The Exposure - ________

The Exposure is a project from multi-instrumentalist/video artist Paris Mygatt, New Haven, CT, that recalls demented FG folksters of old (Navigator, Kurt Weisman) and just goes to show -- there's somethin in the water no matter where you drink it. File under: aliens are people too, dreamy tape modulation, New Weird Connecticut, twisted homesickness. Beautiful stuff.

"In-Between"

Vince Contarino

Ghost Stories - Late Night Work Club

It's finally here!

"Every day the same dream" by Paolo Pedercini

Play this game...

Forestter

Warm Thighs - Warm Thighs 5

Grab this and Warm Thighs 4 from last year and burn them onto a disc. No questions. This is the future of your new summer in decomposition.

"Grave of the Lizard Queen" by Em Carroll

New clickable comic weirdness from FG comics super-favorite, Emily Carroll. Here.

"Altneuland" by Sariel Kaslasi

Homeshake - The Homeshake Tape

Casual, intelligent, idiosyncratic pop. This one took me by surprise when I realized that it was way better than just pretty good, which is what I thought to myself the first time through. Definite keeper.

Agostino Iacurci

"The Runaway" by Victor Carrey

via booooooom.

Susan Balmar - CCG

In a vein similar to Jar Moff's brilliant 12", Commercial Mouth, Susan Balmar cobbles together samples which sometimes cohere into beats, but more often wobble into disjunctive, abstract messes--which is why they're so amazing. On CCG, Balmar seems to have stumbled into a haven for misfit sounds, sounds which she lovingly tugs together, knitting everything into a beautiful grotesquery of demented anti-hip hop. Just brilliant.

Andy Ducett

Broken Deer - Polaraura

No vetting needed here, a new Broken Deer album means a new post up on FG. Halfway through Polaraura and I already feel like I'm disappearing in the eerily beautiful lo-fi folk weirdness.

Jennifer Davis

Ori Toor + Kingdom Crumbs

Brilliant video by Ori Toor coupled with this great track by Kingdom Crumbs, whose self-titled debut album came out last year. Surprised this is the first time I'm hearing of Kingdom Crumbs. Brilliant debut reminiscent of Shabazz Palaces. Listen and download the whole album below.
 

2013 Halfway Checkpoint

We're approaching the halfway point of the year again and I'm more on-again-off-again with FG than I've ever been. My listening habits have gone lax. It's been almost a year since my headphones broke and two years since we buried my iPod. That means the only music listening I do is in the car and occasionally on the laptop. Add to that an approaching cross-country move from Rhode Island to Missouri and you'll get a sense of odd factors inhibiting my listening habits as of late. That said, I have still been listening to a lot of really awesome music. Forest Gospel as a whole (you may know) roots for the underdogs. I always assume if you've found you're way here, you're already aware of My Bloody Valentine (and their newest album). That said, this list does not cater to any demographic. This is simply my favorite 25 records so far this year (in alphabetical order). And yes, Justin Timberlake's 20/20 is among them (and perhaps more surprisingly, Vampire Weekend). Would be happy to hear what you are enjoying most this year in the comments.

Alan Licht - Four Years Older
Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety
Cindy Lee - Tatlashea
Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 3
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record
Eluvium - Nightmare Ending
The Flaming Lips - The Terror
The Focus Group - The Elektrik Karousel
Iceage - You're Nothing
Jar Moff - Commercial Mouth
Justin Timberlake - 20/20
The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
L. Pierre - The Island Come True
Little Women - Lung
Majical Cloudz - Impersonator
Marisa Anderson - Mercury
Marnie Stern - The Chronicles of Marnia
Millipede - The Lower World
Mostly Other People Do The Killing - Slippery Rock
My Bloody Valentine - m b v
Sam Hamilton - Integrifolia
Thundercat - Apocalypse
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Zs - Grain

Joseph Lambert

Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold

Hello, Parquet Courts. Why didn't I see you around when you were around last year? Oh, parties? Yeah, I'm not very good at parties, so that makes sense. Oh, okay. But it is nice for a party, I suppose. Yes, I agree, not only for parties. Oh, really? Pretty rockin. Well, eternal youth to you as well, my friends. Eternal youth.

bread

Sad Souls - Form in the Fog Beside

This here is some top shelf ambience from Sad Souls. Four beautifully meditative, drifting tracks. Name your price over at their Bandcamp.

"In the Ruins," adapted by Wren McDonald

Brilliant adaptation of Roald Dahl's brutal short story, "In the Ruins," by Wren McDonald. Find more of Wren's work here.

Talibam! - Launch Pad series

Trolling the internets with my Forest Gospel rake, I just stumbled across the Talibam! bandcamp page--and happily so. Seems the avant-everything pranksters have been busy transforming contemporary indie touchstones into something decidedly more dissonant. So if you ever wished that My Bloody Valentine's mbv, Frank Ocean's Channel ORANGE, or The Dirty Projector's Swing Lo Magellan sounded more like a Talibam! record, the band's Launch Pad series is for you!

Benjamin Wright

Lambo

L. Pierre - The Island Come True

Strictly gorgeousness here from L. Pierre, complete with vinyl crackle, otherworldly string motifs, pianos, samples, the good stuff.
 

Henry McCausland

Charles Fréger

From photographer Charles Fréger's book, Wilder Mann.

Starry Cat - Starry Cat

Solo album by Sam of Julia Brown (and formerly Teen Suicide). The album's been released in support of Julia Brown viola player/vocalist, Caroline, to help pay for multiple upcoming surgeries. So, worthy cause, and worthy music also. Lo-fi pop stuff that's reminiscent of the aforementioned bands, if a bit stripped down. K Records throwback kindling.

Colin Stetson - "Among the Sef"

Zach Montoya

Alexandra Levasseur - "Playing with Fire"

Elvis Depressedly - Holo Pleasures

Muddy, depressive pop music that reminds me of this old Elf Power album I used to listen to, but better. I've burned his entire back catalog onto a single disc and have been listening to it obsessively over the past few days. Good stuff.

Deborah Zlotsky

Bird Names - Naming Names

New ramshackle pop derangement from FG favorites, Bird Names. And I think it may be the best thing they've done to date. Really solid all the way throughout. And weird, really weird.

BMW Turbo

Everything I Can See From Here

Yolanda Sanchez

Goat Lighting - Sister's Crystals

Ultra-chill, spaced-out wonderment here from Goat Lightning. Sister's Crystals is a surefire fever reducer. (via Tome.)

Michael Carson

Sam Hamilton - Integrifolia

Weirdo New Zealander and sound mystic, Sam Hamilton, has just released his most recent full length, Integrifolia, and it's better than everything. Or, if it's not better than everything (my findings are inconclusive), it is amazing, bright, skiwampis, healthy (that's right, healthy), bombastic, and freakin' beautiful in the weirdest, awesomest way. So much FG love for this thing.

"Umbra" by Malcolm Sutherland

This is a couple years old, but really amazing and I love it.

Anouk Ricard

Anouk Ricard is the freaking best. So glad that Drawn & Quarterly is translating her. Hit up these two links for a couple sample comics from her cute, weird Anna & Froga series, here and here.

Un Blonde

More guitar-driven outsider post-pop from Canada. Because Canada's the best.

Melinda Tidwell

Mark Templeton - Jealous Heart

Utter gorgeousness from Mark Templeton, who seems incapable of making anything not utterly gorgeous.

Takashi Ohashi

Takashi Ohashi's abstract animation, "Kou Kou," is one of the most enthralling videos I've seen in recent memory. Two additional Ohashi animations, "With My Umbrella" and "CHANNELER," can be viewed after the jump, and both are filled to the brim with abstract wonderment and wonderful music/sound. In fact, despite embedding them here, I really recommend you view them full-size on Vimeo. Really excited to have stumbled upon these.

David King's Reliable Comics

King Tears Bat Trip

I've been subsisting off of Olive Music's 2012 year-end list for some time now, and this is definitely one of the best discoveries from what is already a super solid list. Super incredible slabs of hulky jazz bombast.

Toyota

Jar Moff - Commercial Mouth

I don't know what my problem is. At the end of last year I was putting together my year-end list and mixed up the dates for this release. I received the promo from Pan and thought for some reason it came out November first, not January 11th, or whenever. Even now, I'm looking at Pan's website and see little information about the release. But it's real, and real enough that, within weeks it was worth a spot as one of the best things I listened to last year. And so, this year also. Somewhere I think it was described as future hip hop, and if so, the future is messed up. Which is exciting. Like Prefuse 73 smashed to bits and run through a droning conveyor belt. Anyway, I'm in love with this...

Evan Palmer

Bill Baird - Spring Break of the Soul

For some reason I lost track of Bill Baird for awhile, but I'm glad I stumbled back into his work. (Appears he's slipped a few albums in between this and the last one I listened to.) Lovely, expansive psychedelic pop starting off where The Beta Band left off, all those years ago. And timely!

The Mountain by Graeme Patterson

We saw this at Mass MoCA and were utterly blown away. I think Erin and I agreed it was our favorite piece in a museum filled with favorite pieces. If the Oh, Canada! show is still up, and you are in the New England area, you owe it to yourself to see this meticulously detailed work.

Catrin Morgan (Ben Marcus)

 Granta is reissuing an essential new edition of The Age of Wire and String, by Ben Marcus; essential because of it's beautiful design, and the fact that it's been illustrated by the cover artist, Catrin Morgan. See more illustrations from the project below:

Mohammed - "Sakrifis"

Teen Suicide - I Will Be My Own Hell Because There is a Devil Inside My Body

Because I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff, even now.

Warren Craghead

Braden J McKenna - Surfs Down Smiles Up

New warped bliss-pop from old friend and Forest Gospel alumni, Braden J McKenna. Possibly his best work to date (which is saying something). Very highly recommended.

STAER - Daughters

For inducing headaches and being happy about it.