Much like Jeff Mills' several other CD releases in 2000 -- Every Dog Has Its Day, Metropolis, The Art of Connecting, and Lifelike -- From the 21st highlights the lighter side of his output.
Rather than offer Purpose Maker-style dancefloor tracks of tribal percussion and pounding rhythms, the nearly dozen tracks here are more in line with Mills' Axis output: ambient Detroit techno that often seems quite experimental and often challenging -- moody thinking-man's techno surely intended for home listening rather than dancing.
The album's visually stunning packaging and multiple-page Japanese liner notes reinforce this notion, providing this futuristic album with a suitably conceptual context.