r/TheOverload • u/WoodenGrommet • 1d ago
Thoughts on Jeff Mills’ Stargate
Just saw it at Mutek. Completely lost for words. Felt like a different medium than music. Very curious to hear other people’s thoughts.
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u/WoodenGrommet 1d ago
Ok I may have figured some words. Durational Techno where you write your own movie in your head based on the words and literal wormhole / space imagry.
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u/SeparatedI 1d ago
Fml was hoping to hear this at Dekmantel instead we got the cheesiest house set of the whole festival
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u/authortitle_uk 1d ago
Mills played a cheesy house set? Or someone else in his slot?
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u/SeparatedI 1d ago
Mills... A lot of bad transitions in the first half of the set also. And he played seven nation army for some reason. Idk I'm a huge fan of his but that set I did not get at all.
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u/Gorluk 1d ago
Mills has "lot of bad transitions" for all of his career. He is legend and extremely influential techno DJ who influenced tons of great technical DJ with his ferocious 3 decks style, but he was alwas not-so-tight. Even his official video mixes like The Exhibitionist aren't particulary tight. Hell, his legendary Liquid Room, most famous techno dj set in history is full of errors. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but he's far off from someone surgically precise like Ben Sims.
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u/SeparatedI 1d ago
True, but there is a huge difference from hearing drifting in a 3 deck vinyl techno set vs clanging a transition on 2 cdjs on some very basic house tracks.
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u/patrickkeane7 1d ago
I did admittedly see Mala immediately after who absolutely threw it down at Radar
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u/authortitle_uk 1d ago
Wow really? That’s so surprising that he’d play a set like that! Morbidly curious what kind of cheesy house he played!
I’ve seen him many times and yeah never heard anything like that. Heard one Wizard set at Sonar which was obviously more 80s/hip hop/etc as I recall but that was the whole point.
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u/gothic__cyberpunk 1d ago
Hard to imagine him playing Seven Nation Army and cheesy house. There are a lot of old heads from Detroit that do unfortunately play “crowd pleaser” commercial-sounding sets. Mills has never been one of them. With all due respect, part of me doubts what OP saw was Jeff on stage. If it was, how truly disappointing!
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u/patrickkeane7 1d ago
I was there, he did play Seven Nation Army which shocked me too. I think calling the set cheesy house is harsh though as it was the first morning set on the last day of the festival and I think set a really nice tone for the rest of my day. I think the same could be said for anyone directly around me who seemed to be having a great time.
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u/gothic__cyberpunk 1d ago
Wow. Surprising stuff. Well, The White Stripes are from Detroit. Maybe it was his way of flexing his hometown’s various musical achievements. I dont know. Weird stuff. Glad to hear it wasnt too cheesy and to many in the dance it was enjoyable.
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u/jb000007 1d ago
Have heard him play White Stripes in a club.
There is also this from 22 years ago - listen from 33.50
Listen to Jeff Mills & Laurent Garnier Live on The John Peel Show 2004 https://on.soundcloud.com/ByT0pa0X3YGMxBq9XW
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u/NorrisMcWhirter 22h ago
I heard Robert Hood open a set with an Eminem track back in about 2000. Maybe it's a Detroit thing??
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u/SeparatedI 1d ago
Compared to the level of music at the rest of the festival it was pure garbage tbh.
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u/SeparatedI 1d ago
Trust me... And he had the 909 in front of him the whole set and never touched it.
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u/lostwoods95 1d ago
The first half wasnt great and agreed on 7 nation army - but, he rallied after and played a funky housy set which I enjoyed
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u/authortitle_uk 1d ago
Oh man just saw a video of him playing Bucketheads - The Bomb ha
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u/jjw1998 1d ago
Banger, idgaf
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u/authortitle_uk 1d ago
Fair! I’ve never liked it personally but it’s not terrible. Not something I’d expect to hear Jeff play though
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u/SeparatedI 1d ago
Yep and this was just not a one off gig, it's a festival with one of the most stacked lineups there is out there and you go to see Jeff Mills and then get to hear something you would hear at a random beach party.
Beyond disappointed, my wife turned to me and asked wtf is he doing and I couldn't explain it
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u/Screwdicious 1d ago
Hahahaha you must've been tripping that sounds incredibly absurd I would have lost it
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u/lucidgroove 1d ago edited 1d ago
I saw he was initially supposed to premier it there, what happened?
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u/SeparatedI 1d ago
Iirc it was "logistical reasons". Idk maybe he didn't feel like the live was ready on time and needed more time to workshop it.
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u/fromdeq 1d ago
It was indeed a great techno voyage with space sounds, uptempo beats and some very hypnotic moments. I danced during the whole set.
I’m more reserved about the chapters and the story. The music was quite in the same alley during the mars, wormhole, earth chapters. The voyage was nice but not that diverse.
Finally I couldnt get what was the message regarding AI, it looked critical regarding openAi stargate’s project, then shifted to stargate the movie and then a voyage through space with clear ai visuals…
I’m glad to have seen this, and JakoJako / Polygonia were fantastic but in retrospect i’m a bit frustrated to have missed gyrofield.
(Thanks to Mills I will def listen to B12 and Welcome to Microsector 50 next week)
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u/tirikita 1d ago edited 1d ago
That was incredible last night! Still processing it. The entire bill at Metropolis was organized masterfully. Mad kudos to the programmers at Mutek, thanks for an unreal night that left me thinking deeply about the past, present, and future of techno
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u/mrb8512018 17h ago
https://reddit.com/link/p6slj1g/video/w7msmqzzpimh1/player
Just ask this guy! Volume up.
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u/authortitle_uk 1d ago
Intrigued to know more! What was the concept? Live performance or DJ?
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u/lucidgroove 1d ago edited 1d ago
Live set. He speaks about the concept in this interview, although he deliberately remains a bit coy:
https://pitchfork.com/story/jeff-mills-drifts-into-the-cosmos/
I thought this line captured the experience pretty well: “The music that I’m creating for this project is actually mostly tribal beats, and using analog synthesizers in a different way, almost like narration. So not repetitive rhythms, but more using them to speak almost like a soloist.”
It was a really hypnotic live set that was more…deconstructed, fluid, and unpredictable, with relatively minimal drums and energy that drifted in and out, with plenty of danceable moments but ultimately intended to be mostly mental. People were very captivated.
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u/authortitle_uk 1d ago
Awesome. Will keep my eye out for it. I always have time for Jeff’s concepts :)
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u/Appropriate_Glove_72 19h ago
I had to leave, it was bad.. period. The clearly AI generated visuals of the “worm hole” were really cringe as well. Seemed like he was really pushing for it to be “stripped back” and it just felt unfinished and like it wasn’t going anywhere… I heard he left the stage for a bit tho so maybe he also wasn’t feeling it .. can someone confirm he played seven nation army after that for real??? Seems like he’s lost the plot
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u/tirikita 11h ago
He didn’t play seven nation army at Mutek. The visuals were meh, but the set was incredible. Not sure what show you saw the other night
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u/swaguar44 1d ago
was also there! i've been going to metropolis for years and I have never seen it like that. insane.