JEFF MILLS Waveform Transmission Vol. 3 (Tresor)

Jeff Mills is of the "you’ll either like it or...well, you probably won’t like it, to be honest" school of dance music. A DJ famed for his triple deck mixing skills, like many techno pioneers he began making music with the intention of incorporating his own tunes into his DJing sets. His stock in trade is a pummelling, madbastard machine shop noise, probably best described as dance’s equivalent of thrash. A friend has likened Mills’ music to the din produced by a fax machine, which is also pretty close. "Waveform Transmission Vol. 3" is a reissue of his 1994 album, here presented as a double vinyl pressing for maximum sound quality even though it’s barely 35 minutes long. A sticker on the cover reads "Lost Titles Part 1 - Remastered", which hopefully suggests the beginning of a series of Jeff Mills’ reissues. The eight tracks include old faves such as "The Extremist" and "Workers", as well as a version of "Life Cycle" allegedly remixed by the man himself. This album is probably about as fierce and brutal as the fringes of popular music could reasonably be expected to get, and guaranteed to send legions of teenie Podgy fans running to the hills in terror upon exposure to its thundering menace. I love it, but I’d understand if you didn’t.