X-Ray Zulu is a nice four-tracker from Jeff Mills with my personal favourite tucked away as the final track — “Methane Bubbles,” a deceptively effective, slow-burn piano-techno jam, that never really allows itself to bang but rather floats along on a gossamer-light bed of drums, unassumingly deep and devotional, a tune that exists in a constant present, always seemingly on the edge.

The rest of the EP is great too, in very different ways. The original version of track 1, “Just Like A – Vernacular Objects” came out under the Millsart name in 2020. Here he’s reworked it, giving it a tougher kick and making its combination of slightly uneasy weird circling chords and collected keys, chimes and synths dance floor friendly in the process.

“Transistor Love” is airy, stark, purposefully edgy and anxious electro-techno that becomes strangely compelling the longer you allow its rising chord progression to worm its way into your head, while “Peace From The Virgo Cluster” takes things in a more jazz direction as swirling sax mingles with synthesized washes into a potent, if slightly claustrophobic whole. The whole thing is excellent and although from a DJing point of view I don’t know when I’d get a chance to rock some of the more outré jams on here, that light, devotional feel on “Methane Bubbles” really works for me.

⚪️ X-Ray Zulu Tracklisting

Millsart: X-Ray Zulu (Axis Records / 12" Vinyl + Digital)
A1. Just Like A (Vernacular Objects) (7:26)
A2. Transistor Love (4:58)
B1. Peace From The Virgo Cluster (5:06)
B2. Methane Bubbles (5:34)

⚪️ Disclosure Statement

This record was not submitted as a promo.

⚪️ Previous Coverage

❇️   Features: Metropolis: making the sound of the future (2022)
✳️   New Music: Jeff Mills in Wonderland (2022)
📰   News: Apple Music features Jeff Mills mix in Spatial Audio (2022)
❇️   Features: Cratan / Decoder on the making of “Boulder” (2022)
✳️   New Music: DVS1 drops “Beta Sensory Motor Rhythm” on Axis Records (2021)
📰   News: Axis releases new Jeff Mills & Jean-Phi Dary project The Paradox (2021)
❇️   Features: For All Mankind: Electronic Music on the Moon (2019)

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