Welcome to another installment of Today's Release Highlights, where the TND writers room gathers up some brand new projects they want to draw your eyes and ears to.

Today, we have five new releases we'd like to key you into as you head into the weekend. Check them all out below.

Ba bam!

Ken Carson - xperiment [Opium/Interscope]

After nearly five years of teaming up with his fellow Opium members and enjoying the limelight, Ken Carson is back on xperiment with some of his most novel tracks heard to date. Take "possession," for one, with his two different flows overlapping; if patience is a virtue, check out "addiction" and its build-up spanning half of the track's time. Astute listeners will notice that "shadeson" with former tour opener 2hollis has the instrumental of 2hollis's "girl" in the background, reimagined with Carson's laid-back rapping. Don't worry, there's still production from long-time collaborators like F1LTHY, featuring the same rage beats we all know and love. Ken Carson is still the X Man, after all. – Dana Badii

Low Cut Connie – Livin in the USA [Contender]

Jerry Lee Lewis-schooled pianist Adam Weiner has been America's most visionary roots-rock revivalist for some time — when The New Yorker named him "Pandemic Person of the Year," he was tossing Cardi B and Lana Del Rey covers into his Tough Cookies livestream shows. So unsurprisingly, sometime around 2020's Private Lives, his E Street bangers began taking on added emotional resonance: "Look What They Did" excoriated Trump for bankrupting Atlantic City casinos. On the tightest Low Cut Connie album in years (and best-produced ever), he takes on ICE's bullshit in "Livin' in the USA" without any loss of good-time priorities on three separate titles "Everybody," "Get Down," and "Oh Yeah." Then there's the regional hit "Can't Be Wrong," which is so irresistible it's been heard at Phillies games. – Daniel Aaron

Madonna – Confessions II [Warner]

It's time to confess. The Queen of Pop returns with her 15th studio album, and the sequel to her beloved 2005 record Confessions on a Dance Floor. Like the original Confessions, Confessions II is a non-stop, seamlessly sequenced dance record, made in collaboration with producer Stuart Price (Jessie Ware, Kylie Minogue, Dua Lipa). The sequel features Sabrina Carpenter, Feid, Stromae, and Madonna's daughter, Lola Leon. Madonna has been extensively promoting Confessions II, releasing an accompanying film at Tribeca Film Festival (read our full coverage of the premiere here), taking over Times Square with a spontaneous live performance, and invading the grids of Grindr users worldwide. Luckily, Confessions II is well worth the wait. – Andy Steiner

Margo Price – Days of Unrest [Loma Vista]

From the country rebel who brought us songs like “All American Made,” “Pay Gap,” abortion commentary “Lydia,” and the middle finger to oppression anthem “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” comes Days of Unrest, a collection of mostly covers unified under the protest song banner. Margo Price has always been a voice for farm workers, women’s rights, and people living out on the margins, and every song choice on here fits her like a glove. Woven in between tracks by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Charlie Daniels Band are a cover of “Can’t Stand Still” by her former band Buffalo Clover, Spanish folk song “De Colores,” and a three-part instrumental suite co-written with her husband Jeremy Ivey. But the standout here is Price’s take on Blaze Foley’s 1984 Ronald Reagan-savaging “Oval Room,” which has never felt more appropriate than on this particular July 4th weekend. The Joan Baez-featuring “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” is another gem, with Memphis Mariachi making this more than just another walkthrough of a classic.  – Alan Pedder

mary in the junkyard – Role Model Hermit [AMF Records]

Role Model Hermit is not a concept album; although, it is anchored in a strong, arresting vision. In a past life, singer-songwriter Clari Freeman-Taylor of the London art rock trio mary in the junkyard was a lonely sailor, eating only fish and living by the misty seaside of Great Britain. With a mouse for a companion, he never felt solitude. He then died, the mouse scurried away, and they met again in 2026 as two different people who, as they realized their bodies were unrecognizable, had the same eyes and hearts. They embrace years after their first encounter — the first warm hug they've both felt in centuries.

The soul of this new record certainly dives into the fantastical, but the strings-laden, math rock-tinged, atmospheric album by the band is earthy and grounded. Musically, it shimmers in complex ripples, letting the fingerpicking of the guitar glide over patchwork drums, crackling violins, and sprinkled-in synths. ("Welcome Break," "Seek And Destroy," "Mouse") A tale of distance and isolation has streaks of humor, hope, and fun in jammy, catchy rock melodies ("New Muscles", "Peter The Dog"). Freeman-Taylor's lyrics — as imaginative as they are vivid and visceral — throughout tug and pull at her own body, clawing at the skin to reveal her heart overtaken by bouts of fear, joy, anxiety, angst. It's difficult to know what slice of real life she's discussing in her songs, but that doesn't matter: the words just find themselves curled up inside you, quelling your own sense of loneliness. Read The Needle Drop's interview with mary in the junkyard here. – Victoria Borlando