I can't imagine (why you feel like this)
Some big hitters have records out this week, with new ones here from Sharon Van Etten, Kendrick Lamar, Squid, a limited Dinked Edition from Nadia Reid, a 20th anniversary reissue of Vashti Bunyan's Lookaftering, and a limited green vinyl reissue of Marvin Gaye's perennial What's Going On. Dig in.
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From the off, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory is sonically different from Van Etten’s previous work. Writing and recording in total collaboration with her band for the first time, Van Etten finds the freedom that comes by letting go. The result of that liberation is an exhilarating new dimension of sound and songwriting. The themes are timeless, classic Sharon – life and living, love and being loved – but the sounds are new, wholly realized and sharp as glass.
Available on limited indies-only amber galaxy coloured vinyl, with sticker
GNX is the sixth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. The album features guest appearances from SZA, Dody6, Lefty Gunplay, Wallie the Sensei, Siete7x, Roddy Ricch, AzChike, Hitta J3, YoungThreat, and Peysoh. Production was primarily handled by Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, alongside Mustard, Sean Momberger, and Kamasi Washington, among others. Titled after the Buick Regal model and following his feud with Canadian musician Drake. Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans is less than a month away, and Kendrick Lamar’s momentum isn’t slowing down heading into his halftime-show performance. His 2024 success was sparked by a long-standing feud with Drake that exploded with a well-publicized back-and-forth rap battle.
Available on limited dodger blue vinyl
Enter Now Brightness is a record of poise and great beauty, the sound of a cellular shift, of pain giving way to tenderness and joy. It takes its title from a passage in a book Reid was reading from a line that seemed to call out to her from the page: ‘Brightness entered the study.’ “It was the image of opening the curtain, or turning the light on, or of standing in the wings of a theatre and waiting to go on stage. It’s the idea of life beginning now.”
"[Nadia] embraces a full-bodied sound halfway between Haim’s sophisticated pop sparkle and Sharon Van Etten’s full-throated songcraft" - The Guardian
Available as a limited Dinked Edition:
+Transparent & red splatter colour LP*
+Alternative artwork sleeve*
+Bonus flexi disc - extra track 'Moment By'*
+Limited pressing of 500*
*EXCLUSIVE to Dinked Edition
Squid’s new album, Cowards, is about evil. Nine stories whose protagonists reckon with cults, charisma and apathy. Real and imagined characters wading into the dark ocean between right and wrong. Cowards is Squid’s most courageous album: simultaneously growing in scope and returning to basics.
Available to independent retailers on limited clear vinyl
Vashti Bunyan’s Lookaftering is 20 years old. To mark the occasion, and also Vashti’s 80th birthday, this expanded edition is released today. As well as the original studio album itself, the second disc features demo versions, alternate takes and live performances of all the original album tracks. This edition also comes with sleeve notes from Vashti, producer Max Richter, Devendra Banhart and a 16-page lyric booklet featuring a collection of paintings by Vashti's daughter Whyn Lewis - paintings that closely, and coincidentally, reflected the lyrics of the album.
What’s Going On’ is the eleventh studio album by American motown singer Marvin Gaye, released in May 1971. The concept album is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran who has returned home to observe a country full of hatred, misery and injustice. This album has been credited with bringing awareness to issues such as poverty, drug abuse and war ahead of public outcry over these controversial issues.
Now on limited edition evergreen vinyl.