Was Jeff Mills really doing something?

[hoffman2k]

So bummed. Every time I saw Jeff Mills back in the day he was awful, trainwrecks and bad mixes galore, while all my friends would have these awesome stories of insane sets he had done

We have this indoor festival in Belgium named "I love Techno".
Before Clearchannel got their hands on it, it was awesome. Lots of good parties and festivals before Clearchannel made sure you'd pay at least 10k Euro for the likes of Hawtin or Vath.
During that "golden age", Jeff Mills played Belgium at least 3 times a year.

The first time I saw him, I was standing on a platform in the middle of a room filled with about 10000 people. It was also the first time I heard "The Bells" because it was his new hit at the time.
That set blew my mind. So much, that even Jeff Mills couldn't live up to that again.
The 3 times I saw him after that, his sets sucked and even worse - I heard the same set 3 times. So much for hearing any new wizardry.

A few years ago, Jeff Mills was no more than an old memory. The Fuse club in Brussels held a big party and got Jeff to do a 3 hour set. I hadn't heard him play in years and I wanted to be part of this big Fuse party, so I went.. Best Choice I ever made. That 3 hour set kicked so much ass, I didn't go queuing at any bars or toilets for the whole set. 3 Hours of dancing my brains out.

Experiencing a good Jeff Mills set is like winning the lottery. My fingers crossed for the 15th year celebration of the Fuse Club

[aqua_tek]

man... all that twitchiness is making me a little anxious, to be perfectly honest. Mix sounds great though

all i know is this is great music,unlike the crappy electro deadmouth crap that is being played these days..

Back in my day, grumble grumble etc etc

darned kids and yer 'lectro musics!

[drush]

he talks about the fact that he is often using those apparently meaningless mixer movements to keep time.. not like he's counting, but rather to keep a sort of half-unconscious connection to all the tracks playing, what he's thinking about playing, etc.

WAY back in the day (yeah, one of those posts...) when he played in Detroit he occasionally used to have a kid standing behind him, handing him records. he'd have records shoved in his pants, under his arm, records on top of records on the decks.. insane.

i also used to tape (like, actually tape) his Wizard shows every day.


this is very long, but well worth the read: http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2035/?pageno=1

[doc holiday]

So bummed. Every time I saw Jeff Mills back in the day he was awful, trainwrecks and bad mixes galore, while all my friends would have these awesome stories of insane sets he had done

he can be sloppy. even in that vid there are some wreaks. you don't notice in the video quite as much if you watch because he is throwing down some wax.

i have a lot of his live sets and 80% are as you state.

[doc holiday]

i also used to tape (like, actually tape) his Wizard shows every day.

i used to tape a few of those off of wjlb. but alan oldham's fast forward show on wdet was ace.
i had shoe boxes full of those!

didn't see much of jeff mills in the early 90's when i was living out there.

[drush]

when they did that Wizard event in... '97ish?... it was the first time he'd been in Detroit in many years.

[doc holiday]

when they did that Wizard event in... '97ish?... it was the first time he'd been in Detroit in many years.

ohh.. i remember that, but i had moved away already.

there was a radio show Jeff had in the mid to late 80's on wjlb. it was like house and hip hop. lots of snipits of songs mixed together. not jeff mills techno.


http://www.detroittechnomilitia.com/mai ... iew/261/0/

[doc holiday]

Yeah those fucked up sets existed, but i love him for that... He always pushed himself way over the limit.... Sometimes it failed, but he remains the one with the most unforgetable 200% awsome chin dropping on the floor sets... Rather then those clean and dull everytime "nice" and predictable stuff.

exactly!!!

if your afraid to fuck up your not pushing yourself so get the F*** of the decks.

[drush]

when they did that Wizard event in... '97ish?... it was the first time he'd been in Detroit in many years.

there was a radio show Jeff had in the mid to late 80's on wjlb. it was like house and hip hop. lots of snipits of songs mixed together. not jeff mills techno.

yeah.. that's what i was talking about taping several posts above. the daily radio show.

then you made reference to him not being in the D in the 90's. so i was referring to the last time he was there after the whole wizard-on-jlb era, which, other than the Plus 8 Sickness & Recovery party, was a party that was billed as the 'return of the wizard'

[Moody]

he talks about the fact that he is often using those apparently meaningless mixer movements to keep time.. not like he's counting, but rather to keep a sort of half-unconscious connection to all the tracks playing, what he's thinking about playing, etc.

WAY back in the day (yeah, one of those posts...) when he played in Detroit he occasionally used to have a kid standing behind him, handing him records. he'd have records shoved in his pants, under his arm, records on top of records on the decks.. insane.

i also used to tape (like, actually tape) his Wizard shows every day.


this is very long, but well worth the read: http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2035/?pageno=1

There must be something about those Detroit guys. I saw Stacy Pullen do a set many years ago and he was the same way with his records. It was like he grabbed a hand full from his house, hopped a plane, showed up to the gig and just started slapping records on the decks. He wouldn't even mix all of the ones he pulled out. He would listen to them in the headphones and just throw it. It was fucking amazing!

[wildtek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy7MnlAj ... annel_page

[m:o]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy7MnlAj ... annel_page

YEEEEEEAAAHHH!


those were the days

[drush]

There must be something about those Detroit guys. I saw Stacy Pullen do a set many years ago and he was the same way with his records. It was like he grabbed a hand full from his house, hopped a plane, showed up to the gig and just started slapping records on the decks. He wouldn't even mix all of the ones he pulled out. He would listen to them in the headphones and just throw it. It was fucking amazing!

maybe this is back when he was playing real music.

[Jarvisimon]

I thought the mix was awful, he brought it in at the wrong place (0:53 secs) and it doesn't sound right until he takes off the first record (1:30) and on the second mix his timing is out, hence he fades over to the next tune pretty quickly.

From then on I stopped looking.

I don't want to sound like a killjoy but that's not a particularly skillful mix at all.

[thelike5]

Mills wrote "The Bells." He can do whatever he wants.