Forma – Forma 7.4

                Forma might best be referred to as “Komische Pop Music”. You see, none of their songs reach the same track lengths as their fellow label mates Bee Mask, Mist, or Fabric. Instead, you’re given an easily accessible 35 minute album with plenty of warm, inviting melodies. They don’t intimidate the average listener say the way Mist’s track lengths do. 

                Beats exist, though only in the simplest of ways. Even though Forma would be perfectly fine leaving the beats alone they allow them to develop as part of the drones. Slowly but surely each song manages to flow into the next. I think of it as a current of sound, always present, never ceasing.

                Each song is named after some obscure number. Their intention (Forma is a trio) is to give it more of a futuristic bent. “Forma 237A” begins the journey into this mellow territory. Listening to the first song, you become a bit unaware at how quickly or slowly the next song creeps up. Actually, each time I try to listen to just one song, I get a bit sucked into the sonic ecosystem this fine Brooklyn group has created.

                Spectrum Spools is only a few months old but I’m already pretty pleased with their picks for 2011. Forma continues their fine tradition. Forma also offers audio from some of their concerts in the Brooklyn area (being a trio of komische music isn’t exactly a profit making endeavor). Support them as best you can.

The Wrens – Secaucus 9.0

                Right from the beginning, you’re hooked. I enjoy it when I hear the first song and get the impression everything else is going to be just as good. Though I have a definite bias towards more experimental music, I also love a good pop album. “Secaucus” a name belying The Wren’s New Jersey roots, is just that: a fantastically good album with no fat whatsoever.

                Take a look at the track list. 19 songs might seem like a lot of songs, but they come at you at a blisteringly fast pace. Each song stays at exactly the amount of time you’d want. It’s like they know what you want before you know it. As soon as you feel overwhelmed by the sheer tempo of the songs, they throw in a quieter, laid-back track such as “Jane Fakes a Hug”. Sure, I talk lot about pacing, but not every band pulls it off well. The Wrens are a quartet who understands this important skill.

                “Yellow Number Three” introduces you to the album in the best way possible. Comparisons to the Arches of Loaf are inevitable, especially regarding the vocal delivery. However, The Wrens maintain a higher quality product than those College Radio darlings. Constantly I heard songs where I longed for the 90s all over again. Songs like “Surprise, Honeycomb” and “Joneses Rules of Sport” made me wish these guys had more money and success. Quality is consistent all the way to the very end of the album with “I married Sonja” building up nicely into a chorus which I’d hug if it was a person. Even at the last song “It’s Not Getting Any Good” they manage to have this interesting guitar work with literate lyrics.

                Overall, as I read about them, I’m a bit saddened. Apparently their label Grass Records decided to drop them for the appalling awful Creed. The Wren doesn’t have anywhere as big of a discography as you’d expect for a band founded in 1989. However, we’re just entered a new decade, and that means another release called “Funeral” slated for this year 2011. If it is anywhere as good as this, I might have my album of the year.

Fischerspooner - Odyssey 5.0

Alright, so it is pop. Pop shouldn’t get a break. Many pop musicians offer great, actually intelligent music. Fischerspooner doesn’t do that. Instead, he offers two halfway decent songs with some serious dregs for the rest of it. Considering where he came from, the word ‘disappointment’ can’t describe the awfulness.

                “Just Let Go” and “Cloud” are the only ones a casual listener might find interesting. What is the rest? Well, it isn’t absolutely dreadful, but it is pretty bad. Basically you get a lot of ‘by the numbers’ pop songs that sound like things he wrote up in a couple of minutes before microwaving a burrito.

                I wish they had spent more time on this. The beginning started out with a great deal of promise. You can feel an absolute rush of excitement, alongside some ridiculous flourishes. Nothing outside of the two first songs is worth it for me, or any sort of revisiting. I’ve tried to see if the rest of the album is more of a grower, but no, it feels like it is mostly terrible. One can almost hear the death knell of electroclash throughout the album.