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Pole Image
Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: Following a series of three glitchy, minimalist electronica albums entitled "1," "2," and "3," respectively, producer Stefan Betke (aka Pole) changes course and heads into experimental hip-hop and dub on this latest LP, even enlisting Ohio-based rapper Fat Jon for vocals on several tracks.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 17
  2. Negative: 1 out of 17
  1. Pole is the sound of a restless musical talent and intellect seeking out like-minded collaborators, expanding their horizons, and producing an otherwise impossible synthesis.
  2. Magnet
    80
    Think a minimalist A Tribe Called Quest. [#60, p.110]
  3. Ultimately, and refreshingly, this is not commercial, but hauntingly lush electronic music for all to enjoy.
  4. Q Magazine
    60
    [Fat John's] hyper-literate, cosmically inclined stylings can't help but humanise -- and eventually soften -- the hard burn of circuitry. [Aug 2003, p.111]
  5. If you're fan of the previous work of Pole, tread gently (and skip the EPs and head directly for the album), but if you're looking to just start out with some of his work, head for his earlier releases.
  6. Unfortunately, Pole contains no revelations beyond what was revealed in the prior EPs. With this release, Betke calls his own bluff and loses.
  7. A stylistic side-step that trips and falls without making much of the tumble.

See all 17 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. TimeCode
    Oct 28, 2003
    10
    I was blown away by Fat John's flow and lyrics in this album. In the track Slow Motion Fat John exemplifies the realness of the beats I was blown away by Fat John's flow and lyrics in this album. In the track Slow Motion Fat John exemplifies the realness of the beats and thus proves the reality of the lyrical thesis. His time-code theory coupled to the glitchy beats is so cool that it sends chills down your spine. Everything we do in this life has a time code attached to it; and so as the time-code serializes, Fat John's stylistic signature represents!....the future. So we wait to see the future and vibe more with this master of time. Expand