Best Albums: Chrome Hoof, RJD2, Anna Calvi, Sleigh Bells, Kevin Hufnagel

This week’s best albums

– Intergalactic doom-funk ensemble Chrome Hoof returns to collapse space and time, opening listeners’ minds and whetting them for the weird.

– With his fifth full-length RJD2 continues to push against turntablism’s boundaries, resulting in his most unselfconsciously instrumental-heavy album to date.

– On her second LP, singer-songwriter Anna Calvi displays unimpeachable balladry, halfway between torch songs and sweat-soaked garage rock.

– Sleigh Bells fully embraces its pop elements without shame on its third album, Bitter Rivals.

– Guitarist Kevin Hufnagel of Dysrhythmia and Gorguts experiments with a baritone ukulele to create an audio reality that is haunting, unsettling, and captivating.

Honorable mentions

Cage the Elephant: Melophobia (RCA)

Earthless: From the Ages (Tee Pee)

Tim Kasher: Adult Film (Saddle Creek)

Clint Mansell: Filth OST (Milan)

Of Montreal: Lousy With Sylvianbriar (Polyvinyl)

Tera Melos: X’ed Out Remixes (Sargent House)

Tatvamasi: Parts of the Entirety (Cuneiform)