Jeff Mills – Kat Moda EP

If I correctly, The Bells was played on a reel-to-reel when I saw him play at Liquid Room in Shinjuku, Tokyo (not Ebisu then) in October '95. When it was released, this record sold like hotcakes at the Cisco techno shop in Udagawacho. One of the best records ever!

The best kick drum sound i've heard from Mills is on 'The Bells.' How did he do it? What is it? I used to play 'Kat Race' a lot. Somewhat of an essential techno release.

Just got mixed Step To Enchantment w/The Bells today and was absolutely incredible. True, original, strong 90's sound with an eternal feeling revealing the non-dated aspect of those songs. Now reconciliated with what seems to be a windy 'old' parallel talk. Purpose Maker still makes it effect almost 30 years after.

Me also often rather listens to other tracks on this EP. But this hate storm on The Bells… guys, come on! :)

While I do like The Bells, my go- to track on this EP has to be Alarms (or masterplan), It's a great club tool that i wish more DJ's had played in the 1990s.

Ive always kept it for Kat Race and Masterplan (here under "Alarms")

The Bells is JM's signature, I'd just feel wrong playing this one to ppl, like an impostor of the actual DJ (:

JM @ Tresor 1997 - that's where it belongs.

Classic of classics. Just that. But the mastering is a shit. A lot of UR and Mills stuff sounds like a shit... All the represses sounds better for far

When looking back at "The Bells", I think it's worth adding some context. The Bells was officially released in 1997, however, Mills had been playing the track in his sets since 1995, this is evident on the Liquid Rooms mix (1995) and the Moving Beats Volume 2 mix (1996). I Mills playing The Bells at a number of events during that period and on each occasion the crowd would go wild. I can't say for sure if at that time anyone actually knew the track title, I certainly didn't. I think that due to the crowd's reaction to the track it finally got released. A number of his test pressing from that time didn't get released. So, for me the popularity of the track was decided by the crowd long before it was an official release. I also think that if he was really trying to capitalise from the track, wouldn't he have released it as The Bells EP, with a hype sticker "As featured on...". It's also worth pointing out that Mills created the Purpose Maker label to release more dance floor focused tracks instead of Axis which was for his more experimental material.

OMG "The Bells" is a rockning monster track. Jeff Mills is one of the greatest techno artist ever!

A product of its time. Mills has been coasting on the success of "the bells" since before this EP even came out. zzzzzzz