Detroit’s cult hero of artful techno

Jeff Mills (born 18 June 1963, Detroit, Michigan) is an American DJ, record producer and composer. Mills is a founder of Underground Resistance, a techno collective formed with ‘Mad’ Mike Banks in the late 1980s. While Mills left the group to explore his own ventures, the collective continues to be a mainstay of Detroit’s music scene. He went by The Wizard, a moniker he used since the early 1980s, retiring the name in 2013.

Mills is the founder and owner of Axis Records, a record label he founded in 1992. The label is based in Chicago, Illinois and is responsible for the release of much of his solo work.

Redefining the underground scene for decades to come

Mills has received recognition for his work both as a DJ and producer. Eminem mentioned Mills in the lyrics to a song and he was knighted Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. Mills was also featured in Man From Tomorrow, a documentary about techno music that he produced along with French filmmaker Jacqueline Caux. He continued working in film, releasing Life to Death and Back, a film he shot in the Egyptian wing of the Louvre Museum where he also had a four-month residency.

Watching people reach a higher level of consciousness. A fixation. For a few moments in their lives, they transcend and become lost in the fantasy of it all. As a DJ, I’m trying to create the opportunity for this to happen.

Mills has received recognition for his work both as a DJ and producer. Eminem mentioned Mills in the lyrics to a song and he was knighted Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. Mills was also featured in Man From Tomorrow, a documentary about techno music that he produced along with French filmmaker Jacqueline Caux. He continued working in film, releasing Life to Death and Back, a film he shot in the Egyptian wing of the Louvre Museum where he also had a four-month residency.

The trademark abstract sound

Mills became involved in film with the help of French filmmaker Jacqueline Caux.He helped Caux produce the film Man From Tomorrow, a documentary about techno music that featured Mills. He continued in the film industry with the release of the independent film Life to Death and Back which he shot in the Egyptian wing of the Louvre Museum in France, the same museum where he had a four-month residency.

Mills performed a live set in January 2015 at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco, California. The set was performed with four turntables to create a cinemix soundtrack for Woman in the Moon, the 1929 silent film from Fritz Lang. The set was performed during a screening of the film at the center. Mills has previously completed work highlighting Lang’s career, including composing, performing, and releasing a soundtrack to Lang’s 1927 silent film Metropolis, releasing the soundtrack in 2000.