Fischerspooner

In hindsight, the idea that people once considered Fischerspooner an electroclash act is laughable. The NYC duo of Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner has always been a synth-pop band with a penchant for flamboyant glam and performance art — even on 2002's #1, an album that arrived at the height of the fad genre's trendiness. The proof of the group's enduring songwriting comes in songs such as "Emerge," a stuttering single full of sine-wave keyboards and Kraftwerkian robotics. This futuristic playfulness returns on its new album, Entertainment, a welcome comeback full of goth-pop squelches and primitive, minimalist synthpop. Be sure to seek out the act's cover of an obscure early R.E.M. song, "Fascinating" — Fischerspooner adds a ghostly sheen to the tune, much as it did on a sterling cover of Wire's "The 15th."