Two of the earliest Pole tracks from 1996 are reissued here along with4 pairs of reworkings by Stefan Betke (aka Pole) and contemporariesBurnt Friedman and Kit Clayton from his own ~scape label. Do "Raum 1"and "Raum 2" warrant ten versions? Somewhat surprisingly the answer isyes. "Raum" is German for "Space" and these guys are experts in thefield, each taking the source in different directions. The originalsare murky dub affairs with washes and crackles aplenty and steady, deepbass lines - much like everything that has followed to date on Poles"1", "2" and "3". While they're fine in their own right they do pale incomparison to the updated versions. Betke's variations (and two morenew tracks spawned from them) feature first time collaborator D. Meteo,guitarist for Submission. Everything is much more bright, clear andspacious as truncated guitar notes and riffs are abruptly weaved intothe new mixes, sometimes adding a sort of dub strum to the groove.Friedman takes the tracks into his own personal ambient jazz trajectoryby dressing them up with latin flavored percussion, sliding bass andmore ambiance. The Raum 1 Variation all but erases the original by thefinal few minutes of its graceful decay. And last but not least,Clayton's cut and paste treatment clutters up the static and rhythmsover time making for the busiest mixes of all. Nice variety. Perhaps"R" is a precursor of new ideas for the next Pole album proper? I hopeso ...
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