123 cover

123

Released

Stefan Betke, aka Pole, made three brilliant albums between 1998 and 2000, each of which offered variations on a unique but highly influential sound. His vision of techno — for that’s what this is, sort of — is built on a foundation of deep, almost womblike dub bass lines, but actual beats are mostly absent. The surface of the music, meanwhile, is made of layers of static, soft hisses, and tiny glitchy pops, like amplified vinyl crackle raised to the level of a compositional element rather than a byproduct of playback. This isn’t music you dance to; rather, it embraces the methods of dance music in order to induce a trance state in the listener.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Paracletus cover

Paracletus

Deathspell Omega
Giant Beauty cover

Giant Beauty

أحمد [Ahmed]
Hairway to Steven cover

Hairway to Steven

Butthole Surfers
Ming cover

Ming

David Murray Octet
Watashi-Dake? cover

Watashi-Dake?

Keiji Haino
The Melodic Line cover

The Melodic Line

Vincent Courtois, Reverso, Frank Woeste, Ryan Keberle
Jewels of Thought cover

Jewels of Thought

Pharoah Sanders
Since Time Is Gravity  cover

Since Time Is Gravity

Natural Information Society