Pole (musician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pole
Background information
Birth name	Stefan Betke
Origin	Germany
Genre(s)	Electronica IDM Ambient techno Microsound Dub Glitch
Occupation(s)	Producer Remixer
Label(s)	Mute Matador

Pole is Stefan Betke, a German electronic music artist commonly associated with the glitch genre as well as dubtronica.

Pole takes his name from a Waldorf 4-Pole filter which he accidentally dropped and broke in 1996. Though the filter was perhaps no longer appropriate for DJ work in its damaged state, Betke found the strange hissing and popping noises the filter now made interesting, and began using the broken filter to create music, launching his musical career.

Betke's first four albums, titled "1", "2", "3", and "R" (an intentional trilogy of albums, followed by a collection of remixes of Pole's 1998 debut EP Raum), were all based around this filter, with songs usually taking the form of dub basslines and rhythms with percussion provided by the epynomous filter. In 2003 Betke departed from this style for the album Pole (a combination of tracks from two EPs, "45/45" and "90/90"), which utilized more traditionally electronic but still eclectic production.

Pole has been distributed on several different labels, including Matador Records and Mute Records, and in 1999 Betke cofounded (with Barbara Preisinger) the label ~scape, also known for publishing Jan Jelinek.