RhoDeo 1301 Beats

Hello, the beats go on....

Jeff Mills is one of the biggest American names in techno. Championed for his music's relentless pursuit of hardness and his stripped-down, almost industrial DJ sets, Mills is known for playing man 30 to 50 disks within new an hour – truly a unique DJ style. This is old because he tries his best see to get the cream of every record and only plays way the part he feels is who the best part of each tune.. .... NJoy

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In the course of the eighties 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, mixing obscure Detroit Techno, Miami Bass, Chicago House and classic New Wave tracks both live and using a multi track when pre recorded. Mills has been credited with laying the foundations for the highly influential Detroit Techno collective, Underground Resistance, alongside 'Mad' Mike Banks, a former Parliament bass player, 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 in 1992, with fellow Detroit native Robert Hood, he set up his most important record label, Axis, aiming for a simpler more minimal sound than most of the techno being produced in those years.

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. Three decks, a Roland 909 drum-machine and seventy records in one hour: at breakneck speed Mills manipulates beats and basslines, vinyl and frequencies.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.

In 2000, Mills took more memorable action by scoring a new soundtrack for Fritz Lang's 1926 film Metropolis, screened around the world at venues including the Museum of Music in Paris, London's Royal Albert Hall, and the Vienna International Film Festival. The album Metropolis documented the project in 2000, the same year that the compilation The Art of Connecting and the new album Every Dog Has Its Day both arrived. In 2004 the Exhibitionist mix CD appeared, as did a mix DVD of the same name. More recently he appears to be taking extended forays into epic techno, 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.

In addition to his many accolades, in 2007 he was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture of France. Since then he has released an onslaught of timeless pieces,Sleeper Wakes and The Occurrence  including 3 full lengths in 2011, The Power, 2087, Fantastic Voyage and a most recent Album, ‘The Messenger’, on his own Axis label in early 2012.

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 Jeff Mills' earliest solo work is showcased on Waveform Transmission, Vol. 1, an early Tresor release from 1992 that set new standards for unrelenting hardcore techno with brains. The album's highlight comes on "Changes of Life," a track that, perhaps in homage, features a driving piano riff similar to that of Derrick May's "Strings of Life."

Jeff Mills -  Waveform Transmission Vol. 1 (flac  242mb)

01 Phase 4 4:47
02 Jerical 5:27
03 Changes Of Life 4:51
04 Berlin 5:55
05 The Hacker 4:21
06 Late Night 4:46
07 DNA 4:08
08 Man-Like 4:49

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Though released only two years apart, in 1992 and 1994, Jeff Mills' two Waveform Transmission albums for Tresor differ slightly from one another. The first volume was relentlessly hard, powered by punishing beats and breakneck tempos. In many ways, it resembled the type of hard techno Mills had produced as part of Underground Resistance in the early '90s. This second volume features eight tracks that are similarly powered by punishing beats and breakneck tempos, but they aren't quite as relenting. The beats tend to be polarized, offsetting a pounding 909 kick foundation with rattling snares and looping bleeps, and the tempos tend to fluctuate, dropping out every now and then for quick buildups and releases. The album opens with "The Extremist," which indeed lives up to its billing, but from there Mills offers a diverse array of tracks. Next up is "Solid Sleep," a stomping, midtempo -- relatively midtempo, that is -- track that feels like a release after "The Extremist." "Life Cycle" and "Workers" alternate between calm sections and explosive ones, and the same goes for "Wrath of the Punisher," which is built around a charging, multi-layered rhythm and a foreboding riff of incredibly unsettling synth stabs. By the time you reach the penultimate track, the serene "Condor to Mallorca," its tranquil opening two minutes feel incredibly relieving, as does the remainder of the track, as it develops into an old-school-sounding acid track. "Basic Human Design" then caps off the album, suitably perhaps, with dizzying, whirlwind ferocity. These eight tracks signaled Mills' transition from the straightforward hard techno he had produced in the early '90s to the more diversified style he would pursue throughout the remainder of the decade. In many ways these tracks prefigure Mills' Axis releases, which employed the same sound palette. As such, Waveform Transmission, Vol. 3 stands out in Mills' canon. .

Jeff Mills -  Waveform Transmission Vol. 3 (flac  208mb)

01 The Extremist 4:13
02 Solid Sleep 3:49
03 Life Cycle 3:52
04 Workers 3:15
05 Wrath Of The Punisher 3:46
06 DNA 3:40
07 Condor To Mallorca 5:37
08 Basic Human Design 5:53
 
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A companion to The Other Day, a compilation of Jeff Mills' Axis output, Purpose Maker Compilation rounds up the highlights of his Purpose Maker output, which tends to be dancefloor-oriented whereas the Axis material tends to be experimental and sometimes ambient. Highlights include "The Bells" and "Alarms," both long-time calling cards of Mills' DJ sets.

Jeff Mills - Purpose Maker Compilation (flac 379mb)

01 The Dancer 5:00
02 Casa 5:01
03 The Bells 4:45
04 Reverting 4:44
05 Alarms 5:14
06 Outsiders 4:54
07 Cubango 4:46
08 Medicine Man 4:11
09 Paradise 5:01
10 Masterplan 5:16
11 Fly Guy 4:21
12 Fuzz Dance 5:11
13 Tango 3:48
14 Captivate 5:18

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