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Jeff mills - three ages (mk2 music)

01.	Jeff Mills - Daylight
02.	Jeff Mills - Keaton's Theme
03.	Jeff Mills - Roman Age
04.	Jeff Mills - Present Age
05.	Jeff Mills - Jealous Lovers
06.	Jeff Mills - The Serenade
07.	Jeff Mills - A Day In The Life Of A Day
08.	Jeff Mills - Before The Storm
09.	Jeff Mills - Dagma
10.	Jeff Mills - The Meaning Of Everything
11.	Jeff Mills - The Only Way Out
12.	Jeff Mills - The Meaning Of Everything (Keaton's Family Mix)
13.	Jeff Mills - BONUS VIDEO - Video remix The Chase
14.	Jeff Mills - BONUS VIDEO - Extract from Buster Keaton's Three Ages

Review

A few years ago, two small groups of people in Amsterdam had the privilege to watch and listen to Fritz Lang's movie Metropolis in a special edited version. Jeff Mills provided the new edit together with a soundtrack, produced/composed for this old (1927) movie from the silent era.

A few years ago, two small groups of people in Amsterdam had the privilege to watch and listen to Fritz Lang's movie Metropolis in a special edited version. Jeff Mills provided the new edit together with a soundtrack, produced/composed for this old (1927) movie from the silent era. I'm very glad that I was part of one of the groups, as techno in it's purest form was feeding my senses in every way. The images, the story, the music, the exclusiveness, the location, the explanation of the creator himself, it was clear that night I'd watched and heard a masterpiece, and maybe a new step in the world of electronic music.

At the beginning of this year Jeff Mills released his second soundtrack to a movie from the silent era. This time Buster Keaton’s comic movie called "Three Ages" (1923) was given a 21st century electronic coat. I'm going to review the promotional copy of the "Three Ages" soundtrack, containing the full audio soundtrack and two Quicktime previews of some video.

I was very curious when I heard of this soundtrack. Especially when I read that the Buster Keaton film was a comic feature, wondering how Mills' sound would fit into comic scenes as most of his work is kind of futuristic and dark. When I first heard the music it was clear that the sound was in the style of "Every Dog has it's Day", containing more melodic and 'open' sounds. The overall feel of some tracks was indeed a bit clumsy at some points. Tracks like "Roman Age", "Present Age" and "Keaton's Theme" for example have kind of jumpy sounds one can imagine when seeing the jumpy/clumsy images from a silent movie (think Charley Chaplin).

As the soundtrack progresses, the tracks become more moody in a melancholic way in my opinion. "The Serenade" and "Before the Storm" are beatless soundscapes with that moody feel. The best track in my opinion comes near the end of the soundtrack and has the mysterious name: "The Meaning of Everything". Great offbeat rhythm with the typical Mills funk combined with various little stabs and fx.

The other tracks are not that visual at first compared to the ones described above. Their position inside the movie with the particular images is still a mystery, but one I'm very curious of. Compared to the "Metropolis" soundtrack, the "Three Ages" version sounds a bit less electronic / futuristic, but thinking of the different theme's of the movies it's kind of logical. But the imaginary power of "Metropolis" is less represented in the new soundtrack, but looking at the subject again this maybe is easier with a futuristic techno soundtrack than with a comic soundtrack. I was very surprised that in some tracks the 'slapstick' element is represented in the sounds, so I'm definitely curious of the rest of the sounds integrated into the movie.

The promotional copy also contains two Quicktime movies. One extract of the movie itself and one 'Video remix "The Chase"' as it reads on the cd-cover. First the sample of the movie wich is 4m10s in length. The intro and the beginning of the track playing with the images was kind of like "Metropolis", the music gives the images more strength and vice versa, a very organic feel. But as the clip progresses, the images and the music were going seperate ways so it seems. The magic of images working together with the sound became less obvious. But it's hard to give good criticism when watching 4 minutes on a Quicktime screen of 320/240. So when I see the whole movie, I give my full opinion.

"The Chase" video remix might be a glimpse of the future of dj'ing. Video and sound are directly linked together and different effects can be applied to sound and images. The repeating character of techno is also represented in the video, and effects like loop points and backspins are applied in both media. The effects in this clip are a bit standard, but with the knowledge that this is rather new, the future possibilities are imaginable.

Rating:

(3/10)

(Review done on 24-03-2005 by barn)

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Freax who have this release also listen to...

Moby - Hotel
(Mute Records (UK) | CD)

Cari Lekebusch - The Architect
(True Soul Records | CD)

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Release info

Artist:	Jeff Mills
Format:	CD
Label:	MK2 Music
Release date:	2005-02-00
Style:	Electro
Added by:	webmaster

Freak-o-meter

6.33 (3 votes)

Owned by

I have this release

barn, laada, rickus, SirVesseur, sonarisamistic, trat, webmaster

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L'Usine - A Certain Distance (Ghostly International)

Forum

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webmaster
Delft

Posts: 3436
Events: 1783

Posted: 23-02-2005 18:21:21 Subject: Jeff Mills - Three Ages

Just arrived in the mail, very curious!! Full review will be online soon!

www.beatfreaxcom.hyves.nl www.myspace.com/beatfreax www.facebook.com/beatfreax www.twitter.com/beatfreax_com www.last.fm/group/Beatfreax yippi yippi yeah yippi yippi yeah krawal und remmi demmi

Dzjinzjindjasvilli
Amsterdam

Posts: 315
Events: 0

Posted: 23-02-2005 18:46:51

enlighten us with musical info master

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Beus
Ouderkerk

Beus

Posts: 481
Events: 207

Posted: 23-02-2005 22:04:15

Hij bedoelt waarschijnlijk deze tekst. Buster Keaton Versus Jeff Mills These two names appearing side by side on the same billing might appear anachronistic. However, brought together, they highlight the timeless quality of one of the greatest film directors of the silent era (and of cinema as a whole), and the dj from Detroit's extraordinary gift for musical innovation which make him a pioneer of the techno movement. It is in the context of this virtual and sound restoration of masterpieces of teh silent film era undertaken by mk2 that Jeff Mills composed an original soundtrack for the first feature lenght by Buster Keaton : Three Ages (1923). A project that follows on from Japanese composer Joe Hisaichi's work on The General. Without altering the essential nature of the film, Jeff Mills manages to give it a new perspective. The sound is sparer, organic, woven in the pure Detroit tradition with a lively and spirited beat. The jazz feel is also very much in evidence. the pulsing tracks accompanying the variations in narrative rhytms give space to a more down tempo feel as well.

VrijMiBeau

trat
Nijmegen

trat

Posts: 86
Events: 0

Posted: 23-02-2005 23:51:17

Ik heb dit album al een tijdje, maar heb hem niet veel geluisterd. Ik heb hem denk ik 2 keer helemaal geluisterd maar hij kan me zeker niet zo boeien als de Metropolis soundtrack van Mills. Ik vind dit album eigenlijk behoorlijk saai en wacht met smart op enige vorm van innovatie van Mills.

webmaster
Delft

Posts: 3436
Events: 1783

Posted: 24-02-2005 09:10:42

Beus wrote:

Hij bedoelt waarschijnlijk deze tekst.

Buster Keaton Versus Jeff Mills
These two names appearing side by side on the same billing might
appear anachronistic. However, brought together, they highlight
the timeless quality of one of the greatest film directors of the
silent era (and of cinema as a whole), and the dj from Detroit's
extraordinary gift for musical innovation which make him a pioneer
of the techno movement.

It is in the context of this virtual and sound restoration of
masterpieces of teh silent film era undertaken by mk2 that Jeff
Mills composed an original soundtrack for the first feature lenght
by Buster Keaton : Three Ages (1923). A project that follows on
from Japanese composer Joe Hisaichi's work on The General.

Without altering the essential nature of the film, Jeff Mills
manages to give it a new perspective. The sound is sparer,
organic, woven in the pure Detroit tradition with a lively and
spirited beat. The jazz feel is also very much in evidence. the
pulsing tracks accompanying the variations in narrative rhytms
give space to a more down tempo feel as well.

Wie ik? Ik schrijf mijn reviews zelf hoor....

www.beatfreaxcom.hyves.nl
www.myspace.com/beatfreax
www.facebook.com/beatfreax
www.twitter.com/beatfreax_com
www.last.fm/group/Beatfreax

yippi yippi yeah yippi yippi yeah krawal und remmi demmi

Beus
Ouderkerk

Beus

Posts: 481
Events: 207

Posted: 24-02-2005 12:17:13

Ow. Ik dacht dat je tekst gewoon geleverd kreeg. Sorry

VrijMiBeau

Aron
Amsterdam

Aron

Posts: 798
Events: 7

Posted: 04-04-2005 19:27:03

Anybody who's curious should check out the Three Ages Night where Mills will personally provide the earlybirds with a talk about the soundtrack for the movie. The movie will also premiere in Holland with this filmscore.. edit: that will be on the 21st of Aprillll. More info soon...... [edited by Aron on 04-04-2005 19:27]

Who the hell is jack anyway?

MNZ
Amsterdam

MNZ

Posts: 96
Events: 4

Posted: 20-04-2005 23:08:01

Ik ga Mills morgen maar eens goed beluisteren en bekijken... Het klinkt interessant...

Music Tip: Duplex, Multifunktionsebene, tttrial & error, silizium ep

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