Destroyer - Kaputt (2011, Merge)

I had plans to write this album off, but somewhere around step 6 or 7, plans changed. I guess if you take the T. Rex out of the Destroyer, things get all weird and bad-sexy-awesome. Who knew?

Destroyer - Kaputt

Dan Christofferson

New and old works by good friend, Dan Christofferson.

Deerhoof - Deerhoof Vs. Evil (2011, Polyvinyl)

If you were to ask me who my favorite band was sometime in the last few years, I would have said Deerhoof. Pretty much since I've known who they were I have wanted to marry them (well, actually just Greg Sanier). Their new album, Deerhoof vs Evil is super solid as you would expect. But mostly, HOW OBSESSED WITH THIS SONG ARE YOU!?



I think I have listened to "Super Duper Rescue Heads!" at least 20 times more than I have listened to the rest of the album, 'cause it's baseline is sooooo kickin'. Still don't know what I think about the flamenco guitar that comes in a couple tracks before, but Imma gonna say I'm ok with it.

Weston Teruya

Drawings and installations by Weston Teruya.

Essex County

I recently finished reading the collected Essex County, which consists of three graphic novels. Combined it's a hefty book, over 450 pages. The drawing are uniquely gorgeous. There is a lot of brush work and scraggly lines. I love how raw it is.

Chris Rehm - Worries, etc. (2011, Chinquapin Records)

RIYL = Tim Hecker, Belong, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma

Last year, Chris Rehm established himself as the new white noise with his gorgeous treatment of texture and volume on Salivary Stones. The spiritual descendent of Tim Hecker, Christian Fennesz and Belong, Rehm's vividly conceived sound sculptures managed to wow me in a way that few other noise/drone records have. Worries, etc. (his now 4th solo effort) is billed as the follow-up and companion piece to Salivary Stones; equally brief, the album's also equally impactful and soaringly beautiful.  In addition to Worries, etc. being a delicious, dense slab of ear candy, Rehm's sparsly placed vocals (gracing two tracks this time around) are absolutely divine additions to the mix.  The short, ghostly sad-folk reprieves nestle in seamlessly with the rest of the album and represent one of the reasons Rehm's work is so uniquely resonant in a sea of dronester wannbes. Stream or download Worries, etc. here.

"Worries" by Chris Rehm

Thank You - Golden Worry (2011, Thrill Jockey)

RIYL = Ponytail, Battles, Deerhoof

Glory be; the ceaselessly gracious Thank You are back and even better than before. Wait, what? You don’t remember Thank You? Their debut album was Terrible Two... Nothing? Oh man, you best get on top of that. A blessedly blustery piece of mad-mathy rock workouts, that one is. And Golden Worry? Similarly blessed, wide-eyed, grinningly (though, not mischievously so) aggressive, superlative, superlative, math, superlative, superlative, rock agility, ad nauseam, sans nausea. The wide-smiling, hard-hitting glory of Golden Worry is the dog who, road-tripping across the Midwest, has his head out the window, jowls flapping madly, tail wagging relentlessly, all the energy in the world and just glad to be alive. Golden Worry fits that, even amidst its chant-happy, prog-heavy, drum-limberingly airy, out-rock gung-ho-ness. It’s there; a master class rock album that flips and turns effortlessly, bursts wildly, and satisfies.  And satisfies.

Thank you - Pathetic Magic

Forest Gospel is Awake.

Forest Gospel became tired and took a nap.  Now that we're awake again, we're a speck different.  We are no longer pseudonyms.  We are Nick and Erin (happily married) and others, potentially.  Things'll be looser.  There are no longer rules governing FG (not that there were any explicit rules before).  We expect we'll still post plenty about the music we enjoy, but also about other things we enjoy as well. 

This may include but is not contractually limited to: art, fiction, poetry, graphic novels, web comics, maps (Nick loves maps!), films, animation, music videos, zines, video games, typography, skateboarding or Audrey Hepburn.

Forest Gospel then, in the shell of a pistachio nut, is the collected cultural interests of Nick and Erin Potter; a marital dialogue of taste; a catalog of awesome; or whatever.

-------

Also, if you're interested, we've setup a Forest Gospel page on this new website called Facebook...

Forest Gospel is tired of Forest Gospel.

Thoughts?

Best Albums of 2010

40. Pigeons - Si Faustine
39. Ou Où - Baron Von Baron
38. Kemialliset Ystävät - Ullakkopalo
37. Forest Swords - Dagger Paths
36. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Love is a Stream
35. Avey Tare - Down There
34. Chris Schlarb - Psychic Temple
33. The Last Dog to Visit the Center of the Earth - Colossus Archosaur
32. Caballos y Entusiasmo - Hidropony
31. Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People
--------------------

30. TOMO - Butterfly Dream and Other Guitar Works

If you scroll down a bit, you'll see that I just recently reviewed this one. An absolutely gorgeous instrumental guitar/drone album with magical healing qualities for the body and soul.

--------------------

Sore Eros - Know Touching

Sore Eros
Know Touching
(2010, SHDWPLY records)
RIYL = The Skygreen Leopards, Kurt Weisman , Ariel Pink

You’re missing this right now. I mean, probably. It’s late in the year, your compiling your year-end list of favourite tunes. You already have a backlog of albums that you wanted to listen to this year that you realize you will never get around to. Discovering new music isn’t a part of the MO. And, even if you have heard of and legitimately heard Sore Eros’ latest, if you’re not listening to it right now, you’re missing out. Because this is meowing hot right now. The follow up to his terrific debut, Know Touching follows a similar path of lo-fi pop balladry that feels just that much better than everything else of its ilk. And who isn’t making lo-fi bedroom pop? The songs are pleasantly ghostly, soft edged and creeping with minorly swirling fuzz. Robinson’s meek vocals fit perfectly in the atmosphere of each song. Just a wonderfully loose, weird little album of outsider folk that focuses first on the strength of its songs and then on beauty of its ambiance. Backwoods magic here, through and through.

-Thistle

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Love Is A Stream

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
Love Is A Stream
(2010, Type)
RIYL = Tim Hecker, Belong, Fennesz

It feels like some time since I’ve listened to shoegazer droning this syrupy delicious. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, of Tanaterel, The Alps, and the Roots Strata label, is set to eclipse the work he contributed to his bands and label with this, his second solo album, Love Is A Stream. The album suffocates with pure, noisy beauty. Cantu-Ledesma has conjured a deep, layered, grinding sound that burrows into the subconscious and lays hard against the pleasure centers of the brain, turning bristly edged drones into magnanimous plates of earth-shifting beauty. And with noise like this, it’s all about the undercurrent. Ledesma (Is that ok? Can I lop off the Cantu for brevities sake?) obviously has an aim here and its written in the title: love. Love or beauty or gorgeousness or whatever, that’s what sleeping at the bottom of these streams, snoring melodiously up into the babbling ether, kissing your ears. Listening to Love Is A Stream on headphones feels like dropping a knife into a thick, steaming pie – it’s sugary tasty as all get out. If you liked October Language, if you liked Endless Summer, if you liked Harmony in Ultraviolet then you will like Love Is A Stream. It’s in that company.

-Thistle

Stream Love Is A Stream on Soundcloud

Where I End & You Begin by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma