Finally, Om paid Berlin another visit. I missed their last show at Berghain but luckily this show took place at Volksbühne, another location I really like, so I was quite looking forward to this event.
We were a little early since we weren't exactly sure when the show would start and didn't want to be late, but hanging around a bit in the comfy Volksbühne foyer only helped to build up our excitement. When the doors opened we grabbed a seat in one of the front rows. The room filled quickly and it didn't take Pole that long to come on stage and start playing. I wasn't really familiar with his music and to be honest I also didn't care much before the concert because I just really really wanted to see Om.
Pole began to play and I have to say that it did not take long for his music to really get to me. It was bass-line driven and experimental electronic music with very strong dub influences. So even though it was something completely different in it's form, the music itself wasn't that far away from what Om do. Additionally I found the combination of these artists really interesting. Letting an electro-musician play before a band with a doom metal/stoner background might be challenging for some, and quite a few people in fact left the room during Pole's set, but it's definitely way more interesting than just add another "heavy" or "rock" act to the line-up. Pole's set was very diversified and I have to say that in total it was a very positive surprise and positive experience for me. Musically it was a great mixture of minimalistic and repetitive dub-bass lines with ambient sounds and elements of electro-acoustic experimental music. The sound was really great and intense, you could hear every small click and crack and the deep bass sounded pretty massive and good. Pole played for around an hour I guess and the only annoying thing during his set were the few people in front of us chatting loudly, not even stopping when they were asked to. So even though Pole wasn't that interesting to watch - I mean he was a guy behind a laptop and mixer - he was even more exciting to listen to.