Jeff Mills

[noel emits]

things is... there is repetition and there is repetition. there is monotony and there is monotony.

when i was a techno head i loved guys like Brinkmann (still appreciate his work). and even, on rare occasions, Surgeon at top volume, cuz he would just push it over the edge where the off kilter polyriddims become totally hallucinatory. but mills? i never found anything interesting in what i heard.

I'm not exactly the world's greatest Jeff Mills fan and I haven't seen him play live for a long time, nearly went to see him at Lost recently but kind of glad that didn't come off.

I think I see him as more like an improvising noise musician who plays with repetition and rapid jump cuts. It's quite rock in a way. I could wax lyrical about it all but I don't really car that much. I will be checking out those Wizard sets though.

 

[Gavin]

those Wizard sets

Same as the ones on www.deephousepage.com? Those are great. The origins of ghettotech!

 

[mixed_biscuits]

What do ppl think of his Blue Potential orchestral hook-up?

 

[mms]

he can be amazing, his approach is so perfectly single minded, one of the best things i have by him is that first contact cd . the every dog has it's day series are great, he's just great.

 

[ether]

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This pretty much illustrates what I love about mills, never been a huge fan of his production work, but he's a real craftsmen at the wheels, something mad hypnotic about watching him mix, enhanced by the repetitive nature of the music, I'm always locked/concentrated on the performance.

 

[noel emits]

Yeah that's the shit. That's how I remember Mills sets, although this clip is a bit restrained. Would build to an insane yet somehow sober frenzy as well.

The thing with the orchestra I've just seen is vile.

 

[sing_minimal]

he's one of the top 3 contemporary electronic musicians in my book. i think he makes a new step in the future with every new album. same goes for latest contact special. the rest of detroit producers (most of which i love) seem stuck in the past, but mills is a true visionary. got massive respect for him.

 

[zhao]

i am truly sorry. but that vid completely failed to impress me (watched the whole thing - didn't have to though, the first 30 seconds would've been enough). it is very easy to mix like that when you are using very similar records, i'm sure you all know. i used to do it all day. some of the cuts and cutting out the bass and putting it back in doesn't even make any sense in terms of the build.

but regardless of the techniques who cares if the music is boring?

and does he have a bit of OCD? what with the tapping the knobs all the time?

 

[sing_minimal]

i think djing takes a lots of credit from his music production. though people normally wouldn't aknowledge this : )

 

[tox]

he can be amazing, his approach is so perfectly single minded, one of the best things i have by him is that first contact cd . the every dog has it's day series are great, he's just great.

Yes... Contact is probably one of my most posted about topics here on dissensus, but totally on point. Its ace. I hope someone recorded one of the occasions he played it out live, as it was a very entrancing setup.

 

[Gabba Flamenco Crossover]

Yeah that's the shit. That's how I remember Mills sets, although this clip is a bit restrained. Would build to an insane yet somehow sober frenzy as well.

I saw him play a set in the mid 90s where he was going too fast to even put the records back in the sleeves, and he ended up with a pile of about 300 records on the floor behind him.

His sets do get samey though. Hood is a way better DJ.

 

[Numbers]

Did anyone hear about this Jeff Mills goes Classic project? The full-blown orchestra version of The Bells is about the most absurd and hilarious piece of music I heard the last year.

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[Gavin]

Did anyone hear about this Jeff Mills goes Classic project? The full-blown orchestra version of The Bells is about the most absurd and hilarious piece of music I heard the last year.

I met a guy at a conference writing his dissertation on Jeff Mills and he was so into that DVD... I didn't have the heart to tell him how cheesy and wrongheaded it seemed to me. Fuck those elitist high art venues/modes of expression, embrace new forms through technology -- isn't that what techno's all about?

 

[Numbers]

I met a guy at a conference writing his dissertation on Jeff Mills and he was so into that DVD... I didn't have the heart to tell him how cheesy and wrongheaded it seemed to me. Fuck those elitist high art venues/modes of expression, embrace new forms through technology -- isn't that what techno's all about?

Trying to give yourself an artistic allure by transposing techno-music to the reach of classical music is just bollocks. It's so revealing when they zoom in on the score. High art, my ass.

 

[Gavin]

Yeah, he seemed to think it was expanding the notion of art/classical music; I thought it was more about validating Mills as a "legitimate artist" to boring old people!

 

[DJ PIMP]

Would be nice to hear that initial string part used in a Bells remix, but the timpani and tubular bells etc seem so out of place.

Normally that kind of thing is horrible to me, both conceptually and sonically, but I did enjoy that album of piano interpretations of techno classics, Modern Rhapsodies:
http://www.fcom.fr/maxencecyrin/
Lovely hearing the melodies stripped back without all the effects and drum tracks etc.

And the salsa/lounge cover of Strings of Life by Christian Prommer is great from start to finish...
http://www.junodownload.com/artists/Christian+Prommer's+Drumlesson/

 

[shudder]

oh my god, that video is awful! I wonder why they had to have the drums be electronic?

I recently saw a local ensemble do a similar sort of thing where they played electronic-y classics with a chamber ensemble alongside Glass and David Lang. I didn't like the Aphex Twin (how would I? although the Bad Plus version of film is sort of interesting), but the live instrument performance of Bowie's Warszawa was actually pretty cool. I was disappointed they didn't do the singing tho.

sorry for the derail, back to jeffy...

 

[mms]

Would be nice to hear that initial string part used in a Bells remix, but the timpani and tubular bells etc seem so out of place.

Normally that kind of thing is horrible to me, both conceptually and sonically, but I did enjoy that album of piano interpretations of techno classics, Modern Rhapsodies:
http://www.fcom.fr/maxencecyrin/
Lovely hearing the melodies stripped back without all the effects and drum tracks etc.

And the salsa/lounge cover of Strings of Life by Christian Prommer is great from start to finish...
http://www.junodownload.com/artists/Christian+Prommer's+Drumlesson/

ohh i thought that maxence cyrin was terribly pompous, quite hilariously so.
the nest attempts i've heard of these things are acid brass and that aphex twin done by an ensemble thing from a few years ago.

 

[mms]

I met a guy at a conference writing his dissertation on Jeff Mills and he was so into that DVD... I didn't have the heart to tell him how cheesy and wrongheaded it seemed to me. Fuck those elitist high art venues/modes of expression, embrace new forms through technology -- isn't that what techno's all about?

i'd just love to know what the orchestra players thought about it all.
is'nt it funny how orchestral versions of 70s pop songs just sound so cheesy nowdays, the opposite of what they were supposed to do, ie elevate the song up a notch on the culture bar.

 

[tox]

ohh i thought that maxence cyrin was terribly pompous, quite hilariously so.
the nest attempts i've heard of these things are acid brass and that aphex twin done by an ensemble thing from a few years ago.

I have enjoyed Mills' Blue Potential as a novelty, but I would agree that its only really Alarm Will Sounds' Aphex twin project that has really pulled something like this off successfully. They really captured the whole essence of the music... its proper stripped back and works nicely. That "Warp Works" thing which was done as part of the proms was interesting too, but certainly nothing essential.

edit. As an aside, this weekend I went to see Sleeparchive. Standing at the bar this guy started to insist I look like Jeff Mills. "Do you get that a lot?" he asked? "No, usually its Thierry Henry" I replied. "Well Thierry's not my hero... Jeff is!".... scary.