Editing Jeff Mills (section)

==Career==
[[File:Jeff Mills Detroit 2007.jpg|thumb|Jeff Mills performing in Detroit in 2007.]]

===Early career and radio DJ===
A 1981 graduate of [[Mackenzie High School (Michigan)|Mackenzie High School]], Mills started his career in the early 1980s using the name "the Wizard".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eightyeightdc.com/88blog/?p=1979 |title=Jeff Mills gets Down with FORWARD and 88 |publisher=88 Music Blog |access-date=June 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626222124/http://www.eightyeightdc.com/88blog/?p=1979 |archive-date=June 26, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Mackenzie-High-School/246437?page=0|title=1981 Mackenzie High School Yearbook|website=www.classmates.com}}</ref> He performed DJ tricks like [[beat juggling]] and [[scratching]] during his sets. He had a nightly show as the Wizard at [[WUFL (FM)|WDRQ]] and later at WJLB under the same name. He would highlight local techno artists, giving light to artists such as [[Derrick May (musician)|Derrick May]], [[Kevin Saunderson]] and [[Juan Atkins]].<ref name=MTVNewsDTechGoinHome /><ref name=DFPressMasterDJ>{{cite news |last1=Warren |first1=Tamara |title=Five questions with Jeff Mills, master DJ and founder of Axis Records |url=http://archive.freep.com/article/20121011/ENT04/310110005/Jeff-Mills |access-date=May 11, 2015 |newspaper=The Detroit Free Press |date=October 11, 2012}}</ref>

In his early career, Mills managed numerous residencies in the Detroit area.<ref name=DFPressMasterDJ /> He credits The Necto as the residency where he was able to experiment with new ideas in techno music.<ref name=DFPressMasterDJ /> Mills played The Necto where he began incorporating concepts such as different equipment setups, including positioning himself on the dance floor with the people.<ref name=DFPressMasterDJ /> For his radio DJ spots, Mills had a music spending budget to use for his sets. Mills would also drive as far as Toronto or Chicago in order to purchase newly released music.<ref name=DFPressMasterDJ />

===Underground Resistance===

{{main|Underground Resistance}}

Mills is a founding member of [[Underground Resistance]], a techno collective that he started with former [[Parliament (band)|Parliament]] [[bass guitar|bass]] player [[Mike Banks (musician)|'Mad' Mike Banks]].<ref name="AMG" /> The group embraced revolutionary rhetoric and only appeared in public dressed in ski masks and black combat suits. Mills never "officially" left the group, but did begin to pursue his own ventures outside of the collective.<ref name=MTVNewsDTechGoinHome /> Many of Underground Resistance's labelmate's early releases were the product of various experiments by Banks and Mills, both solo and in collaboration, before Mills left the collective in 1991 to achieve international success as a solo artist and DJ. The collective continues to be a mainstay of Detroit's music scene.<ref name=MTVNewsDTechGoinHome />

UR related the [[aesthetics]] of early Detroit Techno to the complex social, political, and economic circumstances which followed on from [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]]-era inner-city economic recession, producing uncompromising music geared toward promoting awareness and facilitating political change. UR's songs created a sense of self-exploration, experimentation and the ability to change yourself and circumstances. Additionally, UR wanted to establish a means of identification beyond traditional lines of race and ethnicity. Another form of UR's rebellion concerns the rejection of the commercialization of techno. This is evident in the messages scratched in UR's records, lyrics and sounds expressing economic independence from major record labels.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schaub |first1=Christopher |title=Beyond the Hood? Detroit Techno, Underground Resistance, and African American Metropolitan Identity Politics |url=http://www.interamerica.de/volume-2-2/schaub/ |access-date=May 11, 2015 |publisher=Inter America |date=October 2009}}</ref>

===Solo work and independent labels===
[[File:Tresor - Berlin.jpg|thumb|The [[Tresor (club)|Tresor]] Club in Berlin, where Mills was a resident prior to launching Axis Records]]

Mills left Underground Resistance in 1991 to pursue his own ventures. He relocated from Detroit, first to New York, then Berlin (as a resident at the [[Tresor (club)|Tresor]] club),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wasacz |first1=Walter |title=Berlin, Detroit, and reinvention through creative industries |url=http://www.semichiganstartup.com/features/DimitriHegemannQandA052014.aspx |website=Southeast Michigan Startup |access-date=June 11, 2015 |archive-date=May 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515114115/https://www.semichiganstartup.com/features/DimitriHegemannQandA052014.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> and then Chicago. There in 1992, with fellow Detroit native [[Robert Hood]], he set up the record label [[Axis Records (record label)|Axis]], and later, sub-labels [[Purpose Maker]], Tomorrow, and 6277, all aiming for a more [[Minimal techno|minimal]] sound than most of the techno being produced in those years.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jeff Mills: la Detroit Techno infiamma i Magazzini Generali |url=http://milano.mentelocale.it/61863-milano-jeff-mills-detroit-techno-infiamma-magazzini-generali/ |access-date=June 11, 2015 |publisher=Mentelocale.it |date=November 14, 2014 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Kakaire |first1=Christine |title=Techno icon Jeff Mills talks about 20 years of Axis Records and retiring The Wizard |url=https://news.beatport.com/jeff-mills-sequence-interview/ |website=BeatPort |access-date=June 11, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704221317/https://news.beatport.com/jeff-mills-sequence-interview/ |archive-date=July 4, 2015 }}</ref>

Mills released ''Blue Potential'' in 2006, a live album of him playing with the 70 piece Montpelier Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005.<ref name=BBCBlyuePotential>{{cite web |last1=Dene |first1=Lewis |title=Jeff Mills Blue Potential Review |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/vxrg |website=The BBC |access-date=May 11, 2015}}</ref> The album was a remix for classical interpretation, following musical acts such as [[Radiohead]].<ref name=BBCBlyuePotential /> In 2013, he released Where Light Ends, an album inspired by the Japanese astronaut [[Mamoru Mohri]] and his first trip to space.<ref name=NYTimesrareapepar />
In 2018, Mills recorded E.P. ''Tomorrow Comes The Harvest'' with legendary afro-jazz drummer [[Tony Allen (musician)|Tony Allen]].

===Film, soundtracks, and documentary===

Mills performed a live set in January 2015 at the [[Jewish Community Center]] in San Francisco, California.<ref name=NBCBayCineMix>{{cite news |last1=Palmer |first1=Tamara |title=Jeff Mills Debuts Live "Cine-Mix" in San Francisco |url=http://www.nbcbayarea.com/blogs/the-city/Jeff-Mills--285887801.html |access-date=May 11, 2015 |publisher=NBC Bay Area |date=December 15, 2014}}</ref> The set was performed with four turntables to create a cinemix soundtrack for [[Woman in the Moon]], the 1929 silent film from [[Fritz Lang]].<ref name=NBCBayCineMix /> The set was performed during a screening of the film at the center.<ref name=ViceTomorrowJM>{{cite magazine |last1=Baines |first1=Josh |title=What Lies Beyond Tomorrow: In Conversation with Jeff Mills |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/jeff-mills-woman-in-the-moon-interview/ |access-date=June 11, 2015 |magazine=Vice |date=February 17, 2015}}</ref> Mills has previously completed work highlighting Lang's career, including composing, performing, and releasing a soundtrack to Lang's 1927 silent film [[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]], releasing the soundtrack in 2000.<ref name=NBCBayCineMix />

Mills became involved in film with the help of French filmmaker Jacqueline Caux.<ref>{{cite web |title=DJ Jeff Mills: The Man from Tomorrow |url=http://www.france24.com/en/20140121-jeff-mills-dj-music-detroit-film-jacqueline-caux-man-of-tomorrow-louvre-india-slums-video-games |website=France 24 |date=January 21, 2014 |access-date=June 11, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Jeff Mills film, Man from Tomorrow, premieres in Paris |url=http://www.thewire.co.uk/news/28325/jeff-mills-film_man-from-tomorrow_premieres-in-paris |website=The Wire |access-date=June 11, 2015}}</ref> He helped Caux produce the film ''Man from Tomorrow'', a documentary about techno music that featured Mills.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Matthew |first1=Terry |title=Jeff Mills Man from Tomorrow |url=http://5chicago.com/news/jeff-mills-man-from-tomorrow-video/ |website=Channel 5 Chicago |date=February 13, 2014 |access-date=June 11, 2015}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ryce |first1=Andrew |title=Jeff Mills behind new film, Life To Death And Back |url=http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=26465 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |publisher=Resident Advisor |date=September 18, 2014}}</ref>