Jamie Stewart founded Xiu Xiu in 2002, combining uncomfortably intimate, whispery vocals with shock-seeking cacophonies on mid-’00s records like A Promise and Fabulous Muscles. More than a dozen years later, Forget takes Stewart’s challenging avant-garde formulas and distorts them under To Be Kind producer John Congleton, also collaborating with Swans guitarist Kristof Hahn, Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier, and minimalist composer Charlemagne Palestine. Forget teeters between vulnerably hushed (but still sadistic) and antagonistic confrontation, but the album’s lead single “Jenny GoGo” is a pure dark-pop gem, and likely Xiu Xiu’s best song of the past few years. Because they embrace everything from controversial lyrical themes (“I Luv Abortion”) to ambient Twin Peaks soundtrack tributes, a Xiu Xiu live set is never predictable. by Brittnie Fuller