Jeff Mills | Artist

Jeff Mills is an American DJ, record producer and composer born 1963 in Detroit, Michigan. Mills has received international recognition for his work as a DJ and producer and, along with Robert Hood, Carl Craig, and Joey Beltram, is one of the biggest American names in techno music. Starting his career in the early 1980s using the name "The Wizard", Mills performed DJ tricks like beat juggling and scratching during his sets, some of which were pre-recorded. He had a nightly show called The Wizard at WDRQ and later at WJLB. In his early career, Mills held numerous residencies in the Detroit area. He credits The Necto as the place where he was able to experiment with new ideas in techno music, using different equipment setups, including positioning himself on the dance floor with the people. In the late 1980s Mills founded the collective Underground Resistance with fellow Detroit techno producers 'Mad' Mike Banks and Robert Hood but left the group to pursue a career as a solo artist in the early 90s. Mills founded the Chicago based Axis Records in 1992, which is responsible for the release of much of his solo work. He relocated 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. In 2011, Mills switched to using three or four CD decks for most of his club appearances, instead of the usual Technics turntables. Mixmag described Mills as the "master" of the 909. To-date Mills has released over 50 studio albums under his name and various other projects. Standouts include Waveform Transmission Vol.1 (1992), Waveform Transmission Vol.3 (1994), Kat Moda EP (1997), From the 21st (1999), and the DJ Mix Live at the Liquid Room - Tokyo (1996). Jeff Mills was mentioned by Detroit rapper Eminem in his song "Groundhog Day", from his album The Marshall Mathers LP 2, where Eminem says he: "...discovered this DJ who was mixing, I say it to this day, if you ain't listened to The Wizard, you ain't have a fucking clue what you was missing..."

Artist Website: wikipedia/Jeff_Mills

Featured Albums: Jeff Mills

Related Artists: Millsart, Underground Resistance