Steingarten

Vinyl LP pressing. After minimalist experiments with elements of Hip Hop and Dub, Stefan Betke's latest album has hardly any concrete references. What has remained, though, is the minimalism so characteristic of Pole. Built around little loops, his arrangements dispose with any kind of ornamentation. But, despite some funky grooves, this is no dancefloor record. And despite it's simplicity, the music never comes across as meager or repellently cool. This might be due to the fact that Pole has found a perfect middle point between Avant-Garde and Pop. Pole's warm bass and powerful but elastic production style conveys a feeling of coziness; it doesn't take on the outside world, doesn't mirror it or comment on it, but creates a world all it's own. Scape. 2007.