MANDY, INDIANA URGH (Sacred Bones) — The title URGH suggests both anger and strain. On this, their second studio album, Mandy, Indiana serves up plenty of both. The Manchester-based group took a more collaborative approach this time out; for the first time, all four members pitched in on the songwriting. The result is an appropriately overstuffed album. At times, it seems like dozens of ideas are jockeying for attention all at once. It’s electronica, it’s indie, it’s industrial, it’s borderline metal, it’s more, more, more. The material is also consistently bizarre, feeling as if it reinvents the very concept of music on the fly. “Sevastopol” sounds like it emanates from inside a malfunctioning cyborg, “Magazine” comes on like a outer space sonic storm, and “Life Hex” is merely a dense freakout. There are moments when a track almost drifts into the zone of the familiar —”Dodecahedron” employs rhythms that could come from a classic offering from the world music section — but it then rockets right into the unorthodox. The only consistent quality is mind-spinning unpredictability. There’s a thrilling aggression to URGH, a sense that Mandy, Indiana is issuing a challenge to anyone unwilling to join them in finding oddball beauty in all this resplendent noise. Take the hit with the following cuts: “Try Saying,” “Ist halt so,” and “Cursive.”

HOWLING BELLS Strange Life (Nude) — When Howling Bells broke off to side endeavors after the release of their fourth album, Heartstrings, they didn’t really intend it to represent an ending for the band. The time apart grew to become what they called an unplanned hiatus as everyone toiled away on other projects, including a flurry of solo albums from frontwoman Juanita Stein. Twelve years later, the band is finally back together with a new full-length, dubbed Strange Life. The current lineup is comprised of Stein, her brother Joel on guitar, and Glen Moule on drums. They click into place like a ball and socket. The album is filled with smartly rendered indie rock that calls to mind titans of the form while sounding wholly original and personal. “Heavy Lifting” has a hint of solo Tanya Donelly, “Halfway Home” could be Nick Cave if some of the gloom lifted (“Nobody controls it/ Nobody plays dice/ No, there’s nothing to it/ Just don’t think twice”), and “Chimera” is almost like the theoretical product of Siouxsie Sioux teaming up with Cocteau Twins back in the day. The hint of familiarity makes some sense. The album is produced by Produced by Ben Hillier, who’s spent time behind the boards for the likes of Blue and Depeche Mode. He helps Howling Bells give everything a keen sheen, whether with the retro pining of “Angel” or the driving “Sacred Land.” In addition to those already mention, check the following cuts: “Looking Glass,” “Melbourne,” and “Light Touch.”