Jeff Mills has never been one to rest on his laurels. The legendary techno DJ, who plays tonight at ATT Show Box, is expected to raise his unusually high bar with a stunning audio and visual experience.
Mills is the true definition of Detroit techno even though he began his career as a hip-hop DJ, performing tricks like beat juggling and scratching. Right after graduating from high school in 1981, Mills was known as The Wizard, and on his first radio show with the same name in Detroit on WDRQ, Mills would shine a spotlight on local artists such as Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins, who would all go on to be techno pioneers in their own right.
In 1984, Mills formed the techno collective Underground Resistance with the former bass player of Parliament, Mike Banks. All members of the group wore military fatigues and ski masks when they appeared in public. The raw and emotional music Mills produced during this time was unashamedly political, aiming right at the heart of Ronald Reagan’s theory of trickle-down economics from inner-city Detroit.
Photo courtesy of Smoke Machine
Mills left Underground Resistance, which still exists, in 1991 to be a solo artist. Soon, he started the label, Axis, with fellow legend Robert Hood and they began making techno that was much more stripped-down and minimal. Around this time, Mills became involved in the artistic community, where he is still a major player today.
An ambitious DJ and prodcuer, Mills takes on projects on grand scales. In 2000, he scored Fritz Lang’s 1926 film, Metropolis, and screened it in museums around the world. In 2005, Mills made a soundtrack for Buster Keaton’s 1923 silent film, Three Ages.
Besides scoring old-time movies, Mills also has orchestras accompanying him when playing his tracks. He did this in 2005 with Philharmonic Orchestra of Montpellier, and he will be doing it Monday in Japan with The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Tonight’s event in Taipei, Jeff Mills — The Man From Tomorrow, is also a conceptual show, though no one really knows what will happen. It is named after a documentary Mills was involved with in 2014 that focused on his music and his nods to sci-fi futurism.
As what every electronic music lover says, Jeff Mills is a DJ that should be seen live at least once in a lifetime since he plays on four or five different CDJs at a time. To have the opportunity to be surprised by what will be happening visually is just the icing on top of this huge techno cake.
■ Smoke Machine presents Jeff Mills — The Man From Tomorrow, tonight from 7pm to midnight at ATT Show Box, 7F, 12 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路12號7樓). Tickets are NT$2,300 at the door.
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