Music from the "Rauhnächte" - DIE WILDE JAGD go hunting in the thicket of Neo-Krautrock, Electronica and Synthpop.

Every year anew, during the Rauhnächte (those harsh nights between Christmas and Twelfth Day), the Wild Hunt (Die Wilde Jagd) rides across the country: raucous, jeering hunters from the nether world, whose path it is better not to cross. This is an ancient Germanic myth, which, in slightly varied form, is known in many parts of Europe and whose name Ralf Beck and Sebastian Lee Philipp have aptly chosen for their new project. The two first met in 2006 in Düsseldorf's Salon des Amateurs , a meeting place for new and established experimental musicians and artists, also known as Germany's "postpunk Hacienda". It seems no coincidence that Düsseldorf is the duo's founding city: their music is full of subtle references to local acts, such as Kraftwerk, NEU!, DAF, Liaisons Dangereuses, Pyrolator, the Krupps and Propaganda. Since their first meeting, Beck and Philipp regularly come together during the time of the Rauhnächte to record in Beck's well-equipped studio. Using the numerous analog keyboards and recording devices assembled there, and combining them with a diverse range of percussion instruments, they create their own "hunting music", which at times sounds unsettling, like swampland or a dark forest, but also urgent and pressing, like incandescent lasers or a hypnotic dance. Their soundscape is marked by repetitive guitar loops, electronic percussion, drums and synthesizers. 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, melodies and noises flit about before they are re-captured, structured and grounded by crystalline beats and pulsating bass lines.

About the musicians: Ralf Beck is a musician and producer from Düsseldorf. He has released several albums as part of the duo Nalin & Kane, as well as under the name Unit 4. He collects old synthesizers and effect pedals and has already worked together with Karl Bartos. In his studio Uhrwald Orange he has recorded music by Propaganda, Kreidler, Black Devil Disco and many more.

Sebastian Lee Philipp is part of the Berlin-based electro-wave duo Noblesse Oblige and composes music for theatre and radio plays. Between 2001 and 2006 he lived in London where he ran the club night "Caligula" and performed as a DJ.

TRACK LISTING

1 Wah Wah Wallenstein (7:46)
2 Austerlitz (7:24)
3 Torpedovogel (3:59)
4 Durch Dunkle Tannen (4:56)
5 Der Elektrische Reiter (6:45)
6 Morgenrot (6:27)
7 Jagd Auf Den Hirsch (7:25)
8 Der Meister (4:18)

For eight years now, songwriter and producer Sebastian Lee Philipp has been steering his project Die Wilde Jagd through the field of tension between contemporary electronic music and avant-pop. Between 2015 and 2020, three studio albums were produced as documents of Philipp's rigorous musical creativity. Most recently, «Atem», a composition for Roadburn Festival, was released in 2022, documenting yet another, more experi- mental side of the project. On the new, eagerly awaited fourth album, all these multi- faceted worlds are brought together in an impressive way.

«Ophio, Ophio» you say. Lies in the end of you Still the best ahead of me? With these lines from the title track, Sebastian Lee Philipp poses the question that spans over the entire album like a parenthesis. The work entitled «ophio» tells of constant trans- formation, the blurring of beginning, end, and the various dimensions in between.

«It's about the constant unfolding of the self, about the seductive forces of life, an ode to existence and the transformation to happiness.» Says Philipp himself about his concept- tual direction of the album. The meandering between leaving behind and starting anew is not only found in the lyrics, but also in the music itself. The production seems more consistent than ever before, stripping away all frills and trinkets, like a skin that has become too tight. The compositions form a concentrate in which every single sound finds its space. In a certain sense, it's like listening to an introspection in which the bundled voices become a single, demanding murmur that is both drone and whisper in equal measure.

I see you in blows of delight
Where have you been?
Make my eyes to love the things that want to love
(From «In Wonnenhieben», engl. «In Blows of Delight»)

As on the previous album «Haut», the drums were played by long-time stage partner Ran Levari. The new album also features cellist and singer Lih Qun Wong («Lihla»), who first joined Die Wilde Jagd for the Live performance of «Atem». This collaboration sounds particularly impressive on «The Hearth», the band's first English-language song. A beguiling track as if of shiny, heavy tar, carried by Philipp's dense composition, Levari's pulsating beats and lyricist Wong's voice. Other production partners were Philipp Otterbach («Kelch») and Vactrol Park («In Wonnenhieben»). Nina Siegler, who could already be heard as a duet partner in the song «Himmelfahrten», also lends her voice again to the tracks «Ouroboros» and «In Wonnenhieben».

When the journey ends after just under 50 minutes with the questions «Will your songs blind me again? Be sparkling eyes to me in the dark?» and dissonant choirs release you out into the distance, it's as if you're right back at the beginning again, only to set off once more. An album as strange as it is beautiful.

TRACK LISTING

1) Ein Anfang
2) Ophio
3) Perseveranz
4) Gnafna Nie
5) The Hearth (ft. Lihla)
6) In Wonnenhieben
7) Kelch
8) Ouroboros

Bonus 12":
1. Obus
2. The Hearth (Shelter Mix Ft. Lihla)
3. In Wonnenhieben (Douce Mix Ft. The Allegorist)

Die Wilde Jagd is the music project of producer and songwriter Sebastian Lee Philipp. Channelling minimalist, tenebrous intensity, Die Wilde Jagd's music weaves a dense and atmospheric web of drama, romance, ecstasy and melancholy Written for wooden organ pipes, cello, percussion and electronics.

A composition commissioned by Roadburn Festival. Performed by Sebastian Lee Philipp, Lih Qun Wong and Ran Levari.

Berlin based artist Sebastian Lee Philipp releases with his project Die Wilde Jagd a new work: "ATEM", a Live recording of his composition commissioned by the 2021 edition of Roadburn Festival, performed in Tilburg in the Netherlands on April 16th 2021.

An audacious 45-minute trip into the depths of evolution, organism and metabolism, this piece is an exploration of the mechanism and science of breathing and its essential role in life. Philipp himself plays synthesizers and an instrument developed specifically for the performance: a wooden organ pipe construction operated with an air compressor. The composer is joined on stage by collaborators Lih Qun Wong on cello and voice, as well as Ran Levari (who has played drums in Die Wilde Jagd since 2017) on percussion.

Speaking of his composition, Philipp says: "As human evolution enters new realms of reality, I find myself drawn to explore the basic essences of life: the things we are made of, that we take for granted and are, yet, still full of mystery. The parallels between breath and music are undeniable: pace, rhythm, volume and dynamic fluctuations influence us deeply. Breath is the elixir of life and the fuel for one of the most primitive vibrations: the human voice." The themes of creation and spirit within the composition are skillfully enhanced by Turkish Visual Artist Mürsel Güven.