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All Music Guide:
Jeff Mills, along with Robert Hood, Carl Craig, and Joey Beltram, 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 the latest in a long line of Detroit-bred talent to take on an international reputation. A founding member of noted Motor City institution Underground Resistance, Mills helped build the artist roster and label ideology (as well as much of its back catalog) with partners "Mad" Mike Banks and Robert "Noise" Hood before moving to New York in 1992 to pursue more vigorously his solo and DJ career (with a resident spot at the legendary Limelight and a recording contract with the noted German label Tresor). (Although rumors of bad blood between the early UR crew have been denied by all involved, Mills' decision to split was apparently total, with Banks all but repudiating his involvement with Mills and Mills distancing himself from the continuing political militancy of Banks and the UR organization.) Mills' UR-related releases (including "The Punisher" and "Seawolf") are stripped-down and erratic, fusing elements of hardcore acid and industrial techno to the sparse Detroit aesthetic. Not surprisingly, his post-UR sound hasn't eased a bit, although UR's penchant for the four-track has been replaced by higher-quality production.
Prior to his involvement in UR, Mills was a DJ at Detroit public radio station WDET (he was also studying architecture at the time), spinning everything from Meat Beat Manifesto and Nine Inch Nails to Chicago house and underground Detroit techno. He began producing in the mid-'80s, working with Tony Srock on the project the Final Cut. Mills met Banks through a local garage group Members of the House, whom Banks was working with in the late '80s. Mills remixed a track on a Members 12", and his and Banks' shared love for Chicago soul and the harder edge of Detroit techno blossomed into Underground Resistance as a combined business and creative enterprise. The pair, along with Robert Hood, recorded several EPs and singles together, including tracks such as "Waveform" and "Sonic," before Mills defected to New York in 1992 to pursue a residency at the Limelight club and a solo career recording for Tresor and his own label, Axis.
Mills' discography includes two full-length volumes of Waveform Transmissions for Tresor, a live album and rarities collection for the British label React, and the first album in a new contract with Sony Japan, as well as a handful of 12" EPs on Axis and several collaborations with Robert Hood on his M-Plant label. 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, the latter packed with extra features. Choice: A Collection of Classics was released that same year and featured Mills mixing some old personal favorites. Blue Potential from 2006 was a live album recorded with the Montpellier Philharmonic Orchestra.
Wikipedia:
Jeff Mills (born 18 June 1963, Detroit, Michigan) is an American techno DJ and producer.
Career [edit]
Starting in the early 1980s, Mills, using the name "The Wizard", was a recurring guest DJ on "The Electrifying Mojo" radio show on WJLB. He performed DJ tricks like beat juggling and scratching during his sets, some of which were pre-recorded.
Mills and former Parliament bass player 'Mad' Mike Banks were founding members of Detroit techno collective Underground Resistance (UR), which embraced revolutionary rhetoric and only appeared in public dressed in ski masks and black combat suits.
Mills never officially left UR, but did relocate from Detroit, first to New York, then Berlin (as a resident at the Tresor club), and then Chicago. There in 1992, with fellow Detroit native Robert Hood, he set up the record label Axis, and later, sub-labels Purpose Maker, Tomorrow, and 6277, all aiming for a more minimal sound than most of the techno being produced in those years.
In his DJ sets, Mills usually uses three decks, a Roland TR-909 drum-machine, and up to seventy records in one hour. Mills' Exhibitionist DVD, from 2004, features him mixing live on three decks and CD player in a studio.
In 2011, Mills switched to using three or four CD decks for most of his club appearances, instead of the usual Technics turntables.
