Jeff Mills

DJ, producer, and composer Jeff Mills – born in Detroit, Michigan on June 18, 1963 – is best known as a pioneer of Detroit techno music and founding member of techno collective Underground Resistance. His musical journey began after graduating from high school in 1981 when he became interested in becoming a turntablist and DJ. He began performing sets under the name The Wizard, even getting his own nightly show on radio stations WDRQ and WJLB. He took up residencies at several local clubs including The Necto. Alongside former Parliament bassist ‘Mad’ Mike Banks, he founded Underground Resistance in 1989, which was a musical and political collective of fellow Detroit techno artists/DJs. Although he co-founded the project, Jeff Mills left Underground Resistance in 1991 and spent time in New York and Berlin, Germany before settling in Chicago, Illinois in 1992. Jeff Mills created the Axis label alongside his frequent musical partner Robert Hood and began producing other artists as well as releasing his own albums including Wavelength Transmission, Vol. 1 (1993), the Purpose Maker EP (1995), and Mix Up, Vol. 2: Live at Liquid Room (1995). Signing with Sony/React, he issued albums such as The Other Day (1997), From the 21st (1998), and Metropolis (2000), which was his soundtrack to a restored edition of Fritz Lang’s 1927 film. Jeff Mills began incorporating video into his performances and showcasing his own art. Further releases from this prolific artist includes albums and soundtracks such as Exhibitionist (2004), Contact Special (2005), Sleep Wakes (2009), The Power (2011), Fantastic Voyage (2011), The Messenger (2012), Where Light Ends (2013), Proxima Centauri (2015), When Time Splits: Live at Auditorium du Louvre with classical pianist Mikhaïl Rudy (2015), Planets (2017), The Clairvoyant (2021), Mind Power Mind Control (2022) and Metropolis Metropolis (2023). Jeff Mills has also collaborated with many other artists including Franco-Nigerian drummer Tony Allen on Tomorrow Comes the Harvest (2018) and Japanese DJ/producer Ken Ishii on Möbius Strip (2019). In 2017, Jeff Mills was made an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) at a private ceremony held in Paris, France.

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