Whether it’s Fusion Festival, Berlin’s Ritter Butzke, Sisyphos, Kater Blau, or Amsterdam Dance Event, these performances have taken DJ, music producer and label owner Juliane Wolf to many places. She has shared stages with the likes of Guy J, Marc Romboy, Andreas Henneberg, Joris Delacroix, Darin Epsilon, and many more.
Besides live gigs, Juliane has also discovered the world of producing. This discovery has led to many releases and remixes on labels such as 3000Grad, The Soundgarden, Dear Deer Music, EIN2, Poesie Musik, and many others. Juliane’s tracks have been supported by artists such as Hernan Cattaneo, Nick Warren, Sasha, Eelke Kleijn, Karotte, and Petar Dundov.
Out of a desire to be more independent as an artist, Juliane founded her own label Wizarding Wolf in 2019. The label has become a successful platform for Juliane’s own tracks and remixes as well as music from artists such as Antrim, Weird Sounding Dude, and Luciano Scheffer. Juliane presents new tracks in her monthly radio show Wizarding Wolf Radio on Proton Radio, DI.FM, and Saturo Sounds.
Balance Selections 253: Juliane Wolf
Tracklisting:
1. Felix Raphael – Gentle Nights (Yannek Maunz Remix)
2. Nihil Young & Juliane Wolf – Glacier
3. Solee – Sternstunde
4. Sam Hopgood – Flow
5. Aves Volare & Heerhorst – Shadows
6. Ben Böhmer – Purple Line
7. Wolf Ear & Fassbender feat. SHERiNNE – Open Your Heart (Jamie Stevens Dub)
8. Steve Parry – Fenner (Bebetta Remix)
9. Jordan Arts – Falling
10. DNA – Bass Melody (Acid Dub)
11. VONDA7 – High Tide
12. Einmusik & Lexer feat. Jyll – Leave You (Extended Mix)
13. Dowden – Urias
14. Alex Kaspersky & Wally Lopez – Simpatia (Juliane Wolf Remix)
15. Jamie Stevens – Fool Me Once
16. Earthlife – Relive
17. Einmusik – Nosara
18. Ivan Aliaga – Green Vastness (Claudio Cornejo (AR) Remix)
19. Somelee – Solar Symphony
20. Jamie Stevens & Joe Miller – Pluto
21. Joe Hisaishi – One Summer’s Day
Balance Selections Q+A
Name: Juliane Wolf
Location: Greiz (Germany)
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Alias/Producer name: Juliane Wolf
Labels affiliated with: 3000Grad, The Soundgarden, Dear Deer, Wizarding Wolf (label owner)
My last 3 releases:
Juliane Wolf – Arya
Juliane Wolf – Safe Place
Juliane Wolf – Space Walk
What music did you listen to as a child?
My grandpa was a musician who played bass, guitar and piano. My grandma was also very musical and played congas and bongos and she was a dancer in the famous Hans Eisler Ensemble in the GDR. I didn’t learn any instruments except for one year of keyboard lessons I took when I was 11. Looking back I think that these lessons helped me learn basic things about chords and harmonies, which is very important for me now while producing and mixing.
When was the first time that you realised that you liked electronic music?
When I look back 10 years ago I clearly realise that I was always interested in music and audio. I just didn’t know it myself back then. For example I started working at a local radio station after leaving school and was fascinated by the technology. When I studied German language at university, I was also part of the college radio. That was also what brought me into the world of DJ’ing. One day I was working on a feature about a local DJ workshop at the Club Kassablanca in Jena. I went to the DJ workshop to interview the people there and after the interview they said “Now that you’ve interviewed all of us, you also have to try to mix two vinyls together“ – and that’s how it all started 🙂
When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?
It must have been in a local club near my hometown of Greiz, around 2006, when I had just left school. I’m almost sure it wasn’t a techno rave, most parties had hip hop and R&B DJs. But whatever the genre, I was always fascinated by the way DJs worked, the technology they used and how they interacted with the crowd. Later, when I went to university in Jena, I went to a lot of techno & house parties and fell in love with this music. I spent a lot of nights and days at Muna or Kassablanca and was very influenced by the Freude am Tanzen label with artists like Marek Hemmann, and Mathias Kaden. After living in many places, in 2021 I moved back to my hometown Greiz and visited Marek in his studio in Gera. It was so surreal and cool to meet him again after so many years. I am really thankful for the influence of people like Marek and Mathias and the local clubs, because they made me discover the music that now fills my whole soul and makes me so happy.
Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?
I am always inspired by people who push their sound up to a level where I, as a listener, think: “Oh, this artist has a new record out, I have to listen to it, it will be good“. To get to that level, I think three things have to come together: the sound design, the emotion in the music and also the vibe around the artist. It’s hard to describe. I have this with producers like Jamie Stevens, Einmusik, Cream, 8Kays, Will DeKeizer, and many others. When you recognise their signature sound and you also know that whatever the upcoming release is going to be, it is going to sound good and will have a certain character! This is also what I want to achieve with my music.
What was the last album that you downloaded/bought?
Amir Telem – Art of Compassion
‘Art of Compassion’ is a very experimental, diverse, emotional and danceable album, where Amir shows all his different artistic shades
Ron Flatter – Ronaparde
‘Ronaparde‘ is a really high level produced album, on which my good friend Ron has also sneaked in fascinating parts like the sounds of his little son. A very personal piece of music with a lot of groovy dance tracks as well.
What is your current production and DJ set up like?
At the moment I mainly use software, although I do have some hardware synths like the Neutron. For production, I use a MacBook Pro with Ableton Live connected to a monitor and a sound interface with 2 ADAM T8V speakers. I also have a pair of high quality studio headphones to double-check a mixdown. For DJing and livestreams I have a XDJ-RX2 DJ console that has all basic features of a CDJ-2000 NXS and can be operated with just USB drives, no laptop is needed.
What releases do you have on the horizon?
I had the pleasure to collaborate with great talent and really nice person Nihil Young recently. Our track ‘Glacier’ is also on this mix for Balance Series. I am also working on a collab with the great producers of Callecat from the Netherlands and another one with my friend Hillmer. In the last few months I have been busy with a lot of remixes for artists like Wally Lopez & Alex Kaspersky which is also in this mix. I also remixed beautiful originals by MPathy, Cary Crank & Aves Volare, Iorie and others. I can’t wait for all of these tracks to be released!
Where can we hear you perform?
My next gig will be near my hometown of Greiz at the deep with you Open Air at Burg Osterstein Gera with a great line-up with Moonbootica headlining. It’s always an honour for me to play with artists now that I saw at the stages of big festivals when I was younger. I’m also looking forward to playing at the Ritter Butzke showcases this summer and in early autumn – I’ll be playing with them in Munich, Paderborn, and Aachen. For my recent DJ gigs, you can check out my calendar here.
Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?
A little insight into the recording process of this mix: It took me 3 days in total. I recorded the first version of this mix on my console, but when I listened to it afterwards I noticed that there was crackling all over the mix, a technical problem I think. But, I thought “it is what it is”, so I re-recorded it with Traktor DJ and found new tracks while recording that I wouldn’t have added in the first place, so in the end it was something good 🙂
I would like to thank all my producer friends and labels who sent me their unreleased music for this mix. In the set you can hear my collaboration with Nihil Young, as well as my remix for Alex Kaspersky & Wally Lopez, which will be released on Dear Deer in August. I also played some of my favourite tracks of all time like ‘Leave You‘ by Einmusik, Lexer, and Jyll.
My Recommendations
The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:
Beth Lydi – Lucid Nights
I think the whole vibe of this track will get everyone’s attention on the dancefloor! Beth also has such a positive energy which always radiates throughout the clubs when she plays 🙂
If I could recommend only one of my tracks for you to listen to it would be:
Juliane Wolf – Love Conquers All
If I could recommend only one track for you to listen to it would be:
Max Cooper – Simplexity (Rone Remix)
I remember when I first heard this remix in 2014. It made me want to produce this kind of beautiful music myself. I love the whole composition with the intro and outro.
The last movie I watched that I really liked:
Howl’s Moving Castle (for the 10th time or so) – I’m a big Studio Ghibli fan, which is why I now have two tattoos from the ‘My Neighbour Totoro‘ anime.
My favourite TV show:
I like to watch shows and documentaries that deal with social and political problems in today’s world. On German TV there is a show called ‘13 Fragen‘ (13 Questions) where two groups of three experts each debate a certain controversial topic. A presenter guides through the discussion. Sometimes the debate gets emotional, but each side always has their arguments. It’s interesting to watch and I always learn something.
