Axis

Axis records - where to begin.? Let's begin by acknowledging that there are those that seem to love Jeff's Mid-90's output, and do not particularly like his later output - very strange. I guess that say's more about them than it does Jeff's ever evolving and experimenting (which consistently creates interesting and thought provoking music) whilst executing nearly 30 years of an intelligent, rich signature vision and signature style (even when that style takes of many forms). The entire career has been representative of harder indomitable Techno to melancholic beauty, underlined by what can (at best) be described as 'Esoteric' Techno, not a regular style and cannot be labelled with regular names (hence the 'Millsian' tag now associated with Jeff Mills, Always the same, always different is an honest paradox that can be attributed to the label there's lot's of subtle and practical stuff going on that is nonetheless not always obvious, and not meant to be consumed in an obvious way - and for that reason, goes over a lot of peoples heads who prefer only a certain type of Mills - yet the same hidden layers exist in that style too. As a collector of music that enjoys being challenged, introduced to concepts and approaches (many of which become relevant at different times) his entire output is essential. The thought of Jeff Churning out relentless, yet well crafted Techno belters to satisfy a narrow minded audience is contrary to his (and the labels) continuity of embracing sequence, driving the future and driving an atmosphere of new possibilities for the future. There's always the stalwart crowd that enjoy a certain short epoch of music, constantly harking back to it (And generally listening to nothing else) but if that's the mentality of those looking for Axis to do the same, then they have demonstrably missed the very essence of this iconic and unique label. I have collected various styles and moods from the label, with no particular period or style, just interesting stuff that inspires and stretches the genre of Techno into really interesting avenues. It', including the various film-scores, cine-mixes, live projects and collaborations such as 'Tomorrow Comes The Harvest' as one example. One of my top 5 artists and label's, a pleasure to be part of the journey - long may it continue!.

If you suffer from "completist" tendencies like me, where the sheer quality of a label compels you to go out and blindly splurge on every single release, then Axis is as frustrating as it gets: huge catalog, sometimes weird numbers, and a plethora of extremely limited edition white labels that you know you'll never see.

I have a snowball's chance in hell of ever completing this one. Oh well...