Best New Releases, May 2: Car Seat Headrest, Model/Actriz, and more

We recently took a week off from providing a Friday roundup of the best new releases because, well, you’ve probably seen what we’ve been up to. But now that we’ve got time to go through the list, we’ve got another big week on our hands. In addition to our cacophonously infectious Album of the Week, there are new albums from indie stalwarts, experimental progressive bands and folk/Americana artists, hip-hop collabs and more. Dive into the best new albums of the week.

Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.

Car Seat Headrest – The Scholars

In case you thought Car Seat Headrest’s 11-minute “Gethsemane,” released in early March, was an unrepresentative sampling of their new album, rest assured it is not. The Scholars is a Who-level epic of an album, with three other marathon tracks and a handful of spunky songs that make their 13th album an event instead of just another new release. It took the Seattle band five years to put out this LP, but it sure was worth the wait: From entrancing keyboard passages to distorted-guitar jams, cut with horns and piano, one can already envision Car Seat Headrest performing the whole enchilada at a benefit concert at MSG or O2. – Kurt Orzeck

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Turntable Lab (vinyl)

Model/Actriz – Pirouette

New York industrial-tinged noise rock group Model/Actriz return two years after their stellar debut Dogsbody, which recently appeared in our favorite 21st century indie albums list, with a set of songs that emphasize a more pronounced vulnerability in addition to a more overt danceable aspect. Pirouette is our Album of the Week, and in our review, we said, “Model/Actriz sharpen their sonic arsenal to perfection on Pirouette, arriving at the point where their penetrating and pummeling sounds carry a greater degree of elegance.” – Jeff Terich

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Turntable Lab (vinyl)

Jenny Hval – Iris Silver Mist

Jenny Hval explored sleeker art-pop climes on 2022’s gorgeous Classic Objects, a stylistic direction that continues with Iris Silver Mist, but one that’s accompanied by her uniquely experimental streak and flourishes of electronic and ambient sounds. While the album’s immediate first single, the beat-driven “The artist is absent,” didn’t even span a full two minutes, it feels like a rich meal in a small portion, while “To be a rose” finds her showcasing the depths of her dramatic songwriting and opener “Lay down” incorporates field recordings of birds to hypnotic effect. We’ll have more on this one soon. – Jeff Terich

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?

Toronto punks PUP continue turning out catchy-as-hell punk with well-sharpened hooks and even a little bit of a vintage pop sensibility. In our review of the album, we said, “Who Will Look After the Dogs? features some of the band’s most soul-baring narratives while providing a playful soundtrack for those who can only laugh at their morbid self-reflection.” – Jeff Terich

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)

Boldy James & Real Bad Man – Conversational Pieces

Prolific rapper Boldy James has released an album a month in 2025 so far, and his latest finds him once again teaming up with producer Real Bad Man, which he’s collaborated with on two excellent records prior. Preceded by the outstanding early track “It Factor” with El-P, an undeniable highlight here, Conversational Pieces is rife with darkly immersive production and Boldy’s stoic yet grim storytelling, which reaches stunningly subtle climaxes on standout moments like “Fear of God,” where Boldy trades verses with Conway the Machine over a rich, cinematic backdrop. – Jeff Terich

Listen: Spotify

Bleed – Bleed

Bleed’s first full-length—which the Texas band started streaming online gratis three days before its release—doesn’t ooze or spurt; it sparkles. With cascading guitars and soaring vocals by Ryan Hughes, this maddeningly catchy, shimmering record harnesses the blissful naïveté of the early ‘90s and ushers it into the present, when such innocence is desperately needed. Dallas-based Bleed must have an access card to the same wellspring as their neighbors 30 miles to the west in Fort Worth, Trauma Ray: Both bands are vibrantly reliving the white-hot years of Failure and Deftones, whether they know it or not. More to come on this soon. – Kurt Orzeck

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)

Eli Winter – A Trick of the Light

Eli Winter is best known for playing American Primitivist-style folk music, but he’s often blended that with post-rock and jazz, having collaborated with the likes of late trumpeter jaimie branch and Gastr Del Sol’s David Grubbs. His latest continues to explore this genre-blurring dynamic with a set of songs that features more electric arrangements, gorgeous lap steel, and even interpretations of compositions by jazz artists such as Don Cherry and Carla Bley. It’s quite stunning, and we’ll have more to say on this one soon. – Jeff Terich

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)

A Flock Named Murder – Incendiary Sanctum

Toronto trio A Flock Named Murder makes metal for those who crave long, multi-phasic operas, built on the backs of genre fluidity and expressive guitar work. In other words, Inter Arma fans. Incendiary Sanctum, A Flock Named Murder’s second album (at least under this mantle) only contains four tracks, but they are Hungry Man dinner servings. Each runs at least 10-minutes long and uses that time to dodge genre pigeonholing, employing sludge metal riffs, dreamy bridges, and black metal’s nihilsm, all while operating on a doom metal schedule (which is to say, the songs end when they end, and not a second beforehand). – Colin Dempsey

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp

The Royal Arctic Institute – The Royal Arctic Institute

Since its inception several years back, The Royal Arctic Institute have carried around the ambient country and cosmic Americana tags and rightfully so; their all-instrumental avant-jazz-centric twang is such spaced-out goodness, it’s easy to chill out and escape into as this world goes to hell in a handbasket. Their self-titled record and first for the awesome Centripetal Force label follows that blueprint (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?) but takes it to another level of otherworldliness. It shows Royal Arctic expanding their sonic palette with texturally richer, synth-splashed tapestries that provide the perfect compliment to the string-bending majesty reeled off by guitarist John Leon and band newcomer, guitarist Chris Robertson. There’s also the jazzy aspect of Royal Arctic, manifested in effortlessly rhythmic and groovy form by bassist Dave Motamed and drummer Lyle Hysen (the legendary rhythm section of the recently rebooted 1980s-era SST vets Das Damen). The Royal Arctic Institute is ten glorious songs worth of East Coast cosmic country-fried zoners to flip on, drift off and tune out the 24/7 shitshow. Impeccably recorded by Ray Ketchum (sometime producer for Guided by Voices), it’s the perfectly dreamy elixir for your soul. – Brad Cohan    

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp

Toru / Brutalism – Split

There’s just no stopping French psych-noise trio Toru. In January, they erupted out of the gate with the earth-scorching shred-fest Velours Dévorant, a must-have for you heads pining for an maximalist sprawl of feedback-laced prog-metal mania. Just a mere few months later, Toru is back in action with a brand new split that is downright epic in vision and scope. On the A side, Toru lays bare its dynamic breadth on their marathon-length 22-minute contribution, which dials down the sheets of noise found on Velours Dévorant and trades it in for a minimalist ceremonial music. The flipside features a pair of icy death-ambient hellscapes courtesy of like-minded experimentalist Brutalism, the solo project of Baltimore, Maryland-based Terence Hannum, who’s worked with Locrian, Holy Circle, and Axebreaker. This split, released on Arsenic Solaris, the label run by Toru guitarist Arthur Arsenne, pairs kindred spirits in sonic sound. Essential. – Brad Cohan    

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp