Jeff Mills – techno pioneer at Pohoda 2019
Jeff Mills – the founding member of the Underground Resistance and the legendary representative of the "intergalactic" Detroit techno is another artist that will perform at Pohoda 2019. In the 1980s he became known as The Wizard for his combination of incredible producer and DJ skills. From the beginning, his work has been strongly characterized by the fascination of the deconstructed sound, sci-fi and futuristic elements, combining elements of acid hardcore, industrial techno and Detroit aesthetics. One of the biggest American names in techno scene, as described by Resident Advisor, will bring his amazing sound visual show to the Trenčín airport.
20. March 2019
Jeff Mills was already dazzling audiences with his DJ tricks like scratching and beat juggling in the early 1980s. He also had a nightly show called The Wizard where he would highlight young local techno artists, giving light to future stars of the genre like Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, and Juan Atkins. At that time he was also a member of the legendary techno collective Underground Resistance. Social themes related to industrial recession in the capital of the automotive industry dominated in UR. Another form of their rebellion concerned the rejection the gradual commercialization of techno. After leaving UR he relocated to New York, Berlin (the legendary Tresor Club) and later Chicago, where he set up the record label Axis Records with Robert Hood in 1992.
Mills has recorded nearly fourty albums, over 70 EPs and has worked on seven films. Let us mention a few of the most important ones. In 2004 he released the album Expanded that deals with the topic of mind expansion. Jeff Mills created a fictional character called the Sleeper, and tells his stories in the individual albums. During wandering through space and searching for new worlds (Sleep Wakes), Sleeper becomes infected with an unknown virus, acquires the ability to control the electricity (The Power), and experiences the end of the human era (The Messenger) and the eternal quest for the purpose and meaning (Planet Jungle).
He released Where Light Ends, an album inspired by the Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mohri. The albums Emerging Crystal Universe and Free Fall come from the big sci-fi series, too. The he released The Trip which is also a psychedelic-electronic project in which he remixed 50 samples of retro sci-fi movies. A similar project is the sound-visual odyssey Time Tunnel through the history of music. He prepared a 7-hour performance about exoplanets called Chronicles of Possible Worlds in cooperation with the Astrophysics Laboratory in Marseilles. In 2006 he released a live album with a 70-member Montpelier Philharmonic. His last year's album E.P. Tomorrow Comes The Harvest with legendary drummer Tony Allen belongs to the category of the famous collaborations as well.
Mills is also known for his work on movies, soundtracks and documentaries. In 2000, he released the soundtrack for the silent film of Fritz Lang, Metropolis, originally from 1927. 15 years later he worked on another Lang’s film, Woman in the Moon. Mills is also the subject, representative and author of the music for Man from Tomorrow (2014) by the French director Jacqueline Caux. Mills is the author of the film Life to Death and Back (2015), which he shot as a part of his residence in the Egyptian wing of the Louvre Museum, and The Exhibitionost 2, which is the continuation of the first film Exhibionist, both based on his live performances. His work was also appreciated by the French Minister of Culture Jack Lang, awarding him with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Last year, Mixmag released information that Jeff Mills will be the first DJ to play in open space and Elon Musk’s SpaceX will take him to the orbit. It was just an April Fools joke. However, it’s not a joke that this techno pioneer will take the Trenčín airport attenders to space with his musical and visual show.