Die Wilde Jagd is the project of Sebastian Lee Philipp, who released one of the most interesting albums for me with his debut almost ten years ago. His mixture of electronic, krautrock, medieval lyricism and complex melodies also fascinated me live.
The sound has continuously evolved over the years and reached its final stage with Haut in 2020. our tracks in 45 minutes. No more pop songs, no more catchy interludes. Instead, the full blast of krautrock. The album is a single cosmic trip that reaches its climax in Himmelfahrten. The song surges up and down, verses and choruses alternate, the intensity continues to increase. After more than five minutes, a distorted guitar suddenly enters the soundscape. This is music about and for LSD trips.
If one band has developed krautrock further in recent years, then it is Die Wilde Jagd.
Perhaps someone still remembers Tangerine Dream, a German band that dedicated itself to electronic music in the early 70's. For many, their symphonic electronic compositions were too closely associated with the New Age movement and were one of the reasons why they turned to punk and new wave. It was only in the last decade that I realized that this music can have its appeal.
Peter Baumann was an almost permanent member of the band and played a key role in shaping their sound with his keyboards. In the mid-90's, he sold his record company for good money in order to devote himself to philanthropic themes in San Francisco. In 2016, he reappeared on the music scene and released an electronic album that is much more accessible.
Now Sebastian Lee Philipp from the Berlin band Die Wilde Jagd has taken on one of Baumann's songs. Philipp describes the remix as ‘slow and fast, dark and light, systematic and aberrant - like life itself’. And yes, the new percussive basic structure and the flutes that flow in make this remix something fascinating, at least for someone who has always liked Die Wilde Jagd.
Die Wilde Jagd is a German electronic duo by producer and songwriter Sebastian Lee Philip and aided by Düsseldorf based musician Ralf Beck. Since their self titled debut in 2015 I had a huge fondness to their electronic sound and featured them several times at this place. To create a melange of reduced electronic sounds and beats with cryptic German lyrics was new to me. I was lucky enough to see them live a few years ago and was surprised that this kind of music works live very well. The recent days they released a new song with a remix by Ivan Smagghe of a song from their debut album. It's a song I listened often when it was released not only because it offered a jazzy mood in the second half.
This made me listen to another song from their debut. A dark atmosphere with tribal rhythms and electronic eruptions.
Through dark pine trees, out of senses, Tightly braced by black trunks On horses, fast as lightning Enraptured by the horizon In remembrance of two gentlemen With long hair and curls as dense as blackamoor Towards the sea So close to the shark pair The marriage planned long ago A unification of what happened In streams of waves as tall as sails Standing pallid in the wind Hoofs step to thunderous drums Storm sails that sing like harps Calling ghosts Who, long yearned for, let us drift Into tall forests of tomorrow The tale is told
During the last years Sebastian Lee Philipp's project Die Wilde Jagd was featured on this little place of the internet. I have to admit that I still have a big fondness to him and his music. Now he released his latest output a 45 minute long journey through a a musical cosmos where strictly rhythms collide with krautrock tunes, spacy guitars and strange organ sounds. I know it takes a lot of time but it is worth to join the trip.
Die Wilde Jagd, probably today's best electronic music concept released their fourth album Haut (Skin) early this year in April. Many bands repeats themself by further releases but producer and songwriter Sebastian Lee Phillip explores together with co-producer Ralf Beck new dimensions, spaces and universes in sound on mostly repitative and hypnotic rhythms. The lyrics doesn't matter because they are cryptic with a medieval touch. The music speaks for itself.
I featured Die Wilde Jagd almost a half year ago when their second album was released. It is now the project of Berlin based multi instrumentalist Sebastian Lee Philipp and you can name the music as a hybrid of repetitive percussion combined with influences of middle-age folk and world music in a jam. From easy and at the same time hypnotic percussion rhythms, in the background swelling sythies and repetitive guitar figures to existing passages of "Flederboy" sound for me like a fusion of the Berliners (e.g., to Klaus Schulz) and the inhabitant of Dusseldorf (e.g., La Dusseldorf) school for the electronic music. If you have the time for a more than 15 minutes lasting trio into electronic spheres - I can recommend this to you
It was three years ago when a German electronic duo surprised me with an album that is still on rotation in my house. A few days ago they released their second record Uhrwerk Orange. When they had on their first album tracks that impressed me with their hypnotic sounds I looked forward what will be the next. They didn't copy their style another time and moved forward to a trip through Krautrock and electronic adventures. If her first album was quite unusual and eclectic, they have gone with her second album still 1 step more strictly. It sounds like Einstürzende Neubauten doped on Valium. Long songs with endless loops From percussion and bass dominated tracks alternate with almost already folky sounds. It can be an 80 minutes trip into space if you have a similar affection to spacey sounds. I saw them live a few month ago in a small club and have to say that they are worth to be seen on stage.
Todays selection of eclectic albums feature some artist making songs without words. It is music I use to listen to when it was later in the evening to get grounded after a long working day.
First one is Moon Duo that released their Occult Architectures 1 and 2 also this year. After four records it seems like they found the sound of their own. Corroded guitars, loopy keyboard lines, krautrock rhythms, and psychedelic strains conjuring both the whirling cosmos and droning abyss. Some might say they sound too sinister but I am always ready if they take me out for a ride.
Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet is a long time traveller in electronic music. During many years he tried to combine different types of sound into his music and with New Energy he finally put them all together in one album. You can find his warm downtempo sounds as well as his free jazz adventures on this record. Not music for everyone but I often find new particles in his sound.
Since a few years I listen often to the output of Yorkshire musician and producer Mark Osborne aka Mono Life. He released his latest album called Sandalphon this year and it is still on a high level. Some might say it is only electronic music but I say it is different to many other artists trying to a job like this. Mono Life is able to create a carpet of sound filled with a downtempo rhythm and great melodies.
I cannot resist to feature a new German band that I listened often to this year even if they speak some words. Die Wilde Jagd enjoys with a warm percussive sound. Sadly I miss them while they play live at my place during my holidays.
Back to electronic music and a band that impressed me much this year. Die Wilde Jagd (The Wild Hunt) is one of the latest bands from Düsseldorf which keeps the spirit of this city alive. Düsseldorf is well known as the birthplace of German punk and electronic music. Krautrock is the synonym I would give them because they they formed a sound that Cluster, Faust or other bands of this genre would play in these days. It is a musical project by Ralf Beck and Sebastian Lee Phillip both trying to find a new sound based on German myths. Their soundscape is marked by repetitive guitar loos, electronic percussion, drums an sythesizers. Booming tom-toms and medieval-sounding flutes herald the start of the hunt. Whispering, reciting voices conjure up the spirits of the woods, while synthetic sounds and melodies and noices filt about before they are re-captured, structured and grounded by crystalline beats and pulsing bass lines. This record is like a trip backwards to the golden times of Krautrock played with a very modern style.
Another German band/project appeared during the last days and made me listen to them. They call oneself Die Wilde Jagd (The Wild Hunt) and it a collaboration of two guy met in Düsseldorf at a meeting place for new and established musicians and artists at the so called as Germany's postpunk Hacienda. Their music is full of small references to local acts of the 80 such as Kraftwerk, NEU!, DAF, Liaison Dangereuses, Pyrolator and The Krupps. Their soundscape is marked by repetitive guitar loops, electronic percussion, drums and synthesizers. Most of the songs are grounded by crystalline beats and their pulsing bass lines. Their name is based on a German myth I had my mother to ask for if she knows something about it. And she agreed that it is an old legend that every year anew, during the so called Rauhnächte (those harsh nights between Christmas and Twelfth Day), the Wild Hunt rides across the country: raucous, jeering hunters from the netherworld, whose path is better not to cross. I love the myth and the music as well. Don't be afraid of the sound.
