Jeff Mills (1963 - )
Related: Detroit techno - Underground Resistance
American musician Jeff Mills represents the ultimate in minimal, hard but funky house and techno. More than just club tracks, his cleverly crafted compositions have been hailed as soundtracks to modern life and he has stated that each work represents the next part in a series of gradual progressions that is orchestrated by experiences and destiny. Jeff, the seminal Detroit techno originator who has been running his own Axis Records label since 1991, was originally one of the legendary Detroit techno collective Underground Resistance. He has been making music for well over a decade and has been DJ'ing for longer, including years spent as a radio DJ.
"In this day and age, it's very easy to imagine that there are a lot of people making decisions for a lot of other people that they aren't even conscious of. There are a few people, very powerful people, making the computers for us to work off, for us to use; they're shaping the way we live. And it's very important not to forget that people have the say in the end, not Bill Gates" --Jeff Mills
Choice (2004) - Jeff Mills [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Disc 1
1. Slick – Space Bass - click to listen
2. Teddy Pendergrass - The More I Get, The More I Want - click to listen
3. Sinnamon – Thanks To You - click to listen
4. Chas Jankel – Ai No Corrida - click to listen
5. Geraldine Hunt – Can’t Fake The Feeling - click to listen
6. Goldie Alexander – Show You My Love - click to listen
7. Montana Feat. Goody Goody – Esto Parese Amor (Club Mix) - click to listen
8. Deodato – Keep It In The Family - click to listen
9. Starflight – Dance To The Beat - click to listen
10. Gerardo Frisina – Mas Eu Quer Ser - click to listen
11. Jackie Moore – This Time Baby - click to listen
12. Boys In Shock Feat. Carol Leeming – Give Me Back Your Love - click to listen
13. Denroy Morgan – I’ll Do Anything For You - click to listen
Disc 2
1. Telex - Moskow Diskow - click to listen
2. King Sun – On The Club Tip - click to listen
3. DJ Q – We Are One (Carl Craig Remix) - click to listen
4. Blake Baxter – Sexuality - click to listen
5. Insync Vs Mysteron – Audiable Illusion - click to listen
6. Change – The End - click to listen
7. Ramirez – El Ritmo Barbaro - click to listen
8. Florence – Analogue Expressions - click to listen
9. Bandulu – Serial Operations - click to listen
10. Neil Howard – Indulge - click to listen
11. Silent Phase – Meditive Fusion - click to listen
12. Joey Beltram – South Pacific - click to listen
Profile
Jeff Mills is credited with laying the foundations for legendary 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, they 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 he set up his two labels, Axis and Purposemaker.
Mills has also been credited for his exceptional turntable skills. Tracks are almost chopped to bits to showcase the strongest fragments for his relentless sound collages. Three decks, a Roland 909 drum-machine and seventy records in one hour: at breakneck speed Mills manipulates beats and basslines, vinyl and frequencies.
In the course of the eighties he was an influential radio-deejay under the pseudonym ‘The Wizard’. He used to spin obscure dance and New Wave, far from the funk and minimal, throbbing club techno with which he would go on making a name for himself, inspiring lots of copycats. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Mills, Apr 2004
Final Cut
Founded by Anthony Srock and the legendary Jeff Mills in Detroit, they started out with more of a house sound with their initial LP Deep Into The Cut. They met up with Chris Connelly (of Finitribe fame) who encouraged them to integrate industrial music to their sound. Shortly thereafter, Jeff Mills left to further pursue his project, The Underground Resistance, and Joe Lafafa took his place. --http://www.discogs.com/artist/Final_Cut [Jun 2004]The Wizard
The best (or the most popular in all respects) techno-deejay in the world. And with a unique style: tracks are almost chopped up to bits only to withhold the strongest fragments for his relentless sound-collages. Three decks, a Roland 909 drum-machine and seventy records in one hour: at breakneck speed Mills manipulates beats and basslines, vinyl and frequencies. In the course of the eighties he was an influential radio-deejay under the pseudonym ‘The Wizard’. He used to spin obscure dance-records and new wave, far from the thermonuclear funk and minimal, throbbing clubtechno with which he would go on making a name for himself, inspiring lots of copycats. In ’90 Mills laid the foundation of the legendary 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, they confronted the mainstream music industry with revolutionary retorics. 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 he set up his two labels, Axis and Purposemaker. Through all this, he stuck to his principles: grand theories and ambitious concepts. On the recent cd ‘Lifelike’ Mills turns to colour-psychology for a professional screening of his personality. And the music primarily shows the subdued, soulful and melancholic Mills, this time maker of serene electronics with a surprising depth and emotion.Well-known cd’s by Mills are the 3 volumes of ‘Wavevorm Transmission’ and the Axis-compilation ‘The other Day’. Famous dancefloor material : ‘The bells’, ‘The Dancer’ and ‘Alarms’. -- http://www.5voor12.com
CDs
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Waveform Vol I Transmission - Jeff Mills [Amazon US] [FR] [DE] [UK]
