Jeff Mills

Infobox musical artist
Name = Jeff Mills

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Img_capt = Jeff Mills DJing at Smartbar in Chicago. Photo by: Purplexed
Background = non_performing_personnel
Birth_name = Jeff Mills
Alias =
Born = birth date|1963|6|18|mf=y
Detroit, U.S.
Died =
Origin =
Instrument = Turntables
Genre = Techno
Occupation = Disc jockey
Label = [http://www.axisrecords.com/ Axis Records]
Associated_acts =
URL =
Current_members =
Past_members =

Jeff Mills (born 18 June 1963 in Detroit, Michigan U.S.A.) is an influential Techno DJ and producer from Detroit.

Life

In the 1980s, Mills was an influential radio DJ on WJLB under the pseudonym "The Wizard." Mills' sets were a highlight of the nightly show from "The Electrifying Mojo," Charles Johnson. Complementing Mojo's eclectic playlists, Mills would do advanced DJ tricks like beat juggling and scratching while mixing obscure Detroit Techno, Miami Bass, Chicago House and classic New Wave tracks both live and using a multi track when pre-recorded.

In going on to create his own music Jeff Mills is credited with laying the foundations for the highly influential Detroit Techno collective, Underground Resistance, alongside 'Mad' Mike Banks, a former Parliament bass player. Just like Public Enemy did some years before in hip hop, these men confronted the mainstream music industry with revolutionary rhetoric. Dressed in uniforms with skimasks and black combat suits, they were ‘men on a mission’, aiming at giving techno more content and meaning.

Mills would never leave UR officially, but later on he still went his own way. He moved to New York and after a short stay in Berlin (Tresor) ended up in Chicago. There in 1992, with fellow Detroit native Robert Hood, he set up his most important record label, Axis, aiming for a simpler more minimalClarifyme|date=August 2008 sound than most of the techno being produced in those years. [www.axisrecords.com/] Later sub-labels were created:Purpose Maker, Tomorrow, and 6277.

His albums and EPs are mostly separate tracks of his compositions, which Mills would mix into the live DJ sets for which he became a legend. Mills has been credited for his exceptional turntable skills. Tracks are almost chopped to bits to showcase the strongest fragments for his relentless sound collages. He usually uses three decks, a Roland 909 drum-machine and up to seventy records in one hour.

The live DJ-mix album "Mix-Up Volume 2" is a highly-regarded example of Mills' 1990s stage show, recorded at the Liquid Room in Tokyo.

"A decade back, while not exactly establishing a precedent, Detroit deejay Jeff Mills unleashed a recording of one of his live deejay sets at the Liquid Room's former Kabukicho residence," assessed Andrez Bergen in 2005, in Japan's "Daily Yomiuri" newspaper. "Titled "Mix-Up Vol. 2", it was a relentless techno masterpiece, warts and all, that combined two diverse channels in the mix: the actual music itself, along with the audience's response." ["Live At Womb", Andrez Bergen. "Daily Yomiuri", February 2005.]

The "Exhibitionist" album contains a live show from 2004.

More recentlywhen he appears to be taking extended forays into epic techno (such as his re-scoring of "Metropolis", which he performed live with the original film) and his 16 September 2004 7-hour set with Laurent Garnier at Fabric. The epic proportions were further extended when his 2006 album "Blue Potential" was recorded with the Montpellier Philharmonic Orchestra under Alain Altinoglu. There is a DVD of the concert at which the album was recorded, an opportunity to see Mills in action, live on stage.

His "Exhibitionist" DVD, from 2004, features him mixing live on three decks and CD player in a studio, stark and simple. There are several mixes, one of Axis tracks, two of Jeff Mills tracks, and another of various artists. The mixes are shot from several cameras, up close, and his long graceful fingers fly over the gear, furious, his genius and skill on full display. The DVD also includes an interview with him, and another one with Octave One.

He also reached 2nd in the charts on 1996Fact|date=August 2008

Releases

Albums

* 1992 Waveform Transmission - Volume 1
* 1994 Waveform Transmission - Volume 3
* 1996 Mix-Up Volume 2 Live at the Liquid Room (a live DJ set)
* 1996 Purpose Maker Compilation
* 1997 The other Day
* 1999 From the 21st
* 2000 Every Dog Has Its Day
* 2000 Metropolis (soundtrack to the Fritz Lang film)
* 2000 The Art of Connecting
* 2000 Lifelike
* 2002 Actual
* 2002 At First Sight
* 2004 Exhibitionist (a live DJ set, also available as a DVD)
* 2004 Choice: A Collection of Classics
* 2005 The Three Ages (new soundtrack to the Buster Keaton film)
* 2005 Contact Special
* The Mission Objective (2005) (a live DJ set)
* 2006 Blue Potential
* 2007 One Man Spaceship
* 2008 Gamma Player Compilation Vol 1: The Universe By Night

Axis

* AX-001 - Tranquilizer (Mills & Robert Hood)
* AX-003 - One man spaceship
* AX-004 - Mecca
*the Mills and Hood 'Drama' EP from 1994 has now been re-released/enhanced as AX-041 Suspense/Dramatized
* AX-006 - More Drama
* AX-008 - Cycle 30
* AX-009 - AX-009 Series
* AX-010 - Growth
* AX-011 - Purpose Maker
* AX-012 - Humana
* AX-015 - Other Day EP
* AX-016 - Very (first released vinyls were perfume-scented to 'enhance the idea of influence through interaction'
* AX-018 - Tomorrow EP
* AX-019 - Apollo
* AX-020 - Every Dog has its Day
* AX-021 - Lifelike EP
* AX-022 - Metropolis
* AX-023 - Every Dog has its Day Vol. 2
* AX-024 - UFO / 4 Art
* AX-026 - Every Dog has its Day Vol. 3
* AX-030 - Every Dog has its Day Vol. 4
* AX-036 - See the Light Part 1
* AX-037 - See the Light Part 2
* AX-038 - See the Light Part 3
* AX-040 - The Tomorrow Time Forgot
* AX-043 - Time Mechanic (EP) (
* AX-044 - Blade Runner (EP) (inspired by the Ridley Scott film)
* AX-103 - Thera EP (1992)

Purpose Maker

Purpose Maker is a funky tribal techno label from Jeff Mills.

* PM-001 - Java
* PM-002 - Kat Moda
* PM-003 - Force Universelle
* PM-004 - Our Man in Havanna
* PM-005 - Steampit
* PM-006 - Vanishing Act
* PM-007 - Live Series
* PM-008 - Skin Deep
* PM-009 - If/Tango
* PM-010 - Circus
* PM-012 - Jetset
* PM-014 - Electrical Experience
* PM-015 - Divine
* PM-016 - Kana
* PM-020 - The Bells [10th Anniversary]
* PM-021 - Natural World
* PMWCD9601 - Purpose Maker Compilation [CD]
* PMWLP9601 - Purpose Maker Compilation [2xLP]

Tomorrow

* TW-001 - Preview EP
* TW-300 - Sculptures 1-3 CD
* TW-400 - Europa CD
* TW-800 - Time Machines CD

6277

* MISSION 01 Elektrabel - Elektrabel EP 2003
* MISSION 02 Hieroglyphic Being - Du Commencement A L'Eternite 2004
* MISSION 03 Elektrabel - Crocks EP 2005
* MISSION 04 Elektrabel - For Various Reasons 2005
* MISSION 05 Sub Space - First Step EP 2005
* MISSION 06 Zachary Lubin - Controllability 2005
* MISSION 07 Various artists (Jeff Mills Mix) - The objective Mission [Top Secret] 2005
* MISSION 08 Trefa - Elektrabel 2006
* MISSION 09 Ben Gibson - No Signify EP 2006
* MISSION 10 CounterPart - The Martian Mystique 2006
* MISSION 11 Johannes Volk - The Mysteries Of Tharsis Montes 2006

Tresor Records

* Waveform Transmission Vol. 1
* The Extremist
* Waveform Transmission Vol. 3
* Waveform Transmission Vol. 3 (Detroit Cut)
* Atlantis (under moniker X-103)

References

External links

* [http://www.axisrecords.com/ Axis Records]
* [http://www.laptoprockers.eu/music/p1/jeff-mills-brightest-star/ Interview Laptoprockers Sept 2008]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Jeff+Mills Jeff Mills] discography at Discogs.
* [http://www.deephousepage.com/mixes.php See Deep House Page for some very rare live Chicago sets from around 1985-86] .
* [http://www.higher-frequency.com/e_interview/jeff_mills/index01.htm Higher Frequency Interview]
* [http://www.hardwarecorp.com.au/Artists/Int/Jeff_M/Jeff_M.html Hardware Interview]
* [http://www.la-sauterelle.com/ La Sauterelle = Musiques electroniques : house, techno, electro]
* [http://www.realdetroitweekly.com/article_2725.shtml "Real Detroit Weekly" Interview]