Amazon.comFormless/functional, the sophomore release from Minneapolis-based trio Polara, is even trickier to get a bead on than their 1997 release, C'est La Vie, a cascading spectacle of electro-pop experimentation. Where C'est La Vie was content to travel within some preset boundaries, formless/functional simply ignores them, venturing from electronica to acoustic balladry to classic rock to symphonic collage. What's most enjoyable about formless/functional, and the musicians who composed it - vocalist/electrician Ed Ackerson, vocalist/electrician assistant Jennifer JeRae Jurgens and percussionist Peter Anderson - is their unabashed joy at making music. The trio bounces around this album like grade school kids turned loose in a room full of art supplies.--Nick Heil