With the three albums under the Pole moniker, Stefan Betke became a dubpioneer with his broken Waldorf 4-pole filter unit. The digitizedgrooves of the Basic Channel set achieved far more exposure withBetke's well-distributed albums. For a time, it became the hottestsound in the IDM genre, with labels like Mille Plateaux pumping outnumerous releases from a plethora of artists. However, it was not longbefore somewhat-related glitch/clicks and cuts became the next trend.Still, Betke persevered with his ~scape label, giving a forum for otherartists with a similar vision (such as Jan Jelinek, Kit Clayton, andBernd Friedman), particularly with the popular Staeditizm compilationseries. After listening to this new EP, some of his peers haveapparently rubbed off on him. Starting with "Arena," a new percussiveelement has entered into the mix, creating something more similar totraditional dub music. The deep stabs that made up Pole melodies take abackseat to the funkier grooves, with mixed results over the course ofthese four songs. Pole's formerly ascetic, purist style was whatendeared me to his music in the first place. The stripped-down natureof his 1album portrayed a focused artist pushing a defective machine beyond itsexpected potential to create something beautiful and innovative. Bymoving into more accessible areas, Pole dangerously threatens his ownrelevance among the glut of experimental music releases. It would beremiss of me to play the "his older stuff is better" card withoutgiving him proper credit for creating something that while different isstill enjoyable. Particularly, the closer, "Back Home," has a certainjazzy quality that would almost fit on a Kruder & Dorfmeister mixCD, but transcends the recent output of the G-Stone family as of late.So to be fair, I will wait to pass judgement until the new albumemerges in July. Then again, I'm just a music reviewer for a website.Think for your own fucking self.Read More
