On Fri, 17 May 1996 22:10:45 -0700 (MST), James B Gill wrote:
quoted 17 lines - I bought a Japanese (on Sony!) Jeff Mills mix CD called "Mix-Up Vol.2
>> - I bought a Japanese (on Sony!) Jeff Mills mix CD called "Mix-Up Vol.2
>> featuring Jeff Mills - LiveMix at Liquid Room, Tokyo 10/28/95". More 313
>> than IDM, it has 3 "Segments" with 38 tracks mixed together all told, with
>> lots of Mills' own stuff (shout outs to Dave Walker ... I got my one-stop
>> shopping extravaganza here), a Ken Ishii track, Joey Beltram, IO, Claude
>> Young, The Advent, Richie Hawtin (as Circuit Breaker), and so on ...
>> More to come when I get a chance to listen to it ...
>>
>--Got this CD approx. 2 weeks ago, and it is absolutely fucking
>brilliant. Jeff Mills is absolutely fantastic, and his Dj skills to boot
>are equally impressive. The three deck wizardry is completely and
>totally live; IE no bullshit studio editing ({this} is how a mixed music
>tape/cd should sound like!!!) The Circuit Breaker track rocks the house, and
>the Advent mix into the Skull song into Strings of Life rules!! For all
>the Advent lovers out there, the mix of Shi-Take is awesome, just got it
>today. ADVENT is the teacher......
>
I posted this to 313 a week ago, but avoided crossposting, but since it's
come up here, here's my take on this tasty oddity. there's a fullon HTML
version with graphics, soundclip, links, automatic transmission, drivers
side airbag, etc. at
http://hyperreal.com//music/reviews/davis/mills.mix/
peeeeeeeeeeeeeeece,
==============================================================
[Liquid Room Manga]
At first glance the exterior presented excessive signs of invention. It was
as if the zest for advancement lurked here sometime ago, the look, feel,
essence of conforming to the countless possibilities of what could be or
more ; than likely, what should be became institutional habit. Checking in
to their system is, I believe, alluring as well as unretractable. I became
overwhelmed and employed this unique form of cultural fixation.
As the outsider, I became the highlighted spectator in the rush of
organization. Graciously transported from location to location, I quickly
became a working fixture in the system. To say it looks futuristic is valid
hut only if you have seen the future. I saw in the eyes of the insiders a
schematic rendition of the destiny of mankind. I approached them in hopes
that I might find another part of myself. This part being the component
necessary in self-advancement of my given craft. This was found but only in
an uninterpretable language. The first encounter was much too brief to
sustain an equation. I needed another chance.
The opportunity came again 10/28/95
-Jeff Mills
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Segment 1
Utopia Jeff Mills
The Extremist Jeff Mills
Magneze Surgeon
The Start It Up Joey Beltram
Step To Enchantment (Stringent) Millsart
LifeCycle Jeff Mills
Untitled A Jeff Mills
Work That Body DJ Funk
Run(UK) DJ Funk
Play With The Voice In The USA DJ Joe Vanelli
Clementina Wicked Wipe
i9 Jeff Mills
Changes Of Life Jeff Mills
Overkill Circuit Breaker
Eternal Sun iO
Gameform Joey Beltram
Club MCM Club MCM
AX-009 Jeff Mills
Move Surgeon
Wet Floor Traxmen
Detached Jeff Mills
Nocturnal Claude Young
Segment 2
Bad Boy Advent
The 187 Skillz DJ Skull
Strings of Life / Rhythm Is RhythmMayday
Loop 3 Jeff Mills
Untitled B Jeff Mills
Extra (Luke Slater Mix) Ken Ishii
Avion Damon Wild
Intro (X-102) X-102
Growth Jeff Mills
Suspense H & M
The Other Side The Shadow
FlowerchildA Dan Morgan
Bazeltoya Hell & Jonzon
Segment3
Casa Jeff Mills
LifeCycle Jeff Mills
Step To Enchantment (Stringent) Millsart
Those of you that have been to Liquid Room in Tokyo will know that it is a
"different' kind of space for a party, much in the same way that this CD is
a "different" delivery medium for minimal groove techno. Liquid Room is at
the top of a tiny seventh floor elevator in surreal, Bladerunner-like
Shinjuku. You enter the party amidst the bustle of post-working week Tokyo
all-night happy hour, and leave to the rising sun of a littered city
silent, save for the carving and sliding of the local street skaters. The
room is highly compressed with an energetic crowd of local kids, average
age = 17.34. I wasn't there for this Mills gig, but I've seen Ken Ishii
there twice, and it is definitely a "different" forum for a party.
This disc is different. Nearly 70 tracks (35 slabs of vinyl and at least 35
"third records"). Lollapalooza-like crowd noise. Bass maxed out to the
point of muddiness, though the bins at LR are quite clean. A quirky track
selection that I enjoy, but that doesn't really bring out the most of
Mill's set development capabilities. The set basically hangs in at
150-160BPM throughout all three segments, except for the -8 / thumbdrag
wind down into X-102 Intro or the transitionless slam into the Mayday
history lesson of an audibly worn, tried but true Strings Of Life.
Along with Beltram, pre-Plastik Hawtin, wicked Damon Wild et al, the
trackselection includes a heapin' helping of Mills' own children, and
justifiably so. I find it fascinating to simultaneoulsy hear Mills as
artist and interpreter, bypassing the 1200's, mixers and bassbins for the
CD listener so that we can hear exactly how he intended these grooves to be
interleaved. Two simple minimalist mantras like Growth and Suspense do a
thing of beauty make when overlaid and underwoven at Mills' hand. Even with
creatures that aren't peas in a pod, like Hawtin's acid growler Overkill
and the simple off kilter bleep of iO's, Eternal Sun, Mills stacks to good
effect. He even collects the offering from those whom we alternatively
classify as JM peers or wannabees, Surgeon and Claude Young. Respect.
Though not all the mixes are flawless, it's great to have Mills' technical
turntable wizardry in a CD format that allows multiple cue and reviews for
maximum appreciation. All we need now is an interactive CD-Interactive with
video. The mixing is frenzied, aggressive, in your face and cocky, and
there are plenty of tricks to be found. He can hit the bottom of the EQ so
hard that the bottom drops out. Mills loves the backspin as transition
glue, and he can crank it back very, very fast. He vollies back and forth
between percussion and squelch with as much heat and frantic energy as a
carnival in Rio. A simple driving house groove becomes a wicked razzmatazz
rope-a-dope beneath the skilled hand of the Purpose Maker. When he drops a
crowd favorite like Changes Of Life, he does it as a tease, allowing just a
whiff of the well ridden track. He plays knick-knack-paddywhack with the
Surgeon's goods, starting and stopping on the dime. Mills wickedly
timestretches the vinyl to coax growling scary monsters and purring kitty
kats out of the mix. The tricks are flashy and exciting, but it's the mixes
that really improve with repeated listening. It's common knowledge that
Mills does things with the wheels that 95% of the general public can't even
perceive in real time, and if the number of subleties that keep creeping
out of these mixes with each playing is any indication, I'll be popping
this CD in frequently for some time.
1996. all rights reserved, all wrongs reversed.
Jeff Davis (pHlow)
jjdavis@xnet.com
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http://www.xnet.com/~jjdavis/
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