Best Albums: Trollfest, Squarepusher x Z-Machines, The Faint, Off!, Only Lovers Left Alive soundtrack

Trollfest: Kaptein Kaos
Squarepusher x Z-Machines: Music for Robots
The Faint: Doom Abuse
Off!: Wasted Years
Jozem Van Wissem / Sqürl: Only Lovers Left Alive soundtrack

This week’s best albums

– More than ever, Norway’s Trollfest builds its infectious music around big hooks, big chords, and big fun.

– With the aid of the robot band Z-Machines, Squarepusher crafts a surprisingly human-sounding version of the musical singularity.

– Dance-punk outfit The Faint presents its signature sounds with more urgency on its sixth LP.

Off! makes another lasting punk statement, this time with more mid-tempo riffs and an analog recording.

Jozef Van Wissem plus Jim Jarmusch‘s band, Sqürl, create an affecting and contrasting score for Jarmusch’s crypto-vampire love story, Only Lovers Left Alive.

Honorable mentions

Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks: Enter the Slasher House (Domino)

Josephine Foster: I’m a Dreamer (Fire)

Man Forever & So Percussion: Ryonen (Thrill Jockey)

Protomartyr: Under Color of Official Right (Hardly Art)

Sandy Pussy: s/t (Total Acceptance)

The Skull Defekts: Dances in Dreams of the Known Unknown (Thrill Jockey)