[An exclusive interview with Stephan Betke
will be featured in the March issue of The
Circular Cosmic Spot, STAY TUNED!!]
POLe CD2
[Kiff SM/PIAS]
a: Fahren, Stradt, Streit
b: Huckepack, Hafen, Welt
Stephan Betke, an employee of Berlin's Dubplate's and Mastering Studio is
back again to snap, crackle, and pop his way into the electronic history
books. With last year's debut CD1, Pole offered a wide arrangement of
"noisy little peak sounds" (as he describes it), and laid the framework for
a surprisingly warm and chilling array of atmospheric dub.
On this year's CD2, the sounds generated from interference on his defective
Waldorf 4 Pole Filter (hence the name) prove that he's still producing some
of the most essential dub melodies ever. A very dense and rhythmical mood
occupies this album without a single beat to back it up. As Stephan once
said, "I am interested in finding sounds that are different from others and
that is the reason why I can't use percussion in my music." A few listens
to this 33 minute excursion into ambient-dub, and you'll also be tapping
your toes to the gritty and melodic structure of Pole's signature
soundscape. While short extracts of syncopated electrical pulses forge
their way into these tunes, a mind drenching plethora of blips and beeps
leave the listener in complete disillusion.
Static sputters of noise crackling along the evenly spread bassline
suggests that the gritty discrepancies Stephan finds while cutting and
mastering vinyl, have in some odd shape, reincarnated themselves onto this
amazingly deep sub-structured album.
An aggressively filtered slice of odd melodies rearrange themselves in and
around a static-dub theme. Deep basslines in combination with typical Pole
sounds are only a few of the elements to be expected on this rather short
piece of extraterrestrial confusion.
A masterpiece that will take several listens to unfold!
CD2 will be available on Matador, February 23, 1999.
Pietro Da Sacco, Contributing Editor.
The Circular Cosmic Spot
http://www.sdriver.com/spot
_______________________________
Pietro Da Sacco, mbm@netcore.ca
The Circular Cosmic Spot
http://www.sdriver.com/spot