Jeff Mills

Review: The first release from the Axis Audiophile Series. Jeff Mills has formed an electronic jazz fusion band and this 12? is a recording of their recent performance in Kobe during the TodaysArt.JP Festival. Mills manages the decks, drums and percussion and is joined Detroit legend and Underground Resistance stalwart Gerald Mitchell (Los Hermanos/Galaxy 2 Galaxy), keyboardist Yumiko Ohno and bassist Kenji Jino. "Eventide" has the same kind of urban, uplifting soul as anything Kaidi Thatham or Mark de Clive-Lowe have made and isn't bad at all! On the flip "Happy Gamma Ray" features uplifting keys and emotive chords backed by funk bass and one of Mills' unmistakeable 909 drum machine workouts. It really seems that there's no limit to this Motor City legend's creativity which has spanned nearly 30 years and we're excited about this new chapter in the Wizard's sonic universe.

Review: The theme of "Chronicles Of Impossible Worlds" is exoplanets, new planets discovered starting in 1995 which revolve around a star outside our solar system. Mixing music, dance and visuals, this creative work testifies to the advances of science and hints at the existence of possible other worlds. Following a period of investigation and a meeting with researchers from the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory, Mills chose to focus on six planets (Wasp 12b, 13b, 14b, 15b, 16b and 17b). Their specific physical and structural properties were then translated through music, sound, images and dance.

Together with Mills, the choreographer Alexandre Riccoli created a roaming choreography spread out across the Vasarely Foundation that explores the correspondence between the physical properties of these planets and choreography's own "body states". The show's soundtrack, composed by Mills, is broadcast by the dancers' costumes (designed by Berlin designer Anke Bruns) that are equipped with speakers. The music, the different sonic trajectories, the dancers and the public ambling freely through the halls can spacialize, orbit, or even fuse in the naves of the Foundation.

Book:
22 page, 20cmx20cm hard cover booklet. Including texts by Jeff Mills, the astrophysicists etc, artworks related to the projects, photos of dance rehearsals. CD/DVD are attached inside the book. French and English Language

DVD:
Making of "Chronicles Of Impossible Worlds". Including commentaries from Jeff Mills, the organiser of the event, the choreographer, the astrophysicists etc and scenes from the dance rehearsals. Runtime: 45mins (no region

Review: Later in the year, Jeff Mills will release the long-awaited follow-up to his legendary Exhibition mix CD. Details are relatively scarce at present, though according to its creator the CD/DVD package "explains a lot about the mindset, and the concepts, and the procedure of how a DJ does what he does". In a bid to raise interest in the project - not that the Detroit legend needs much help in that regard - he's put together this 12" of previously unheard studio material. It's typical of Mills' floor-friendly exploits, with all four tracks fusing intergalactic, outer-space electronics (see opener "Signals To Atomix One") with rolling Motor City grooves (complete with the usual relentless cymbals) and bubbling basslines.

Review: Given his stargazing, intergalactic ethos, it's perhaps unsurprising that sci-fi techno overlord Jeff Mills has decided to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo XI moon landing by releasing an album containing his musical "interpretations of Earth's moon". As you'd expect from an artist of Mills' standing, it's a very good album. Evocative, atmospheric and hugely spacey - this is Jeff Mills after all - the seven-track set moves from scene-setting, string-laden ambient ("Control, Satva and Rama") to sparse, acid-flecked dub techno ("Electromagnetic") via a string of fine cuts that variously touch on electro-fired broken techno ("Stabilizing The Spin"), Steve Reich style minimalism (the brilliant "Lunar Power"), and semi-orchestral electronic positivity ("The Tides").

Review: Some 20 years after "If" first hit stores, Jeff Mills has decided to get his old pal Terrence Parker to remix it. He's done a rather good job, with both versions making great use of Mills' ghostly original chord sequences and two different variations on the mesmerizing, seemingly drifting scat-style vocals that was arguably the track's most memorable feature. The A-side "Vox Soul Mix" includes new vocals in the original style by Marachka, whose haunting but soulful improvisations brilliantly rise above metronomic techno drums, spacey effects and those now famous chords. The similar sounding "Original Remix" is a little tougher and weightier, with tooled-up percussion (check the restless hi-hats) underpinning Anna F's original scat vocal and Mills' ethereal, ambient style chords.

Review: For those who dig Jeff Mills but don't have the time or money to hoard records from his extensive back catalogue, the ongoing "Director's Cut" series showcasing hard-to-find gems from his discography is a godsend. Volume five begins with a trip back to 2015 and "Solar Cycles" - an alien-sounding, otherworldly mid-tempo techno loop jam - from the limited edition, USB-only "Proxima Centauri" album. Side B begins with the bleeping tribal techno hustle of "L8" from 1998's "Skin Deep EP", before Mills offers us a chance to drift through space via 2006 track "Above Waiting Worlds", which is one of his most intergalactic and cinematic dancefloor cuts to date (and that's saying something).

Review: Jeff Mills' legendary Axis label turned 20 years old last month. To celebrate, the acclaimed Detroit DJ producer has put together this deluxe, two-disc retrospective featuring label favourites, little known gems and stone cold killers. Keen Mills-watchers will know most of the material, but for the rest of us there's plenty to enjoy. Musically, Sequence closely mirrors Mills' career to date, mixing raw and uncompromising techno floor fillers with cascading electro, shuffling ambience and far-sighted Motor City futurism. The balance is just right, confirming our original hunch: this is the sort

Review: "Looking back in hindsight to the activity and accomplishments of Axis is with much pride - to witness the relationship between the music and listener evolving to this point. The Director's Cut reissue project is about manicuring detail. It's about a rare opportunity to enhance what we've done so that the relationship strengthens for the long term" - Jeff Mills

Review: Jeff Mills, the legendary Detroit techno pioneer who has been praised and worshipped by everyone club kid over the age of 18 since the late 80s, has focussed his efforts more on the classical side of music in more recent years. His gigs at the Barbican over the last few years, for example, are the shows to which he's dedicated most of his attention to, and it somehow all makes perfect sense. Although legendary tunes like "The Bells" or "Amazon" are straight-up dance floor bombs, there has always been a feeling that Mills' tunes were composed of something more than mere kick drums and monophonic instruments. This new album, Planets, sees the artist showcase the role of science fiction and of an imagined order prominently, something he's always been fascinated with. The likes of "Mercury", "Venus", "Earth" and the rest of the cosmos make more sense here than they do in the academic books; much like the great Sun Ra, it's almost as if these artists have found a simpler, more instinctive way to transmit the power of the universe. And that's through sound. The price might seem hefty, but this will be regarded as a very important release in the future. A fantastic journey through space and time.