Pole Steingarten
Nearly a decade ago, Stefan Betke (a.k.a. Pole) translated dub into a permanent midnight of […]
Nearly a decade ago, Stefan Betke (a.k.a. Pole) translated dub into a permanent midnight of Cold War ghosts drifting through the Berlin streets. In Steingarten, he crafts a bright, minimalist-funk suite that saunters along on eight legs, and often acts like it’s being fried under a magnifying glass. “Jungs” is a kling-klang groove in an arson-lit disco, and “Madchen” has a dub rhythm that lurches forth with one eye over its shoulder, but the climax, “Düsseldorf,” is a microhouse groove that actually smiles for just being alive. Steingarten makes Pole a standard from whom to steal ideas again.