal-based sonic rituals - massively influential to Oneohtrix Point Never's Daniel Lopatin and fellow brothers-in-Kosugi James Ferraro and Spencer Clark. The quartet's best-known works are the studio albums A Hole Is True (2005, Troubleman Unlimited) and Halve Maen (2003, Eclipse Records); the latter, described as the 21st-century answer to Tangerine Dream's Zeit, received positive critical acclaim from Pitchfork Media, AllMusic and Arthur magazine (which called the double-LP "two records' worth" of Can's "Aumgn").

In the wake of 2006's Crippled Rosebud Binding split/collab with their friends Mouthus and Sunroof!, Double Leopards quietly splintered apart without an announcement. Bassett continued to record solo and with like-minded artists such as Samara Lubelski, Helena Espvall and her then-partner Matthew Bower in the Hototogisu duo while running her personal label Yew. White Rock members Bernstein and Miller focused atte...Double Leopards were an American post-industrial krautrock ensemble from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally formed in New York City around 1997 or 1998. The group began as the vision of Marcia Bassett (aka Za�mph; of GHQ and formerly un), Chris Gray (formerly of Wicked Finger) and Jon Chapman (aka Co., Inc.; of Sinking Infinities); with the latter's departure in 2001, the remaining members invited Mike Bernstein (aka Workbench) into the fold, who in turn recruited Maya Miller (aka Black Quarter), a visual artist and Double Leopards' only classically-trained member.

Double Leopards played strictly-improvised sustained drones imbued with the DNA of kosmische musik, industrial and space rock, emitting a bleak, viscous murk which took cues from Taj Mahal Travellers, the Theatre of Eternal Music, Cluster's first two LPs and Throbbing Gristle. The band achieved this sound through the use of vocals, guitar, keyboards and bass, processed beyond the point of recognisability via all sorts of junk electronics. Double Leopards' discography consists of twenty-five recordings of mostly limited edition cassettes, CDRs and LPs, issued on labels like American Tapes, U-Sound Archive and Bernstein and Miller's now-inactive Heavy Tapes (with a handful of collaborative releases featuring Detroit noise legends Wolf Eyes and their satellite project Dead Machines). Several releases are documents of the group's immersive live shows, known for the band members crouched over their equipment/FX on the stage floor and unfurling infinitely-delayed vocal-based sonic rituals - massively influential to Oneohtrix Point Never's Daniel Lopatin and fellow brothers-in-Kosugi James Ferraro and Spencer Clark. The quartet's best-known works are the studio albums A Hole Is True (2005, Troubleman Unlimited) and Halve Maen (2003, Eclipse Records); the latter, described as the 21st-century answer to Tangerine Dream's Zeit, received positive critical acclaim from Pitchfork Media, AllMusic and Arthur magazine (which called the double-LP "two records' worth" of Can's "Aumgn").

In the wake of 2006's Crippled Rosebud Binding split/collab with their friends Mouthus and Sunroof!, Double Leopards quietly splintered apart without an announcement. Bassett continued to record solo and with like-minded artists such as Samara Lubelski, Helena Espvall and her then-partner Matthew Bower in the Hototogisu duo while running her personal label Yew. White Rock members Bernstein and Miller focused attention on their more psych-rock-oriented band Religious Knives. For a time, Chris Gray carried on as the drummer for his own psych group Endless Boogie. And Jon Chapman stayed busy with Ray Off and New Zealand outfit Eye.

Double Leopards will excite listeners familiar with the Nazg�l, Book of Shadows, Endgame, Bonecloud, Aan, My Cat Is an Alien and the Skaters.

- Gordy, January 2025read more