Adam Beyer - Tresor Club - Berlin DE - May 1998

Biography of Adam Beyer

Adam Beyer became dedicated to the fascinating world of rhythm early on. After playing the drums as a teenager his obsession turned to the decks. In 1990 he bought his first set of turntables and started spinning a wide range of hiphop, hiphouse, acid and techno at local parties and clubs. Beyer soon learned how to blend his sets in a thoughtfull and highly focused way, a talent that has now developed into his trademark style.

In 92 Fellow school friend Peter Benisch introduced Beyer to the sampler , a year later they got their first record deal with New York based Direct Drive. After finishing school in 1995, Beyer started work at the Planet Rhythm record store while releasing some tracks under a variety of names and continually djing all over Scandinavia. Adam Beyer sites Drumcodes 1 (Planet Rhythm 1995) as the first record to define his style; hard, percussive and loop oriented. This 12' names Beyer´s future label and was soon followed by his critically acclaimed debut album Decoded (Planet Rhythm 1996).

His need to create the perfect dj tool gave rise to the launch of the Drumcode label allowing him total musical freedom. The label´s strong concept and high production levels meant it enjoyed immediate success. After six releases Beyer launched his second label Code Red focusing on a slightly softer side of techno. Code Red finished with its 10 th and final release Stand Down (Code Red 1999) which was a compilation of remixes from various international artists.

His production skills soon brought Beyer to the attention of djs worldwide and global bookings soon followed. His meteoric rise has been cited as one of the catalysts for Swedish techno´s current influence. He pinpoints the Stockholm sound as being closely linked to his network of friends in the city aswell as the triumvirate of himself, Joel Mull and Cari Lekebusch. After many releases and remixes on various labels he launched the second album Protechtion (Drumcode 1999).

While the market was being flooded with monoton loop oriented techno Beyer worked on strengthening the arrangements that characterised his earlier works, aswell as adding melodic strings. Still with a clear focus on the dance floor. The same year Adam Beyer and Cari Lekebusch linked up to create a stunning live act first witnessed in London to instant acclaim. The act created the intense feeling of a creative dj set while the duo played back to back mixing their production styles.

Jeff Mills - Tresor Club - Berlin DE - May 1998

Biography of Jeff Mills

For techno aficionados, Jeff Mills needs no introduction as he represents the ultimate in minimal, hard but funky house and techno. More than just club tracks, his cleverly crafted compositions have been hailed as soundtracks to modern life and he has stated that each work represents the next part in a series of gradual progressions that is orchestrated by experiences and destiny. Jeff, the seminal Detroit techno originator who has been running his own Axis Records label since 1991, was originally one of the legendary Detroit techno collective Underground Resistance. He has been making music for well over a decade and has been DJ'ing for longer, including years spent as a radio DJ.

Jeff Mills is credited with laying the foundations for legendary Detroit Techno collective, Underground Resistance, alongside 'Mad' Mike Banks, a former Parliament bass player. Just like Public Enemy did some years before in hip hop, they confronted the mainstream music industry with revolutionary rhetoric.

Dressed in uniforms with skimasks and black combat suits, they were ‘men on a mission’, aiming at giving techno more content and meaning. Mills would never leave UR officially, but later on he still went his own way. He moved to New York and after a short stay in Berlin (Tresor) ended up in Chicago. There he set up his two labels, Axis and Purposemaker.

Mills has also been credited for his exceptional turntable skills. Tracks are almost chopped to bits to showcase the strongest fragments for his relentless sound collages. Three decks, a Roland 909 drum-machine and seventy records in one hour: at breakneck speed Mills manipulates beats and basslines, vinyl and frequencies. In the course of the eighties he was an influential radio-deejay under the pseudonym ‘The Wizard’. He used to spin obscure dance and New Wave, far from the funk and minimal, throbbing club techno with which he would go on making a name for himself, inspiring lots of copycats.

The best (or the most popular in all respects) techno-deejay in the world. And with a unique style: tracks are almost chopped up to bits only to withhold the strongest fragments for his relentless sound-collages. Three decks, a Roland 909 drum-machine and seventy records in one hour: at breakneck speed Mills manipulates beats and basslines, vinyl and frequencies. In the course of the eighties he was an influential radio-deejay under the pseudonym ‘The Wizard’. He used to spin obscure dance-records and new wave, far from the thermonuclear funk and minimal, throbbing clubtechno with which he would go on making a name for himself, inspiring lots of copycats. In ’90 Mills laid the foundation of the legendary Detroit techno collective Underground Resistance alongside ‘Mad’ Mike Banks (a former Parliament bass-player). Just like Public Enemy did some years before in hip hop, they confronted the mainstream music industry with revolutionary retorics. Dressed in uniforms with skimasks and black combat suits, they were ‘men on a mission’, aiming at giving techno more content and meaning. Mills would never leave UR officially, but later on he still went his own way. He moved to New York and after a short stay in Berlin (Tresor!) ended up in Chicago. There he set up his two labels, Axis and Purposemaker. Through all this, he stuck to his principles: grand theories and ambitious concepts. On the recent cd ‘Lifelike’ Mills turns to colour-psychology for a professional screening of his personality. And the music primarily shows the subdued, soulful and melancholic Mills, this time maker of serene electronics with a surprising depth and emotion.

http://www.myspace.com/jeffmills2006