Jeff Mills
Real Name:
Jeffery Eugene Mills
Profile:
American techno DJ, composer, producer, and recording artist, based in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Born: 18 June 1963 in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Jeff Mills (aka "The Wizard") is one of the most pioneering American names in techno music. Championed for his music's relentless pursuit of hardness and his stripped-down, almost industrial DJ sets, Mills is the latest in a long line of Detroit-bred talent to take on an international reputation, performing for audiences around the world in both club and art spaces.
He also runs his own label, Axis, and its several sublabels. Married to Yoko Uozumi.
Born: 18 June 1963 in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Jeff Mills (aka "The Wizard") is one of the most pioneering American names in techno music. Championed for his music's relentless pursuit of hardness and his stripped-down, almost industrial DJ sets, Mills is the latest in a long line of Detroit-bred talent to take on an international reputation, performing for audiences around the world in both club and art spaces.
He also runs his own label, Axis, and its several sublabels. Married to Yoko Uozumi.
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In Groups:
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Marketplace 12,361 For Sale
Reviews Show All 48 Reviews
machinejack
January 14, 2022
Interesting that there is no mention of the music Mills did before his electronic music career.
kvogel
March 3, 2021
I still remember playing my first Jeff Mills record - the Very EP, starting with Cobolt (Cobalt?) in my basement room in Bristol, UK in the 1990s - a housemate of mine said something about something being "Millsy" and I'd heard the name and was intrigued... it started a kind of obsession! I bought the CD of Live at the Liquid Room and it started a lifelong obsession with techno - this was the real deal! I bought more and more Mills records, including of course the Purpose Maker series. Even though the actual records were often poorly made and overpriced on import to the UK, each one was like a different concept - the artwork was part of it, with this black and gold theme and pictures of hands. It felt like I had received a precious, magical artifact, that had come from Detroit, even if it cost almost twice as much as other records, the vinyl was thin and warped and the label wasn't put on right! I love how inventive, futuristic and just damn raw his stuff sounds... A true pioneer, and his DJ sets, which famously can be hit and miss, are absolutely bang on point when the time is right and the planets align. I saw him play a few times at Lost parties in London. Check out his sessions on John Peel (RIP)'s BBC show to hear a master at work - never a perfectionist, always an innovator, and purveyor of deep, hard, and ultimately soulful techno. Living legend!
AlgyTaylor
May 30, 2020
edited about 1 year ago
For anyone arriving here who doesn't know where to start with Jeff Mills' extensive discography ...
If you've come hunting for techno, the Purpose Maker compilation will guide you around his earlier, and most banging, works. The Other Day, another compilation from around the same time, can expand on that a bit. Absolutely check out Live from the Liquid Room (The Mix Up vol.2), which is hands down the most exhilarating techno mix I've heard - a man on the edge of what's humanly possible for a DJ to do, doing it in front of a live crowd. It's the closest thing to capturing what that last hour of a Jeff Mills set is like in a club - complete Pandemonium.
If it's soundtracks and ambience you want, check out his (more recent) silent movie soundtracks (e.g. Woman In The Moon). They come from the Steve Reich school of modern classical music, with a sci-fi/futurist twist. The Sleeper Wakes series might also interest you - it's more rhythmic, but still excellent for home listening.
If you've come hunting for techno, the Purpose Maker compilation will guide you around his earlier, and most banging, works. The Other Day, another compilation from around the same time, can expand on that a bit. Absolutely check out Live from the Liquid Room (The Mix Up vol.2), which is hands down the most exhilarating techno mix I've heard - a man on the edge of what's humanly possible for a DJ to do, doing it in front of a live crowd. It's the closest thing to capturing what that last hour of a Jeff Mills set is like in a club - complete Pandemonium.
If it's soundtracks and ambience you want, check out his (more recent) silent movie soundtracks (e.g. Woman In The Moon). They come from the Steve Reich school of modern classical music, with a sci-fi/futurist twist. The Sleeper Wakes series might also interest you - it's more rhythmic, but still excellent for home listening.
Neo_Chayanne
August 27, 2019
The wizard of techno! One of the heavyweights of the genre to blow you away! <3 At the beginning of his career, he would rinse those wax to death and then throw it backwards to the crowd! This guy is a living legend!
filipe_santos
July 18, 2019
Bloody legend! Love his 909 lives! Certainly the best artist that's so inspiring with just one drum machine.
Thank you Jeff!
Thank you Jeff!
john-savage
April 1, 2018
what a character, have seen him twice mixing, once at the orbit, was literally the worst set i've ever heard, every single mix was galloping, it was weapons grade bad. the next time was tribal gathering, i was crew and 10 foot away from what to me was a god like mixing machine, three decks and a 909, absolutely superb, by far the best set i've ever heard.
years before(1995) live in the liquid room cd with it's track listing tought me what real techno was, and what real mixing was, bad boy bones finished my training, he taught me his swagger.
not that keen on 90% of his records personally, i hate strings etc, but the first real techno vinyl i ever got was axis 11"the purpose maker"(thank you skinner), that will never leave my box, fantastic tune, purpose maker 3 is an absolute corker too, a mythical tune that has the rarity of not being hindered by stocking fillers(what a waste of vinyl), all 4 tunes are great.
thank you jeff, hope i'm going where you're going after this.
as a great man once said......it's just a ride :-)
years before(1995) live in the liquid room cd with it's track listing tought me what real techno was, and what real mixing was, bad boy bones finished my training, he taught me his swagger.
not that keen on 90% of his records personally, i hate strings etc, but the first real techno vinyl i ever got was axis 11"the purpose maker"(thank you skinner), that will never leave my box, fantastic tune, purpose maker 3 is an absolute corker too, a mythical tune that has the rarity of not being hindered by stocking fillers(what a waste of vinyl), all 4 tunes are great.
thank you jeff, hope i'm going where you're going after this.
as a great man once said......it's just a ride :-)
Tikal696
March 21, 2017
If you are more interested in Jeff Mills' "detroit techno" productions, let me express my vision of the thing.
His career can be seen in this way:
- In its beginnings, it released many pieces typical of the detroit techno as the emblematic "the bells".
- as his career progressed, he produced more and more atmospheric pieces. (Metropolis seems to be a turning point)
If you are looking for pure techno pieces, look at vinyl produced until 2001. (or the compilations given at the end)
After this period, you will have to search among hundreds of others. And the majority of those produced are rather minimal. Very few are as "hard" as they were at the beginning.
4 compilations are a good base to summarize this style of techno that made its success in EU rave:
- The other day
- Purpose maker compilations
- The art of connecting
- Lifelike
His career can be seen in this way:
- In its beginnings, it released many pieces typical of the detroit techno as the emblematic "the bells".
- as his career progressed, he produced more and more atmospheric pieces. (Metropolis seems to be a turning point)
If you are looking for pure techno pieces, look at vinyl produced until 2001. (or the compilations given at the end)
After this period, you will have to search among hundreds of others. And the majority of those produced are rather minimal. Very few are as "hard" as they were at the beginning.
4 compilations are a good base to summarize this style of techno that made its success in EU rave:
- The other day
- Purpose maker compilations
- The art of connecting
- Lifelike
chrisnova777
January 6, 2017
edited over 5 years ago
just found the ticket stub cleaning up, saw him play in montreal on new years eve in 1998, when he played prince's 1999 at midnight. not a huge fan, id rather listen to some rhythmic house like smack productions or some 70s disco grooves... his style of techno seems to be revered by people who lack a real education on dance music, but wish to be seen as the opposite.
Agent_Koenig
August 22, 2015
Saw him at Lost at the Vox in 92 and saw him at Bloc 2015 and everywhere in between. Still the fucking don.
m44-7
March 15, 2022everything he made at the time was pure gold, be it Axis, Purpose Maker, or his DJ sets, he was the mysterious/alien Midas of techno back then, pretty much two steps ahead of his contemporaries.
I may not be the bigest fan of the orchestral sessions, nor would I share his visions of the future (which I think is going to be much darker than he had predicted), but I wouldnt be my (strictly) Confidential Self, if it wasnt for The Other Day's One Man Spaceship.