Techno is supposed to be all about the music, where the faceless producer can become famous for their musical output without the added hassle of creating a stage persona. That remains mostly true (see Burial, the critically acclaimed dubstep producer whose real-world alter ego is known by maybe a half-dozen people), but the cult of personality has found its way into techno, creating stars out of nerds and legends of geeks.

Green Velvet is one of the largest personalities in the world of techno, generating hits that work in both underground and mainstream contexts. After starting with house, he rose to fame as a neon-haired electro punk, creating timeless testaments to hedonistic excess, odes to booze, pills, and partying. Those tracks mark a stark contrast from his conservative religious lifestyle of the last few years.

The shift away from hard partying is worth exploring, but Green Velvet (born Curtis Jones) has developed his infamy without consenting to interviews or revealing much about himself. Here are some of the facts: Jones left his postgrad chemical-engineering studies at Berkeley for the world of music in the early '90s after treating music as his hobby on cheap equipment. In 1993, he created Relief Records as an outlet for his techier output and adopted the Green Velvet moniker. That's about it.

Over the last decade, Green Velvet has released a steady stream of classics. His songs are immediately recognizable and exude the Green Velvet personality, if not Jones's. Tracks about aliens, drugs, and the clichés of raving would be dismissed as novelty under weaker hands, but Green Velvet manages to blend the funkiness of Prince and the bombast of Nitzer Ebb into a sound that bucks trends and jacks bodies.

Green Velvet's last Seattle appearance at the 2006 Decibel Festival was listed as a DJ performance. Midway through the set, Jones then picked up the mic, augmenting his instrumentals with live vocals. At that point, the differences between a live set and DJ set disappeared and it didn't matter if it was Green Velvet, Cajmere (another alias), or Curtis Jones performing. Bodies bobbed and danced, but attention was squarely focused on the man onstage turning Neumo's into an underground warehouse party. Faceless producers will always have their place, but star-powered artists like Green Velvet take techno to new heights.

Green Velvet plays Fri Nov 23 at Neumo's (925 E Pike St, 709-9467), 8 pm, $15 adv, 21+. With Nordic Soul vs. Recess, Red Pony, and Scott Lonheim.