All right here we go again with our brand new segment from the TND writers: Today's Release Highlights. Today brings with it an enormous number of album releases, and we chose just a small handful to point out to you that we hope don't get lost in the shuffle. Check them all out below!

Bleed – Bleed [20 Buck Spin]

Out today via 20 Buck Spin, Bleed's 10-track self-titled debut blends the riffs and nostalgia of nu-metal, shoegaze, and alt-rock. Produced and mixed by the band's guitarist Rubio N. in the band's native Texas, with mastering by Grammy Award-winning engineer Jordan Richardson, Bleed draws from '90s influences and features a guest vocal appearance from Static Dress' Olli Appleyard. According to the band's official biography, the album "doesn't so much demand attention as seeps straight into the bloodstream, the kind of album that endlessly loops in the back of the mind at 3 a.m." Bleed is available on multiple formats here. – Nic Huber

Blondshell – If You Asked for a Picture [Partisan]

Blondshell (the stage name of Sabrina Teitelbaum) is following up her eponymous 2023 debut today. She has again teamed up with producer Yves Rothman for If You Asked for a Picture, whose title is borrowed from a 1986 poem by the cherished American writer Mary Oliver, “Dogfish". Teitelbaum says of the title, “There’s a part of the poem that says: ‘I don’t need to tell you everything I’ve been through. It’s just another story of somebody trying to survive. Something I love about songs is that you’re showing a snapshot of a person or a relationship, and showing a glimpse into a story can be just as important as trying to capture the entire thing. Sometimes it’s even truer to the entire picture than if you tried to write everything down.” The record sees Blondshell grappling with identity and womanhood, soundtracked by sonic references that she describes as "being reserved for men." – Leah Weinstein

Car Seat Headrest – The Scholars [Matador]

The next installment in Car Seat Headrest's discography is the band's first attempt at a rock opera. The Scholars is, at first glance, a concept record about fictional college students attending the magical Parnassus University. As they leave their childhood homes behind them, they learn about the secrets of the world that surrounds them. Singles like "CCF (I'm Gonna Stay With You)" and "Gethsemane" give the listener a sampling of what one might expect from the rest of the record: long, rock-driven jam sessions, loose lyrical structures, vignettes into the characters' lives, and more. The record also features lyrics and vocals by band member Ethan Ives, further aiding the transition from Toledo's solo project into a full, four-piece band. – Victoria Borlando

James Krivchenia – Performing Belief [Planet Mu]

James Krivchenia is best known as the drummer for Big Thief, but the multi-instrumentalist and producer also has a solo career. Today, Krivchenia releases his fourth album, Performing Belief, via the electronic label Planet Mu. The album features bassist Sam Wilkes (known for his work with saxophonist Sam Gendel) and Joshua Abrams (of the group National Information Society), but it primarily spotlights Krivchenia’s multifaceted and unconventional approach to percussion. The Chicago native incorporates the music of the natural world, expanding his drum-set beyond the traditional five-piece kit: there’s the sound of drumming on a wooden log, the splash of rocks in a pond, the slush of mud. Despite its sonic differences, Big Thief fans will find that Performing Belief shares the band’s ethos of rootedness and connectedness with nature. – Andy Steiner

Jenny Hval – Iris Silver Mist [4AD]

With its roots in last year’s experimental and multi-sensorial stage show I Want to Be a Machine, this ninth album from Norwegian avant-garde musician, artist, and author Jenny Hval is partly inspired by her post-pandemic fascination with fragrances. Taking its name from a perfume by French brand Serge Lutens, Iris Silver Mist is laced with references to smells and aromas. There’s plenty of atmosphere too, incorporating field recordings and eerie sounding strings to create an album that “very much places music in between life and death.” As Hval explained in a recent interview, it’s “a place to speak with – or sing with – the dead. Whether it’s people, other artwork, public space, or democracy.” – Alan Pedder

Jolie Laide – Creatures [Victory Pool]

When Nina Nastasia and Jeff MacLeod released their debut self-titled album as Jolie Laide in 2023, it was a bit of a surprise. Nastasia is best known as a solo singer-songwriter, and had herself very recently returned after a 12-year absence with Riderless Horse. But now the band is back, and with two extra members in Clinton St. John and Morgan Greenwood, and their sophomore record, Creatures, sounds all the bigger for it. More cinematic, larger in scope, and replete with dramatic instrumental and melodic touches — sung by both Nastasia and St. John — the new LP feels like a series of loosely connected vignettes, with some characters coming and going and a real sense of place. Fans of Nastasia, and of the guys’ other band The Cape May, should take notice. – Jeremy J. Fisette

Model/Actriz – Pirouette [True Panther]

Pirouette is the highly-anticipated sophomore record from Brooklyn's Model/Acrtiz, the follow-up to their 2023 breakout record Dogsbody. The record sees the group staying true to their gaudy, industrial sound, evident from pre-release singles "Doves" and "Cinderella". Frontman Cole Haden delivers bravado-laden lyrics about queerness and desire, starkly contrasting the aggressiveness of their signature dance-punk stylings. Haden begs you to not think twice about his vulnerabilities, and that's certainly by design. – Leah Weinstein

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs? [Little Dipper label and Rise Records]

Who Will Look After the Dogs?, the fifth studio album from Toronto punk outfit PUP, arrives three years after The Unraveling of PUPTheBand. After the end of a long-term relationship, frontman Stefan Babcock retreated to solitude in northern Ontario, writing songs with no agenda or expected outcome. The result is Who Will Look After the Dogs? While the previously released single “Hallways” is a breakup track – featuring the title lyric, “But I can’t die yet ’cause who will look after the dog?” — the album isn’t strictly about heartbreak. Kindred spirit Jeff Rosenstock also lends his voice to one track. – Ricky Adams

Yung Lean – Jonatan [World Affairs]

Sweden’s finest Soundcloud export Yung Lean has been tinkering with his sound over his decade-long career, getting progressively more rock-oriented with every release. Lean’s newest, the self-titled Jonatan, is his first solo project since his 2022 commercial mixtape Stardust, though he has been busy collaborating with other artists: Bladee on Psykos, Gud on Död Mark 4Evigt, and Frederik Valentin on Sugar World. Judging by Jonatan’s singles – the new-wave influenced “Forever Yung” and lo-fi “Babyface Maniacs” – Lean continues to toy with indie hypnagogia while still performing his trademark brand of cloud rap R&B. Jonatan has no features but does have art direction from fellow drainer Ecco2K, and is released via Lean’s own label World Affairs. – Alex Peterson