Pole/~Scape records-dub pioneers-or-?

How Gareth could be unhappy with either Maurizio or Luomo is beyond me, as both are utterly brilliant. I bought Jamie Liddell's "Muddlin Gear" on a discount whim today... now that's an album that's hard to get into. I'm not sure if I ever will.

The first ~scape compilation is very good. My favorite ~scape artist by a long shot right now is Jan Jelinek, whom you should consider if you like Pole. Similar in some ways, but with a warmer, more inviting sound. Like Omar says above, Pole is big city music, but Jan Jelinek reminds me more of sunlight in the countryside. With static crackles and deep bass.

Also want to put in a good word for the two 'Macro Dub Infection' collections that Kevin Martin compiled for Virgin, and esp. the early Porter Ricks tracks gathered together on 'Biokinetics' - 'aquatic dub' at its finest.

Like everything released thus far on Kompakt, each of those Chain Reaction/Basic Channel tins are priceless. Biokinetics is one of my all-time electronic faves, right up there with E2-E4. Too bad Andy Mellwig's Continuous Mode record is so bland (kinda like later Porter Ricks, no?). That's been the year's biggest disappointment for me.

It's also the cheapest of the three cuz it's a CDEP/double 12".

never bought the 3rd cd, i was already sick of the yellow 12" so i didn't bother; plus the fact that the 'clicks and cuts' (ugh) thing was becoming somehow codified, rigid and very formulaic. see also chain reaction, who started plunging downhill (excepting vladislav delay) when the '2nd phase' of the label started (fluxion, etc). waah.

Recommendations?

My favourite is the album by Various Artists. Should also be the one that comes in the neighborhood of Consumed (I think).

'Hong Kong' by Monolake is very good. As is the Portis Ricks CD on Chain Reaction (also with some Consumed-like tracks).

re: Oval. I only have Systemisch, which nowadays doesn;t sound that radical, even sounds pretty these days. Haven't heard their new stuff though, could not finish that David Toop article in The Wire a couple of months ago with Oval et al. Just could not be bothered.

...

sellouts

I finally got this last week, and it is pretty good. At first I was kinda distracted by all the distorted synth sounds, because they reminded me of rock guitar, which I hate. But after a few listens they did begin to build up a to an interesting and consistent soundworld. I think this is much better attempt than the previous album to create a fuller yet unpredictable Pole sound. It does sound kinda cold and detached, but I think that's the point. Despite a few recognizable Pole trademarks the sound is very different from the minimal but warm sound he became famous for. The arrangements are kinda similar to Mouse on Mars, yes, but the emotional content ia quite different. I think Steingarten sounds (like the title suggests) sharp and chilly, even cruel at points.

This reminds a bit of the first Kit Clayton album ~Scape put out ("Nek Sanalet" or whatever it's called); the sound is quite different, but they seem to be aiming for similar emotional effect.

I've been wondering about the cover art... Obviously I thought it was painted at first, but the sleeve does say "photography by...". Could it be real? Even if it is, it must be Photoshopped like hell.

The press pics that are on the disc are great too. Dude looks way different than I thought he would.

its real - coworker found photos of the 'original' - and to be honest - its not that much photoshopped !
unfortunately - can't find the pictures now ..

It is real!

http://www.neuschwanstein.com/

(x-post)

http://www.econ.armstrong.edu/cra/neuschwanstein_01_370.jpg

xpost - beat me to it !

http://www.new7wonders.com/downloads/GERMANY/Neuschwanstein.jpg

Though judging by this pic there has been quite a bit of photoshopping done for the cover.

I noticed that ~scape has released remix album of Steingarten. I'm tempted to buy it, but I don't know that much about the remixers. Has anyone heard this, is it good?

I'm a bit disappointed there's no Burnt Friedman remix on this. His remixes of Pole tunes on R were superb.

yeah, it's very good - all solid at least, some great - mr sherburne has a positive remix in a new wire, i think

uh, review*

It recently dawned on me just how many times I have listened to 'Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records'. And with the exception of Pole 1/2/3 and the Staedtizism comps I hardly own anything else on ~Scape.

So POX ~Scape Records anyone? I'd really welcome any recommendations you might have.

Oh, also, some of you might be interested in the Boomkat 14tracks.com compilation of Jelinek productions: http://tinyurl.com/krksnf

I've never actually listened to this guys records, but I had the pleasure of hearing Pole on the Fabric Room 1 system earlier in the year, and it was one of the most sublime live shows I've ever heard.

Hey, new Pole album due later in the year, here's some clips from same

https://soundcloud.com/pole-original

The album is out, anyone heard it yet? I didn't know about this new material until someone mentioned it in the other thread, so I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail. IMO Steingarten was nice return to form after the (fairly bland) hip-hop experiments etc, so my hopes for this one are high. (Or at least higher than they were for Steingarten, which was surprisingly good.)

it covers some of the Waldgeschichten material (series of brief eps from late 2000s/2010s).. same sound, though there are several new tracks and it plays as a 'live' set, with tracks transitioning into one another. the production (sound) is brilliant, really clean, upfront, and dry/crisp. the subtle percussive, buzzing, clicking elements are really distinct (not so subtle), and the melodic elements are strong. it's beautiful stuff.

ha i was just the other day wondering when/if he would put another album out. interested to hear this, The Waldgeschichten stuff I heard was very nice. enjoyed Steingarten quite a bit, never heard the hip-hop stuff because it seemed to have gotten unanimously negative reviews..

The new Evan Caminiti record is pushing some ~Scape buttons for me: https://dust-editions.bandcamp.com/album/varispeed-hydra

I'm liking Fading based on some Bandcamp previewing.

https://pole-stefanbetke.bandcamp.com/album/fading

i'm going to skip this one because senile dementia w memory loss runs in my family 😢

i did dig out steingarten remixed a few weeks ago and i really enjoyed it! i can't find my copy of steingarten but i think that's probably my current favorite betke production