Following on from the original Dons of
Detroit - Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Shakir and
Blake Baxter, Stacey Pullen is regarded as one of the 'second wave'
of Detroit innovators, alongside Carl Craig, Kenny Larkin, Jeff
Mills and Claude Young. Despite his reputation as an artiste (bohemian,
pretentious, difficult), his music is probably the most accessible
and dancefloor-friendly of his peer group.
If Pullen is credited with anything, it is the creation of a techno-house
fusion, combining elements of Detroit, jazz, house and African rhythms,
a sound very much in vogue now in the UK thanks to the 'tech-house'
phenomenon, as championed by the Subterrain/Wiggle collective et
al. For background info, his short biog
at Submerge descibes his career progression from the '80s to
now. His Detroit pedigree is confirmed in a
revealing interview with Juan Atkins, Claude Young, Shakir,
Kenny Larkin and Alan Oldham. Despite Pullen's brevity, the transcript
makes for engaging reading as the Motor City Heavyweights discuss
the past and future of Detroit techno, Europe, the Electro revival
and Drum and Bass. One of Pullen's few comments is on Jungle, where
he states: "I don't feel it's my calling, even though I like
it and I respect it. It's their thing." Ironically, a show
recorded for Detroit's Transmissions
station features Pullen rinsin the drum and bass flavas.
Elsewhere, the Pullen ouvre is more recognisable. Astralwerks
offers a set recorded live at the Kitchen in Dublin, accompanied
by a video of revellers cavorting at a beach party (looks ace -
but is it related?) Betalounge
showcase an excellent set in - as ever - superb quality. Pullen's
monthly residency
at Solar can be heard live by visiting www.intuit-solar.com.
Some sought-after studio material is also available: again, from
Astralwerks, check out the gorgeous Pullen classic - 8th
Wonder. Pullen's mix of Telex's I
Don't Like Music (a Monoman favourite) can be heard at the SSR
site. MP3.com, which incidentally carries a great (Detroit) techno
archive, provides Electric
Relaxation as a streaming Real file and MP3 download. Lastly,
The End site provides Kosmic Messenger's Polyphonic
Destruction, as part of the 100% Unreleased promotion.
For the completeists, Ravedata provides a comprehensive list
of performances by Pullen around the US. Some nice snapshots
of the man at The
Progress festival in San Francisco are carried by the excellent
ezine Skinny. K7 provides a complete track listing for the now-famous
DJ Kicks
mix album.
Finally, the Detroit State News carries an article on Stacey Pullen's
involvement in Modulations
- an award-winning documentary on the history of electronic music.
Clips from
the film can be viewed at Caipirinha Music. Although they don't
feature Pullen himself, they do show footage of the Berlin Love
Parade and a certain Genesis P. Orridge proclaiming "when in
doubt, make no sense. No sense is good."
Photos are © Copyright 1998 Skinny Intertainment Network. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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