Pole - Pole

Stefan Betke, a.k.a. Pole, has made a name for himself in the world of experimental electronic music by producing religously minimal glitch-dub music with his secret weapon, a broken Waldorf 4-pole filter. Betke solidified a distinct sound over the course of three widely acclaimed albums (Blue, Red, and Yellow) based on irregular rhythms and defect frequencies arranged by methods of vintage Jamaican dub. Now, however; with his new self-titled album on Mute, the legendary filter is placed in the closet and the father of minimal dubscapes tosses his collar and tests our capacity for yet another hip hop infused techno album.

Four of the tracks on "Pole" include Ohio-based rapper Fat Jon. These tracks will likely get the most attention since it is the first time Betke has allowed a human voice to sound on his recording. Nonetheless, these tracks leave this listener cold, and feeling that the content cannot deliver what the concept of this collaboration suggests. Fat Jon does, however, prove to be an intrepid lyricist, particularly on "Slow Motion," and "The Bell," where his style is closer to spoken word.

I can also give him his propers for eschewing the familiar rules of hip hop showmanship for a more cerebral, momentarily political subject matter. Unfortunately these merits cannot compensate for an overall lack of cohesion and I can't help feeling as though the vocals had been pasted on like a five minute photoshop job leaving me to wonder how Stefan could forget the ever-present reminder of one of his most illustrious contemporaries, "content first!" (atom heart)

Of more interest to me are the five instrumental tracks. Again, Betke's production here is far from the established Pole sound, with dub rhythms and melodica sounds in the forefront and a grounding crack of the snare drum with very few glitches to be found. Guest instrumentalists Thomas Haas and August Engkilde provide jazz infusions with saxaphone and upright bass respectively to three tracks, with the standout of these being "Green is Not Green-Yellow.

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Although I find it heartening that Betke has finally taken up with collaborators contrary to his famously rouge working standards, and I am intrigued by his choice of partners; Fat Jon of Five Deez, Haas and Enkilde long time members of Senor Coconut's Orchestra; for me, the best track here was one of the two which featured no collaborators, "Like Rain (but different)," which brings a smooth hiccup-like beat and svelt chord wafts not unlike a more peaceful version of something you might find on Warp.

Overall, this release does not deliver any of the exitement of originality I felt the first time I heard a Pole record, but serves as an interesting if not promising example of an expanded range of possibilities from this critically important artist.