Greg Fenton reviews Jeff Mills – The Trip – Enter The Black Hole – Axis Records
Funny how sometimes it’s the smallest of things that catch your attention. In my case, it’s the quick-fire snippet from a pad being slowly introduced in short bursts on Contradiction (Silent Shadow Mix). It feels incredibly powerful like it can’t quite let go but captivates your attention nonetheless. Maybe it has something to do with the accompanying fast-paced drumming and Jun Togawa’s tantalizing vocals placing the rip of emotions in context. However, music is such a unique and personal experience that is likewise open-ended and about shared experience. You might not even notice it.
The album showcases the musical part of Jeff Mills evolution of The Trip concept, originating back in 2009, with a live performance debuting in Tokyo on April 1st of this year. Musically sounding like an amalgamation of all things past present and undoubtedly future, like a representation of nature’s atoms being split in two rushing to an uncertain conclusion. Unsettling, and unnerving at times while at others soaking up off-balance serenity in the form of When Time Stops. Ticktock. The impression created by the interplay between the two disciplines of music and performance feeds into the arrangements as movement and poise exchange virtues. Returning to the contrasting, motorik heartbeat driving the brilliant Long Radio version of Contradiction then connects to a world of other information. In this instance featuring a blast of irresistible rock guitar that only goes to highlight the album’s ongoing soaring dexterity.
The one thing The Trip is never short of is a sense of wonder sounding like reoccurring seconds you are experiencing for the first time. Breathing in the oxygen of security and yet all the while there remains a defiant edge to it all. Perhaps signifying that you don’t quite know what will happen next. Perhaps, that is one of the thrilling rewards of being alive.
Release: March 20
Buy Jeff Mills – The Trip – Enter The Black Hole Here
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