Haujobb is a German electronic musical project whose output has ranged drastically within the electronic music spectrum, from electro-industrial to ambient and techno. They have become a staple crossover act, bringing several forms of electro into the mainstream industrial music world.

History

Haujobb was formed in 1992 by Daniel Myer, Dejan Samardzic, and Björn Junemann. Hailing from Germany, the trio were inspired by the music of Skinny Puppy, as Myer recalls: "When Too Dark Park was released... this was the initiative for us to make this kind of music." The name comes from the German translation of "skin job" from the film Blade Runner. They were soon signed to Off Beat, and began distributing their music in North America via Pendragon Records. Following the release of Freeze Frame Reality in 1995 saw the departure of bandmate Björn, the lineup has consisted of Daniel and Dejan ever since. After Metropolis Records acquired Pendragon, the two musicians have been able to spread their music to a larger fanbase in North America, and have remained continuously popular in the European industrial music scene. Over the course of their subsequent releases in the 1990s, they wove increasing amounts of drum 'n' bass and IDM influence into their sound. 1996's Solutions for a Small Planet marked the first stylistic deviation, including production credits by Guido Fricke of dark ambient duo La Floa Maldita and saxophone credits from Fricke's brother Andreas. 1999's NinetyNine deviated further into a sparse, downtempo collection of ambient electronic compositions. They have since reintroduced some of the more rhythmic elements back into their sound on their more recent albums, but have continued to experiment, drawing concepts from a wide variety of musical styles. In 2011, Haujobb released a new album with the title New World March which according to the band uses more hardware, guitars, drums, and sound recordings compared to software based Vertical Theory of 2003. In 2013 Haujobb created their own production label, Basic Unit Productions, and began releasing other artists such as Div|ider, Blush Response, and Black Nail Cabaret. Basic Unit Productions also released two compilations under the title Frost. In September 2015, Haujobb released the minimal-wave influenced, Blendwerk on Basic Unit Productions in Germany and on Negative Gain Productions in the United States. In early Haujobb liner notes and credits, Daniel was listed as D. Meier, however in more recent liner notes he is listed as Daniel Myer. In 2024, Haujobb released a pair of singles in advance of their planned tenth album, The Machine in the Ghost. The first of the two singles, "In the Headlights", reached number two on the German Alternative Charts (DAC). The second single, "Opposition", featured a vocal collaboration with Emese Árvai-Illés of Black Nail Cabaret.

Projects

Today, both Daniel Myer and Dejan Samardzic continue to record music under the name Haujobb – the duo also briefly recorded as Dots+Dashes. Myer has several other projects of his own, including Architect, Clear Vision (initially a collaboration with Thorsten Meier) as well as a number of other short-lived electronic projects. Myer, along with Claire Voyant's Victoria Lloyd, form HMB. While Newt is a collaboration with Andreas Meyer of Forma Tadre. More recent side-project collaborations of Myer include Destroid, also featuring Rinaldo Ribi Bite and Sebastian Ullmann and Radioaktivists with Frank M. Spinath, Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg and Sascha Lange. Daniel Myer also created the soundtrack for the Xbox game Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus.

Band members

Current members

Former members

Session/touring musicians

Former session/touring musicians

Timeline

Discography

As Haujobb

As Cleaner/Cleen/Clear Vision

As Destroid

As Architect

As h_m_b

As Newt

As Dots+Dashes

As Aktivist

As S'Apex

As Hexer

As Myer

As Standeg