the world according to...Jeff Mills

A fashion designer and a dj / producer / label manager are in control of the next panel discussion. Hmm, that should be interesting, especially because we are dealing with two stars in their own right: Jeff Mills (Purpose Maker / Axis) and Lucas Ossendrijver (Lanvin). The issue is: why do you do what you do? “I purposely isolate myself, so I know that the end product is exactly what I felt. I know dj’s and producers that don’t particularly care for people so much, they like to keep their distance. That shapes the way that you make music them. I sometimes put the records far away from the booth to have a moment for myself every once and a while and rethink what I’m doing, if only for a view seconds.” Mr Mills seems to be very interested in the way Ossendrijver works, and the way his personality and world view influence his work. “In order to push things forward, you have to try new things.” “And do you look back a lot?, asks Mills. “No, I try not to.” “Me neither, I don’t listen to the product or watch the dvd after it’s released. I ten not to listen to what a made, because I want it to sound fresh when I play it live. I listen mostly to Steely Dan, Parliament Funkadelic. I want to feel comfortable, and my music does not make people feel comfortable. There have been cases where I got an album to the very edge of release, and retracted it all the same, because I just needed it for inspiration.”
I have gotten to the point that I don’t make music for the people, because people cause limitations. When I see someone who has problems trying to dance to one of my tracks, I might be tempted to go back to the studio and change the track, while it probably was more pure at first.”