Jeff Mills

Few DJs have done as much to further the now global phenomenon of techno music as Jeff Mills. Alongside Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Carl Craig, he is a member of a cabal that has cemented the reputation of his home city, Detroit, within the genre, the once Michigan capital now as synonymous with the music as it used to be with Motown. Such was his prowess on turntables that he earned the nickname of The Wizard when establishing himself on Detroit's radio stations and in its clubs during the 1980s. Alongside Mike Banks and Robert Hood, he co-founded the Underground Resistance collective and label, before Hood and Mills left. He then formed the Axis label and his Purpose Maker label and alias under which early classics such as 'Alarms' and 'The Bells' would emerge. These songs are acknowledged classics, even more relied upon by DJs today than they were upon release. Mills has continued to expand techno's boundaries and was one of the first electronic dance music producers to engage with orchestral collaboration. This year he will play the opening concert of Dimensions Festival before and audience of many thousand in a collaboration with Afrobeat's pioneering drummer Tony Allen. But, before then, you can catch him in the smaller environs of Boogaloo for a Future Scope party which will utilise each of the venue's rooms. Appearing in support of The Wizard are Shipe, Felver, Herya, Life4Funk, Krekman, Matya and Sonic Illuminati, with F.O.R.M. Performing live.