POLE - Steingarten Review

There’s probably no point in analysing the parts that make up the whole of ‘Steingarten’ – the whole is what’s important here. So what is that whole? Nearly three quarters of an hour of instrumental ‘sound design’. Minimalist sound design, at that. But is it any good? Well, as far as minimalist sound design goes, this is pretty good. Aside from the beats, hums and bleeps nagging insistently around one’s head, like sparrows tapping against a window, the other, more organic noises bring early Cocteaus to mind....full text Pole, aka Germany's Stefan Betke, doesn't write 'songs'. He doesn't play the guitar. He is definitely not new rave. He will never support Babyshambles. He is a man operating (a red hot laptop) at the very fringes of NME's radar. Why, you might reasonably ask, are you reading this review? Because, unlike most of the dour young studio boffins still tinkering with the glitches and discordant digital noises of electronica, Betke's flirtatious, minimal music is quite simply one long joyous ear-gasm....full text The music of Stefan Betke is difficult to place, hard to get a hold on. That's no bad thing though, as his most recent album of Pole builds on previous experiments that concentrated on hip hop and dub to explore sounds that float through space....full text