14/04/2024
Jeff Mills has never wallowed in his DJ status and kept on multiplying outstanding performances, at the intersection between music, contemporary art, pop culture, design and science fiction, while running his own record label, Axis Records, from 1992 onwards. After conquering Detroit's early Techno scene as The Wizard in the 80s, as a part of the Underground Resistance, he took up with his prime inspiration, Space and Science-Fiction. The 2000's marked a turning point, when he started to merge his music with other arts. He decided to create a new soundtrack for Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", which brought him to many other cine-mix performances and movies soundtracks including “Man From Tomorrow” he coproduced with a French filmmaker Jacqueline Caux. Jeff Mills has shown numerous performances and exhibitions in artistic institutions such as the Louvre Museum, CCCB of Barcelona, the South Bank Center, the Barbican Center, the Cinémathèque Française, Pompidou Center, the Art Fair Monte Carlo...
In 2015, almost ten years after “The Exhibitionist“ a real-time film, multi-angled collection of his DJ sets, capturing the motions of his art with turntables), Jeff Mills launched “Exhibitionist 2“, in which he goes even deeper into real-time mix. Started in Tokyo, 2015, Jeff Mills created ‘Spiral Deluxe’, his first band since Underground Resistance, displaying an Electronic Jazz Fusion. Will then follow ‘Tomorrow Comes The Harvest’, a collaborative project with late Afro Beat creator and Nigerian Drummer Tony Allen, and ‘The Paradox’ Jazz project with veteran keyboardist Jean-Phi Dary.
In 2017, Jeff Mills took residence at the Barbican Center in London, where he presented "From Here to There", a series of four innovative conceptual events marrying electronic music with symphonic sounds and other art forms.
Jeff Mills was the first DJ to collaborate on, perform, and capture on DVD, concerts with Classical orchestras. It all began in 2005 with “Blue Potential” later called “Light from the Outside World”, still performed all over the world. A second piece of the kind was presented in 2013, “Where Light Ends”, and a third, inspired by Holst’s “The Planets” premiered in 2015. Decorated in 2007 with the French Government award of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, he was upgraded in 2017 to be Officer, in recognition for his contribution to the Arts.
In 2019 Jeff Mills launched The Director’s Cut project : a massive re-issue series. In 2020, Jeff Mills revives his Millsart alias for the first time since 2003 with the Axis Expressionist Series and also announced it will expand its musical scope by including more works that encompass live musicians/soloists and players from other genres. Simultaneously, the Axis Online shop (called ‘The Escape Velocity’) offer music in a curated form to feature exclusive works of various artists of Techno music. In 2022 Axis records has celebrated its 30th Years Anniversary! In 2024 Jeff Mills is still performing in nearly all four corners of the globe with his countless collaborations over a myriad of fields: cine-mixes, jazz concerts and performances in prestige art institutions.
