Following the dissolution of his retro-pop band the 27 Various, Minneapolis-based singer/guitarist Ed Ackerson (ex ANTENNA) formed Polara with Peter Anderson (drums), Jennifer Jurgens (guitar, vocals, organ) and Jason Orris (bass, vocals). Where Ackerson's music once sprung from the inspirations of 1960s pop, with Polara he absorbed the influence of 1970s Krautrock, ing his melodic songs with keyboards, samplers and electronics; the group's eponymous debut, issued in 1995, won widespread critical acclaim and landed them in the middle of a major-label bidding war. Upon signing to Interscope, Polara resurfaced in 1996 with the EP Pantomime; C'est la Vie, their full-length follow-up, appeared the next year. Interscope was in negotiations to submerge into their parent company by the time 1998's Formless/Functional came out, and Polara was one of the artists to be dropped when it happened the next year. Ackerson took time away from the band to produce albums for other artists, eventually opening his own recording studio in Minneapolis. He also started Susstones, a small record label that distributes material from independent Minnesota acts. Still, he planned on returning to Polara eventually, and in 2002 he stepped back into the studio with Jurgens and bassist Dan Boen to record Jetpack Blues, their debut for his label.
This collection of cut-and-paste pop ended up being the final recorded of raw experimentalism for Ed Ackerson's Polara. To put it in the best light, if the Beatles were given nothing but a microphone and a Macintosh, they might have rendered something similar to Ackerson's dance-pop on the opening "Whassup?," but like the Fab Four, Polara was destined to make their best music with instruments in their hands and a tune in their hearts. Ackerson is a talented producer, and his ability to completely ignore stylistic boundaries is admirable, but full-on electronic cuts like the drum'n'bass "Got the Switch" or the dry and mechanical "Verbing" probably should have been released under a different moniker. There are more than a few choice art pop and plain old guitar/vocal works on Formless/Functional ("Trainwreck," "I Can Believe") that while refreshing, do little to further the record's larger sense of deconstruction. It's cool to try and obliterate musical preconceptions, but like anything else, it is best attempted when armed with commitment and a theme. Perhaps that is a contradiction, but without a connection to anything that preceded it and without stating anything other than a devotion to pure eclecticism, Formless/Functional sounds thrown together and random.
1. Whassup?2. Brighter Day, A3. Trainwreck4. Got the Switch!5. Halo6. Peaking Charlie7. I Can Believe8. Semi-Detached9. Verbing10. Midtown Greenway11. Tread Lightly12. Corporate Hegemony (Smash the State!)
Wyd. INTERSCOPE 1998
STAN BARDZO DOBRY -
Opis stanu płyt:`Idealny - jak nowa, brak śladów użytkowaniaBardzo dobry - minimalne ślady użytkowania, prawie jak nowaDobry - widoczne ryski, ale bez żadnego wpływu na odtwarzanieDostateczny – dużo rys, ale płyta odtwarza bez zacięć, przynajmniej na średnio wymagającym sprzęcie
