Well here's the review I wrote for World Technoi Nation at the time The long awaited new album from Detroit's Stacey Pullen has met with mixed reviews since its release. This may be due, in part, to the high expectation following his excellent Theory of Silent Phase album on Transmat, an album that, with great standout tracks like 'Bodyrock', was soulful, organic and very Detroit sounding in the tradition of Mr May's label. What we have here, however, is something of a departure, an exploration of the kind of jazzy electronica that artists like Ian O'Brien or 4 Hero have been doing for some time now. Whilst all respect has to go to Stacey Pullen for trying to push the boundaries of his own music, the overall effect is of an artist experimenting and trying to find a groove that really works. The album lacks a clear direction and, whilst the majority of it spawns from Pullen's love of jazz and funk, the sense is of a collection of tracks as opposed to a cohesive and flowing album. Having said that there are some high points on offer. The Nu Jazz fusion of 'Futuristicfreakqueen' provides a frantic and live sounding drum beat (I'm not sure if all the drums were programmed or not, but its definitely the live effect that is desired), with a deep bassline and all manner of spaced out and futuristic effects that rise out through the drums. '40thstreetblack' is a slightly more laid back and groovy affair with a nice squelchy bit of analogue bass. Where the album is at its weakest is with the epic sounding and somewhat trancey workouts of cuts like 'Tsunami' and the more 4 to the floor orientated 'Powershot'. These tracks sound rather old and are not at ease sitting with the jazzy experimentation of the rest of the album. On the whole though, it is an interesting, brave and surprisingly mellow album that shows a lot of ambition, but lacks an original edge to really stand it apart from similar excursions.
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