- It's hard to picture what the musical landscape might look like today without Stefan Betke. Taking his recording name from the analog Waldorf 4 Pole filter, Betke set the standard for what we now know as minimalism across three sequentially numbered albums in 1998, 1999, and 2000. While others had clearly done minimal techno before him, as well as fused the dub influence to it, Betke added a key element to the mix: art. With monochromatic color-coded sleeves, the none-more-blue, -red, and -yellow covers of his albums might have at first seemed appropriately simple given the material contained therein, but they were really saying something deeper, something conceptual, something genuinely avant garde.
Stare at the single colors long enough, and your eyes will begin to play tricks on you. Inside, Betke pulls those same tricks on your ears. Look at any a photograph in any magazine; then examine the photograph under a magnifying glass. Then a microscope. The ink, the very texture of the paper, and blending of the primary colors as more and more dots work in conjunction to create new worlds with each magnification. This is the effect of Pole on the listener—the revelation that there is a whole universe living inside one tiny molecule on your big toe.
Reissuing this trio of long players as a collected set, wherein the intensity and craft in the music must be consumed whole, was a masterstroke. This is music of extraordinary feeling, of an almost tactile sense of electricity and infinite detail working in conjunction to create a whole new universe. Each tiny crackle and pop reverberates in oceanic space while the listener floats below the surface, the waves of mammoth dub bass filtering down from some crazy dance party going down on a glacier a few fathoms above your head. Minimalism and reductionism are minimized and reduced down to their very atoms, then reconstructed in Dr. Frankenstein's lab, sparked with new, artificial life. One can almost picture Betke screaming, "It's alive!" over the Waldorf 4 in the studio.
To newcomers, this trio of classics (supplemented by four bonus tracks) frankly might be a tad boring; after all, this isn't the "minimalism" of Villalobos and his generation. But to label the music as such is to miss the point entirely. There are genuine pop melodies that stir, electronic rhythms that move, and all manner of noises to marvel over for the attentive listener. Playing Pole as mere background music is to insult Betke's craft deeply; deep, close listening reveals the greatest rewards. Play it on a big system and marvel at the depth; play it on headphones and wonder at the detail. ~Scape's timely reissue ensures that another generation has a chance to be grabbed, shook, and inspired by these masterpieces of the modern age.
TracklistCD 1
01. Modul
02. Fragen
03. Kirschenessen
04. Lachen
05. Berlin
06. Tanzen
07. Fremd
08. Paula
09. Fliegen
CD 2
01. Fahren
02. Stadt
03. Streit
04. Huckepack
05. Hafen
06. Weit
CD 3
01. Silberfisch
02. Taxi
03. Karussell
04. Überfahrt
05. Rondell Zwei
06. Klettern
07. Strand
08. Fohlenfurz
09. Rondell Eins (Bonus Track)
10. Heim (Bonus Track)
11. Sachte (Bonus Track)
12. Spaß Rewind (Bonus Track)