Jeff Mills is a titanic force in techno. As a child in 1980s Detroit, he was introduced to jazz and blues, joining industrial acts as a teenager. "You're always connected to the city you're born in," he muses. "Everything that I learned about music — all the different styles and studying bands and nightlife and becoming a DJ — started there." He decamped to New York City and Berlin in the '90s, currently residing in Miami. Over the course of an illustrious career, Mills' virtuosic speed has earned him a fitting nickname: The Wizard.
Early on, Mills hosted a radio slot on WJLB and held a residency at Limelight; he has created fabled tracks, such as "The Bells" and "Wrath Of The Punisher"; he is a co-founder of the influential collective Underground Resistance. Yet his defining statement is the Live At The Liquid Room, Tokyo mix from '95. "I didn't think so much about it because time just moves on when you do things like that," he remembers. "It wasn't until much later that I realized it was actually quite rare to film a DJ set back then. There were many DJs that were making mixes on compilations and CDs, but I think that might have been one of the earliest films of a DJ set." His rig was unconventional, consisting of two turntables and a pair of reel-to-reel tape machines for road testing originals. Liquid Room immortalizes the intense, genre-bending energy that was bubbling up in that era. It is a spunky, clattering masterclass.
To celebrate three decades of Liquid Room, Mills has embarked on a 60-stop international tour. At Knockdown Center in Queens, a 360-degree crowd surrounded the booth. He deployed pummelling vinyl selections, relegated to the mid '90s. "I went into my storage and through all the boxes. These are the actual records that were being played that night," Mills shares. Support was chosen by vetting gifted technicians instead of party hosts — Japan's Ken Ishii seamlessly transitioned behind the decks during an intermission.
Liquid Room was difficult to locate online, until it came to streaming in 2025. Mills' recent performances are being rendered in Spatial Audio, to be made available exclusively on Apple Music. Fourteen microphones, a stereo feed output, and a headphone jack captured his night at Knockdown Center. Mills praises Spatial Audio as a sonic method for maintaining precious, educational memories. "The work we've been doing around DJ Mixes has always happened with Jeff front of mind. He's a generational legend that is always pushing things forward," says Stephen Campbell, Global Head of Dance, Electronic, and DJ Mixes at Apple Music. "It allows you as the listener to feel like you're standing at the place in the room where it sounds the best. It's an amazing way for the club experience to live on beyond that moment of time."
How have these events compared to Mills' legacy-altering appearance at the Liquid Room? "The difference between then and now is that part of the audience is 30 years older," he reflects with a chuckle. "Some in the audience weren't even born yet. There's a really common enthusiasm between these two parts. I'm able to play things from then and now to make a connection between the two." In his 60s, Mills is still cultivating relentless motion with minimal frills.
PEAK TIME
Dustin Phil - "Outlived"
Well Street Records is a hotbed of feisty broken beats. On Dustin Phil's EP Living For The Last Time, the Italian composer contrasts euphoric hooks and snarling aural design. "Outlived" blossoms with oily pads and deep undulations that usher a rickety garage summit. True to the Well Street formula, this is a USB essential with smart inclinations.
Priori - "Nesting Chamber" (Feat. Gavsborg)
Francis Latrielle (AKA Priori) keeps remarkably busy. As he amps up for a fizzy LP from his Jump Source project with Patrick Holland — on the label he co-runs, NAFF — he has unveiled the EP, 9, on Kynant. It veers brooding, evidenced on "Nesting Chamber." Woozy speaking from Jamaica's Gavsborg seasons a stew of echoes and white noise — a sumptuous earworm.
Crespi Drum Syndicate - "Siu" (Feat. AceMo)
Jonathan Trujillo (AKA Jonny From Space) is a shapeshifting totem of Miami's club boom. Crespi Drum Syndicate is his partnership with Pablo Arrangoiz (AKA DJ Fitness). Colada Talk — on Los Angeles imprint Cinnamon Disc — fuses traditional Latin rhythms and vintage textures. "Siu" features Brooklyn house hero AceMo, bearing few traces of his bouncy fingerprint. Instead, it is a primal swirl of rattles and rolls.
Ayesha - "Zipper"
Launched in 2021 by Ma Sha, Kindergarten Records is intrinsic with hefty bass weight. In honor of its fifth anniversary, the burgeoning New York City institution has united contributions of its alumni on Fluo V. "Zipper" sees roster lynchpin Ayesha merging trance, acid, and techno. A synthesizer that calls to mind tearing nylon communes with claps and bongos. It is acrid and exhilarating.
glob deejay - "Clowns"
On Dream Curtain Eternally Gentle for 3XL, Stone Burletson asserted adeptness for floaty downtempo. His EP glob — under the moniker glob deejay — materializes on Montréal's venerated NAFF. "clowns" anchors on sugary chords that illuminate crisp hi-hats and pristine subs. Painting in gumdrop hues, it lands between the pulse of Call Super and whimsy of Will Wiesenfeld's Geotic.
Simo Cell & Abdullah Miniawy - "I See The Stadium" (Feat. Lord Spikeheart)
Parisian Simon Aussel (AKA Simo Cell) has a knack for claustrophobic oddities. His new effort on Dekmantel UFO, Dying Is The Internet, is with Egypt's Abullah Minawy. Arabic singing drives the eight cuts, which aim to challenge exhausting AI slop. Opener "I See The Stadium" escalates from deconstructed chanting to a skittering climax. Aided by Kenyan Lord Spikeheart, it is a direct beginning to the lurching journey.
Xylitol - "Lights"
Across Xylitol's Blumenfantasie, Catherine Backhouse (AKA DJ Bunnyhausen) pays homage to '70s kosmische and Bosnian cult favorite Miaux. It is also inspired by the historical iconography she encountered in Berlin, while there for a Planet Mu event. It all yields a heavenly strain of jungle, encapsulated on "Lights." This is scholarly in spirit, gripping in execution.
Mammo - "Semni"
Whether doling out pure ambience or gnarled tools, Matthew Kent's Short Span is a vital platform on the rise. Mammo's sprawling Lateral finds the Dutch-Italian producer surfacing for 99 dexterous minutes. Where his previous releases zeroed in on inky dub techno, here the artist once known as Fabiano skews eclectic and balmy. "Knuckles" is the moodiest moment, sharp stabs gnawing on an unassuming thump. It gradually builds to a misty peak, rewarding patience.
Shane Parish - "Bike"
Tailored for dark stages, Autechre are notorious for innovating the dissonant side of IDM. On Autechre Guitar, Georgia's Shane Parish translates the UK duo's '90s programming into acoustic fretwork. Issued by collaborator Bill Orcutt's Palilalia, the album sparked encouragement from Parish's wife — a massive Autechre fan. "Bike" flips squelchy melodies into slippery folk. It injects humanity into Sean Booth and Rob Brown's daunting experiments.
Avalon Emerson & The Charm - "Happy Birthday"
Avalon Emerson's pivot from DJing to celestial pop on 2023's & The Charm was promising. Her second full-length as an indie rocker, Written Into Changes, displays more confident songwriting. It was guided by Nathan Jenkins (AKA Bullion) and Rostam Batmanglij, who massaged her starpower. "Happy Birthday" is carried by a skippy instrumental and lyrics on aging. "Too young to die, too old to break through," Emerson repeats in the chorus. For a Berghain veteran, she seems endearingly vulnerable.
THE AFTERS
How it feels to roll up to a show that you are about to DJ to 30 people pic.twitter.com/qCojaW1eUj
— Harmful Logic Music Man (@Harmful_Logic) March 14, 2026
