![]() (Elements of that sound design, perhaps, also speak to an ambivalent relationship with modern technology: Famously taking his pseudonym from a busted Waldorf 4-Pole filter, there’s plenty of frazzled-out crackle inherent in his music.) Betke’s just put out Wald, his first full album since 2007’s Steingarten-and it’s perhaps his most intimate and contemplative work yet. His dub-heavy, highly textured music, deliberately paced and full of stretched sinew, hint at ancient, arcane rituals his flair for sound design and penchant for gentle abstraction, however, give his tracks a thoroughly modern edge. “Sorry about that.” He then holds forth on the virtues of old-fashioned analog phones versus newfangled digital communication-which, in a way, is an apt place to start with Betke, as the aural world he creates has both one foot in the past, and the other in the here-and-now. When we finally do connect, Betke’s in a jovial mode: “Ah, the famous German Telekom!” he says with feigned exasperation, before bursting out in a laugh. The call keeps going straight to the voicemail of his in-demand day-job endeavor, Scape Mastering. Scheduled for an late-afternoon phone interview with Stefan Betke, the veteran creator of rustling, rippling electronic dub better known as Pole, XLR8R is having trouble getting through.
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