Silent Phase

Although he's released barely a 12-inch a year and only a single studio full-length since getting his start in 1990, second wave Detroit techno artist and DJ <a href="spotify:artist:0GJpYdmVCgg90TkyB1nB1y">Stacey Pullen</a> is already one of the techno mecca's leading contemporary artists. Closer to <a href="spotify:artist:7A4qanEMCOPcywaqZ01yVV">Kenny Larkin</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0v6N0xV7AfHHKVcgUOjC51">Derrick May</a> in his approach, <a href="spotify:artist:0GJpYdmVCgg90TkyB1nB1y">Pullen's</a> drive to restore the spirituality and soul of techno figures him as a classicist in the widest sense (although his disdain for the analog sound of early Detroit distances him sharply from techno's old school). Living the Motor City club scene as a kid, <a href="spotify:artist:0GJpYdmVCgg90TkyB1nB1y">Pullen</a> began DJing early on, drawn to the new-school machine music of <a href="spotify:artist:0dmPX6ovclgOy8WWJaFEUU">Kraftwerk</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1BGN1IdyiSR0ZYrkoKNchl">Tangerine Dream</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6aq8T2RcspxVOGgMrTzjWc">Soft Cell</a>. Although his interest in production began early, his first chance behind the boards didn't come until the early '90s, when <a href="spotify:artist:0v6N0xV7AfHHKVcgUOjC51">Derrick May</a> gave him an inside track on a business he was desperate to get out of. Learning studio technique through <a href="spotify:artist:0v6N0xV7AfHHKVcgUOjC51">May</a> and the various projects that came through the latter's Transmat label studio, <a href="spotify:artist:0GJpYdmVCgg90TkyB1nB1y">Pullen</a> began releasing material first as <a href="spotify:artist:0A7ykdqXt8umX4eqzaEmp3">Bango</a>, then Kosmik Messenger and X-Stacy, before focusing on his current nom de plume, Silent Phase. Known for fusing the more musical aspects of house and garage into a steadfastly techno framework, <a href="spotify:artist:0GJpYdmVCgg90TkyB1nB1y">Pullen's</a> complex, often tribal-sounding compositions have proven influential on a number of fronts, from deep house to hardcore. His 1995 full-length A Theory of Silent Phase appeared on Transmat/R&S, while a Kosmic Messenger compilation was released on Elypsia two years later. In 1998, <a href="spotify:artist:0GJpYdmVCgg90TkyB1nB1y">Pullen</a> signed a contract with the electronica label Astralwerks and continued working on material. ~ Sean Cooper, Rovi