Picked up these yesterday - excellent stuff. They had Axis 13 (X103) in as
well, but I wasn't quite impressed enough to shell out for it...
Jeff Mills - The Purpose Maker (Axis 11)
This is the most accessible Mills material that I have heard - I liked Solid
Sleep and Late Night, but he seems to have progressed from that rough, distorted
sound to a slightly more polished feel. Four tracks - equally high standard
throughout. 'Casa' kicks off with a pounding groove, not too hard, but still
kicking. 'In The Bush' and 'Black Is The Number' are fine dancefloor material,
not really acid, but still with a lot of analogue movement. 'Reverting' is the
hardest track, with tough sounds and cool percussion. Excellent dancefloor
material all-round.
Millsart - Humana (Axis 12)
A much more 'musical' release in contrast to 'Purpose Maker'. This (sort-of)
six-tracker opens with a very short but pleasant ambient introduction, followed
by a nice Detroit techno track - lots of cool spacey pads over sparse, metallic
rhythms. The next track is similar, but beat-free - a nice spacey ambient tune.
On the flip there is a hard, distorted locked-groove, followed by the most
experimental cut on the EP. Pizzicato strings and loops begin the track in a
nice enough way, then it cuts to a swooping white noise, before the synths
return with a much more menacing feel. Finally, there is a more straightforward
metallic clanking techno track. All in all a very intersting and listenable EP.
See ya
Tom Churchill E-mail: tom@chrchfam.demon.co.uk
Techno/electronic DJ and musician