2

This album, er, EP, gets 5 stars for those who know what dub, minimal techno, or whatever you want to call it is all about.If you've never heard of this odd craze, this CD is certainly a GREAT one for starters... heck, it was MY first one, and although I have collected a few more of Pole's CDs as well as a few other artists like Basic Channel or Autechre, this little red CD will always have a special place in my heart.Now let's talk about the music. An average Joe who's never heard of this style wouldn't even CALL it music. Most likely it would be called a bad radio signal, electronic noise, rubbish. Sure... for the SIMPLE-MINDED. Once you take a moment to open your mind, suddenly you realize that there is rhythm in the static clicks... there's a melody to the bass that can only be found if you have a powerful subwoofer or crank the bass on whatever system you have, and then the next thing you know, your soul is captured by the ambient reverberations caused by the echoing pops tickling your brain. Boy, if only this was mastered in 5.1 Surround!Don't let an EP scare you away, Pole's "2" is worth an album price, it's the best Pole in my opinion.

It finally came. well a month ago I tried to buy the album and it was unfortunately unavailable from the seller, thus I was happy to be refunded and such but very saddened to have to wait some time to finally have the money to try again. Not that it is in my hand I am very happy with it. its an amazing album of the glitch music genre. its soft blips and pops is pretty soothing to me.

This second release (more of an EP, really) by Stefan Betke as Pole sees a lot more reliance on a dub-bass underpinning than on the first Pole release. And even though much of what's above that sticks to the crackly-sputter-pop aesthetic of the first CD, the dubbier approach seems to ground these tracks a lot better than before. Although, again, while this crosses Basic Channel's turf according to some, Basic Channel it ain't. This is a good bit more abrasive than 90+% of those tracks. Plus, it gets tiring after a few listenings, as you really hope for Betke to wrench some different sorts of sounds out of that Waldorf 4-Pole he's so enamored of. I give it four stars here, but a barely-qualified four stars, teetering on 3 1/2 if I could go there. Again, the Basic Channel sampler, Monolake, and Various Artists' "Decay Product" are your better bets for this sort of thing, I think.

Crackles, sparks, pops, hisses, and static farts generally provide the percussion throughout this truly interesting album. Definitely background music, Pole 2 pulls its influences (barely) from dub and at times ragga (to even lesser extent). It's surprisingly minimalist and sparce but still manages to create an dense aesthetic.