No need you ask for permission to check out this week’s new albums, of course you MAY!

After recent stints as supporting vocalists for Brandi Carlile, Ringo Starr, and The War on Drugs, Lucius return to the spotlight on their canine-friendly self-titled fourth album. Will Toledo’s latest Car Seat Headrest outing, The Scholars, is an ambitious concept record about the mysterious occurrences at a fictional university. Reflecting on the breakout success of her 2023 debut, Blondshell’s If You Asked for a Picture charts Sabrina Teitelbaum’s ongoing untangling of her newfound fame.

Toronto favorites PUP continue to push punk boundaries on Who Will Look After the Dogs?, with humorous lyrics colliding with pit-ready energy. On Flying with Angels, her first album of all-new songs in over a decade, Suzanne Vega shows off her stylistic versatility across ten songs dealing with various societal struggles. Altogether Stranger is another captivating collection of drone-pop meditations from Lael Neale; the album serves as Neale’s farewell to Los Angeles as she relocates to her family’s Virginia farmland.

Listen for spotlights on new records like these (and more) every week on the XPN Morning Show and Indie Rock Hit Parade.

PRESS PLAY on these new releases

LuciusLucius
CHECK OUT: “Gold Rush” “Old Tape”

Car Seat HeadrestThe Scholars
CHECK OUT: “Gethsemane” “The Catastrophe (Good Luck with That, Man)”

BlondshellIf You Asked for a Picture
CHECK OUT: “What’s Fair” “23’s a Baby”

PUPWho Will Look After the Dogs?
CHECK OUT: “Hallways” “Paranoid”

Suzanne VegaFlying with Angels
CHECK OUT: “Rats” “Speakers’ Corner”

Lael NealeAltogether Stranger
CHECK OUT: “Tell Me How to Be Here” “Down on the Freeway”

The PRESS PLAY-list

FURTHER LISTENING

Andy BellTen Crowns, Bill Orcutt Guitar QuartetHausLive 4, CarriersEvery Time I Feel Afraid, Clem SnideOh Smokey, Club NightJoy Coming Down, Dope LemonGolden Wolf , Eric ChurchEvangeline vs. The Machine, Esther RoseWant, The FarmLet the Music (Take Control), Gentle GiantPlaying the Fool: The Complete Live Experience, Gringo StarSweethearts, James KrivcheniaPerforming Belief, Jenny HvalIris Silver Mist, Josh GrobanGems, LåpsleyI’m a Hurricane and I’m a Woman in Love, Messer ChupsDon’t Worry, Be Creepy EP, Model/ActrizPirouette, Pet Shop BoysDreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live at the Royal Arena Copenhagen, Pet SymmetryBig Symmetry, Pink FloydPink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXI, PropaghandiAt Peace, PunchbagI’m Not Your Punchbag EP, Real EstateThe Wee Small Hours: B-Sides and Other Detritus 2011-2025, RÜFÜS DU SOLInhale / Exhale Remixed, Sally PotterANATOMY, Samantha CrainGumshoe, Say Sue MeTime is Not Yours EP, Sextileyes, please, Sharon Jones and the Dap-KingsNaturally (20th Anniversary Edition), YarnLive Yarn: Vol. 1, Yusuf / Cat StevensSaturnight: Live from Tokyo (Reissue)