Stuart Cullen (born 14 December 1970), originally known by the stage name Pilote, is a British musician. His 1990s and 2000s albums comprise mostly

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

and

intelligent dance music Intelligent dance music (commonly abbreviated as IDM) is a style of electronic music originating in the early 1990s, defined by idiosyncratic experimentation rather than specific genre constraints.''"…the label 'IDM' (for avant-garde, 'intel ...

, with a shift in focus to folk and bluegrass in the mid 2010s. The alias has been retired since 2016, with Cullen predominantly releasing music under the 'VeldHans' moniker since 2020, with fellow musician Jonathan Brown (Dusty Stray).

''Antenna'' (1999)

Pilote's first album, ''

Antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

,'' was recorded in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and released in 1999 on Certificate 18 Records. The album was supposedly made on "An old PC and a dodgy Yamaha". The first track on the LP, "Turtle", would in 2000 be remixed by

Bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee, is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus '' Pan,'' the other being the comm ...

and appear in an advertising campaign for the now defunct phone company

One2One T-Mobile UK was a mobile network operator in the UK. First launched as Mercury One2One (stylised one2one) on 7 January 1993, the network was originally operated by Mercury Communications. one2one was purchased by Deutsche Telekom in 1999, who ...

John Peel Session (2000)

On 2 August 2000, Pilote had his first and only session on the

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Show on BBC Radio 1. The recordings were direct from Cullen's studio.

''Doitnowman'' (2001)

''Doitnowman'' is the second LP release from Pilote, recorded in Brighton and once again released with Certificate 18 records. Apparently, for the making of ''Doitnowman,'' Cullen had access to "more powerful computers". The album, though still not achieving widespread success, did enjoy critical acclaim from music magazines such as ''Brainwashed,'' whose writer Rob Devlin described it as "All in the interest of invoking a very pure, raw emotional response. And that, Cullen succeeds at beyond all doubt." The album also received a review in ''NME,'' roughly four years after its release. The vinyl release of ''Doitnowman'' came with a bonus 10" featuring

's mix of "Turtle" from Pilote's previous album, ''Antenna,'' and Sirconical's remix of "Microphones", also from ''Antenna.'' The American release CD, released with

Domino Records Domino Records may refer to: * Domino Records (1916), American producer of early phonograph, from 1916 to 1917 *Domino Records (1924), American record label, from 1924 to 1933 * Domino Records (Canada), produced by the Compo Company in the 1920s a ...

, featured the track "Junior", track 3 on Pilote's 1999 EP "No Truck", as track 11.

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' (LP, 1999) * '' Doitnowman'' (2001) * ''Kingfood'' (2002) * ''Pop Will Make Us Free'' (2007) * ''Life Size Replica'' (2010) * ''The Slowdown'' (2013) * ''The Slowdown: Epilogue'' (2014) * ''Libero'' (2016)

Singles and EPs

* "Testrach" / "Sapling" (single, 1996) * "The Myth" / "Agent Gold" (single, 1998) * ''Tonic'' (EP, 1999) * ''No Truck'' (EP, 1999) * "National Lottery" / "Jelly" (single, 1999) * ''3tothefloor'' (EP, 2000) * Nelson (single, 2001) * ''Manana Ep:01'' (EP, 2002) * ''Manana Ep:02'' (EP, 2002) * "Remover" / "Kratez" (online single, 2006) * "By The River" / "Coltrane" (single, 2006) * ''Two Chord Wonders'' (EP, 2007) * ''Mudah Pecah EP'' (EP, 2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilote Living people 1970 births Folktronica musicians Electronica musicians British ambient musicians Intelligent dance musicians English folk musicians