Philipp Jung, Co-Founder of Get Physical and M.A.N.D.Y., Has Died

Philipp Jung, a German DJ and producer, died at age 55. He was known for forming M.A.N.D.Y. with Patrick Bodmer and for co-founding the Get Physical label in the early 2000s. Jung previously worked as an A&R in the 1990s. Get Physical focused on song-oriented dance music suited to both living rooms and clubs, and it was named label of the year in 2005. Key releases included M.A.N.D.Y. tracks, Booka Shade’s remix of “O Superman,” and Samim’s “Heater.” Jung continued steering Get Physical and Kindisch, launched Metaphysical in 2020, and released his own music, including a remix compilation. He had moved from Berlin to Costa Rica and expected a child, and he emphasized music as an art form that never reveals its final secret.

"Philipp Jung, the German DJ and producer behind the electronic duo M.A.N.D.Y. and the influential Get Physical label, has died. The British DJ Damian Lazarus, a onetime Get Physical signee, shared the news on May 20, giving his age as 55. Jung's personal Facebook page and his labels' Instagrams have since posted their own tributes. No cause of death was given."

"Jung worked as an A&R in the 1990s before teaming up with childhood friend Patrick Bodmer to form M.A.N.D.Y. and Get Physical in the early 2000s. They and the label's other founders- DJ T., and Booka Shade's Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger-set out to form close relationships with a roster of artists whose "song-oriented dance music," as they put it, equally suited living rooms and clubs. DJ Mag named it the label of the year in 2005."

"In an interview with Fifteen Questions, Jung reflected, "Not to romanticise it too much, but there was this energy you can't really explain when a bunch of nerds and friends put their heads together just to create something." Key releases such as M.A.N.D.Y. and Booka Shade's remix of Laurie Anderson's "O Superman" and Samim's accordion-laden " Heater " were crossover hits, while the label burrowed into a nexus between minimal and tech-house that quietly reverberated throughout the decade."

""I still believe music is the highest form of art because it never reveals its final secret," he said in the Fifteen Questions interview. "You never fully understand why something moves you so deeply-why it makes you laugh or cry. So I'll keep doing it and patiently wait for those moments to appear again.""

Read at Pitchfork