Axis US Vinyl & CDs

Review: It is now 23 years since Jeff Mills dropped his seminal Metropolis album, which was a shortened version of his electronic soundtrack for Fritz Lang's Metropolis movie from 1927. Mills is a famous futurist but his sounds work perfectly on this project which is a symbiotic mix of compositions that makes for a nuanced representation of the plot and storyline. It's a testament to his skill that his album is utterly timeless and wholly absorbing, and likely always will be.

Review: The Axis Expressionist series, curated by Millsart aka Jeff Mills, is back with a second EP that features a selection of tracks making their debut on vinyl. The music is less focused on the act of dancing and more, says the ever-verbose Mills, "about reflecting on the complexity and simplification of life." The opener 'The Wise One' (Khufu mix) is all steamy and ritualistic percussive sounds and mystic synths over a rolling tribal beat that turns you inwards. 'Wind Walkers' (extended mix) is a beautifully loose-limbed jumble of percussion, off-grid hits and snaking rhythms steeped in celestial charm and 'Don't Ask Me Why' (extended mix) rounds out with another snaking groove richly embellished with ancient cosmic magic.

Review: Jeff Mills for Axis Records. Are there any more exciting words for fans of Detroit techno? Here The Wizard assumes his MIllsart alias and once again sets off to explore extra terrestrial soundscapes. The tempo here is slower than under his own name, leaving more space for the sci-fi details and cosmic motifs to really sink in. The beats roll deep, too, with gentle percussive clatter dropped in from above. In the case of 'Breaker Breaker One Nine' the sound is almost Glenn Underground-esque. It is the EP highlight, though the glistening 'The Upside Down' is not far behind.

Review: Jeff Mills has always used the Millsart alias as vehicle for his more eclectic, out there, experimental and hard-to-pigeonhole productions. He's clearly proud of them, as he should be, as he recently inaugurated the 'Axis Expressionist Series' of EPs to showcase a blend of classic Millsart cuts and previously unreleased reworks. This 12" marks the third in the ongoing series, and sees 'the Wizard' bounce between creepy, mid-tempo techno psychedelia ('The Deuce Theory', with its addictive bassline, ghostly pads and off-key electronics), spaced-out tech-jazz headiness (the brilliant, impossible to describe 'Kundalini Energy (Morning Glory Mix)') and lightly jazz-tinged downtempo exotica (the organ-heavy shuffle and sun-bright melodies of 'Are You Experienced (Guilty Pleasure Mix)').

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


It's a while since we last heard from Spiral Deluxe, the deep house/nu-jazz fusion project of Jeff Mills, fellow Underground Resistance affiliate Gerald Mitchell, jazz guitarist Kenji Hino and Buffalo Daughter member Umiko Ohno. Having previously released two EPs (in 2017 and 18 respectively), the quartet has finally got round to recording a debut album. Fusing beats and electronics rooted in deep house, jazz-funk and - in a roundabout way - Motor City tech-jazz - with the virtuoso playing of Hino and Ohno, the set delivers a more fluid, instantaneous and loose-limbed exploration of the jazz-house blueprint drawn up by St Germain in the early 1990s. Basically, it's an album that draws the best out of its contributors, and there's no greater praise than that.

Review: It's a while since we last heard from Spiral Deluxe, the deep house/nu-jazz fusion project of Jeff Mills, fellow Underground Resistance affiliate Gerald Mitchell, jazz guitarist Kenji Hino and Buffalo Daughter member Umiko Ohno. Having previously released two EPs (in 2017 and 18 respectively), the quartet has finally got round to recording a debut album. Fusing beats and electronics rooted in deep house, jazz-funk and - in a roundabout way - Motor City tech-jazz - with the virtuoso playing of Hino and Ohno, the set delivers a more fluid, instantaneous and loose-limbed exploration of the jazz-house blueprint drawn up by St Germain in the early 1990s. Basically, it's an album that draws the best out of its contributors, and there's no greater praise than that.

Review: If you were digging the sound of The Paradox, Jeff Mills' 2021 collaboration with keys virtuoso Jean-Phi Dary, you should be very excited indeed to see the return of Tomorrow Comes The Harvest. The project originated in Mills and the late Afrobeat architect Tony Allen working together around 2018 on live shows and an album, and in the wake of Allen's passing Mills has kept their project alive with Dary and Indian tabla player Prabhu Edouard. Improvisation and interwoven rhythm is at the heart of the project, and the considerable skills of each player reach staggering heights on this monumental record, released to coincide with the trio's world tour.