POLE (Mute) Rating: NNN Rating: NNN
The long-awaited hiphop experiment of German glitch dub icons Pole is finally out, and the results are mixed. It was time for them to move on from the digi-dub sound, but was overly conscious avant-garde hiphop the right choice? Fat Jon raps on much of it, and while his flow isn’t bad, there’s something cheesy about the earnestness of it all. Still, there are some great moments, but nothing here comes near the earth-shattering quality of Pole’s early work.