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POLE
Pole, aka innovative German electronic artist Stefan Betke, presents a limited edition 12” single with new exciting remixes of tracks from his latest album, Tempus.
This 12” sees the track ‘Stechmück’ reworked by UK’s electro-punk duo Sleaford Mods, remixed by Californian interdisciplinary artist Rrose, and edited by Pole. The original song embraces the sound of Betke’s dying Minimoog, which you can hear manipulated in different ways across the different versions. Completing the record is the remix of the title track 'Tempus' by long-time Nine Inch Nails contributor, label mate and “synth connoisseur” Alessandro Cortini.
Düsseldorf-native musician, producer and mastering engineer Pole is known for his unique musical language oscillating between melody and avant-garde in electronic music, with audible influences from Dub and Jazz music. Tempus contributed to his ongoing musical evolution, while retaining a relationship to previous work, with Pitchfork stating “It’s the sound of an artist drawing from his repertoire while demonstrating that he is still looking to the future.”
This 12” sees the track ‘Stechmück’ reworked by UK’s electro-punk duo Sleaford Mods, remixed by Californian interdisciplinary artist Rrose, and edited by Pole. The original song embraces the sound of Betke’s dying Minimoog, which you can hear manipulated in different ways across the different versions. Completing the record is the remix of the title track 'Tempus' by long-time Nine Inch Nails contributor, label mate and “synth connoisseur” Alessandro Cortini.
Düsseldorf-native musician, producer and mastering engineer Pole is known for his unique musical language oscillating between melody and avant-garde in electronic music, with audible influences from Dub and Jazz music. Tempus contributed to his ongoing musical evolution, while retaining a relationship to previous work, with Pitchfork stating “It’s the sound of an artist drawing from his repertoire while demonstrating that he is still looking to the future.”
TRACK LISTING
A1 Stechmück (Sleaford Mods Rework)
A2 Stechmück (Version)
AA1 Stechmück (Rrose Remix)
AA2 Tempus (Alessandro Cortini Remix)
Following the highly acclaimed record Fading in 2021, Pole continues his release series for Mute in 2022 with a new album, Tempus. Pole is Düsseldorf-native musician, producer and mastering engineer Stefan Betke, and is known for his unique musical language oscillating between melody and avant-garde in electronic music, with audible influences from Dub and Jazz music. While the subject of Fading focussed on coping with dementia and the loss of memory over time, Tempus focuses on the connection between the past, the present and the future. Translating to tense in English, Tempus investigates whether music that was created in the past, can still be audible and influential for the present, and how much can this music shine into the future.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: I'm always up for another Pole release, and Betke's latest mines deeply into the furrow of dub that he's artfully crafted out, but this time with a rich melodic overtone lightening the impossibly organic sub-bass throb he's so well known for. A perfect meeting of celestial lightness and indescribable heft. Classic Pole.TRACK LISTING
A1 Cenote
A2 Grauer Sand
B1 Alp
B2 Stechmück
C1 Firmament
C2 Tempus
D1 Allermannsharnisch
Pole is the project of ground-breaking electronic musician Stefan Betke. The new album Fading is the first since 2015’s Wald. As with every new Pole record, it’s part of a continued forward trajectory but it also connects to a pre-existing sonic framework. “Every Pole record connects to recordings that I've made before,” Betke says, “in order to stay in this kind of vertical development. The ideas from 1, 2, 3 up to now are connected. I keep the interesting elements, languages and vocabulary that I designed and add new elements.” Fading follows the physical released on Mute of remastered versions of his iconic albums 1, 2, 3 to much acclaim.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: With me and Barry both long term fans, Pole is a long-serving pioneer of dub-techno, glitch and freestyle electronix. He's lost of his pizaza and originality on this new LP.TRACK LISTING
1 Drifting
2 Tangente
3 Erinnerung
4 Traum
5 Tölpel
6 Röschen
7 Nebelkrähe
8 Fading
Pole, aka musician, producer and mastering engineer Stefan Betke releases the remastered reissues of his debut album releases, 1, 2 and 3 as a box set. Released on vinyl (for the first time in nearly 20 years) and CD (remastered since its 2008 reissue), the box set release marks 20 years since the trilogy was completed and a return to the label for the groundbreaking artist.
Pole 1 (1998), Pole 2 (1999) and Pole 3 (2000), originally released as three consecutive albums in their own right, and described by The Wire as “…a set of roadmaps for the soul”, are presented together to highlight Pole’s deliberate statement - reinforced by the titling of the albums and their minimalist monochrome cover art.
Pole 1 (1998), Pole 2 (1999) and Pole 3 (2000), originally released as three consecutive albums in their own right, and described by The Wire as “…a set of roadmaps for the soul”, are presented together to highlight Pole’s deliberate statement - reinforced by the titling of the albums and their minimalist monochrome cover art.
TRACK LISTING
POLE 1
1 Modul
2 Fragen
3 Kirschenessen
4 Lachen
5 Berlin
6 Tanzen
7 Fremd
8 Paula
9 Fliegen
10 Modul
POLE 2
1 Fahren
2 Stadt
3 Streit
4 Huckepack
5 Hafen
6 Weit
POLE 3
1 Silberfisch
2 Taxi
3 Karussel
4 Überfahrt
5 Rondell Zwei
6 Klettern
7 Strand
8 Fohlenfurz
VINYL BOX SET BONUS 12”
1 RAUM 1
2 RAUM 2
'Wald' begins immediately, ends abruptly, and is divided into three acts over three tracks. It is the first studio album under Stefan Betke's Pole moniker for eight years. Eight years is an eternity in the digital age - yet the pieces on ‘Wald’ seem timeless, or to have fallen from time.
Over several years, long walks in the woods preceded the resumption of the production of his new material. He was essentially waiting, applying patience, and viewing life as battery which needs to be recharged. For Pole, the forest was where it was at: its spatiality; the above, below and beyond; the horizon, offset by the vertical axes of the trees. "With previous albums, the city was that forest. Inspiration came from a walk through Berlin or Manhattan, where I could hear or see or read something and then understand that it is possible to continue." So the forest was where Pole found the urge to “transcribe" that nebulous feeling into music.
On ‘Wald’ it is manifested, for example, in raw sounds (second act) and in psychedelic structures (third act), which sound as if they might be guitars (but are actually distorted synthetic lines). The new compositions on ‘Wald’ do not deny their inheritance within the continuum of dub, yet they bring an entirely new vocabulary to Pole's sonic and spatial universe. The structures, forms and processes that Betke perceived in the forest were translated into musical structures, forms and processes that inherently sounded like Pole. Perhaps the forest simply produces reverberations (just like the echo in the mountains!) that give rise to a bounty of thoughts. The story behind it is told in music, without the use of words – as has previously so often been the case with Pole.
Over several years, long walks in the woods preceded the resumption of the production of his new material. He was essentially waiting, applying patience, and viewing life as battery which needs to be recharged. For Pole, the forest was where it was at: its spatiality; the above, below and beyond; the horizon, offset by the vertical axes of the trees. "With previous albums, the city was that forest. Inspiration came from a walk through Berlin or Manhattan, where I could hear or see or read something and then understand that it is possible to continue." So the forest was where Pole found the urge to “transcribe" that nebulous feeling into music.
On ‘Wald’ it is manifested, for example, in raw sounds (second act) and in psychedelic structures (third act), which sound as if they might be guitars (but are actually distorted synthetic lines). The new compositions on ‘Wald’ do not deny their inheritance within the continuum of dub, yet they bring an entirely new vocabulary to Pole's sonic and spatial universe. The structures, forms and processes that Betke perceived in the forest were translated into musical structures, forms and processes that inherently sounded like Pole. Perhaps the forest simply produces reverberations (just like the echo in the mountains!) that give rise to a bounty of thoughts. The story behind it is told in music, without the use of words – as has previously so often been the case with Pole.
TRACK LISTING
Akt 1:
1./A1 Kauz (5:23)
2/A2. Salamander (4:44)
3/A3. Moos (live) (6:46)
Akt 2:
4/B1. Myzel (6:05)
5/B2. Wurzel (live) (5:40)
6/B3. Aue (Live) (6:01)
Akt 3:
7/C1. Käfer (5:21)
8/C2. Fichte (live) (4:23)
9/C3. Eichelhäher (4:55)
D-Side Features An Etching.