Pole Volume 2 (Kiff Sm, 1999)

*GUEST REVIEW*
The sheer volume of decent reggae reissues from imprints such as Blood & Fire, Pressure Sounds, and Auralux means that some dub fans just don't find out about acts such as Pole.  Stefan Belke is Pole, and he runs the ~scape record label.  Basically, Pole is a one-man dub machine like Twilight Circus.  However, the method of production and final sound varies dramatically between the two.  Pole champions the glitchtronica sound of modern dub.  His music is pure dubtronica and is similar to Sc-cut-db's sound.  Two is an instrumental affair that manages to combine electronic glitches, space age keyboards, an echo chamber, and a subtle but pounding bass.  It ends up as a nice complete project that's rather digestible.  It's not dub, electronica, or techno; it is simply the sound of Pole.

- ragudave

Track Listing
1. Fahren
2. Stadt
3. Streit
4. Huckepack
5. Hafen
6. Weit
Pole Volume 2
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Steingarten (Scape, 2007)

*GUEST REVIEW*
Buy the CD for your own pleasure and the cover for the inner child in you. The snowscaped Alpine Castle is at odds with the normal minimal techno cover. It suggests a playfulness and a fiery imagination. But don't worry that Stefan Betke (Pole) has gone either Boredoms or Pastels mad. He still produces broken-beat electronica that veers towards dub. It's just that he has been adding to the bare bones of his inital albums. We have evolution on Steingarten, which suggests that modern dub can have less bass than dubstep and more personality that minimal techno. Hebden's Four Tet project strides a number of genres successfully, and Pole now needs a Venn diagram.

- ragudave

Track Listing
1. Warum
2. Winkelstreben
3. Sylvenstein
4. Schöner Land
5. Mädchen
6. Achterbahn
7. Düsseldorf
8. Jungs
9. Pferd
Steingarten
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