New Releases Tuesday - 9/19

Arling & Cameron - Hi Fi Underground (Atlantic)
Bad Brains - Live at CBGB 1982 (MVD Visual) [DVD]
Big Sleep - Son of the Tiger (Frenchkiss)

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go (Drag City)
Drag City sez: "his music undergoes a sea change every time he plays it again, and the sounds of The Letting Go are no exception. As “Cursed Sleep” demonstrated, all sonic elements are employed with greater subtlety, combining a twin-guitars-and-rhythm lineup with layers of backing vocals and orchestration and still creating that lonesome echo that all the best Bonny Billy records have. This subtlety allows for greater density of arrangements throughout the record, a feature that’s inspired Bonny to create for the first time ever a surround-sound version of the disc which will be sold to sonic adventurers looking for a new wrap-around joy. The stereo mix is plenty atmospheric in itself, allowing the contributions of Jim White, Paul Oldham, Emmett Kelly, Dawn McCarthy, Ryder McNair, Nico Muhly and Valgier Sigurdsson to shine in turn. However, the song’s the thing, and The Letting Go has some of Bonny’s finest.

Cardigans - Super Extra Gravity (Nettwerk)
Corrina Repp - The Absent and the Distant (Caldo Verde)

Dani Siciliano - Slappers (!K7) Wow, new Dani and new Herbert records this year...here's the press buzz: This isn't a techno record or a dance record. Slappers is comparable to a singer-songwriter record written on the strings of a guitar, but like innovators before her, Dani prefers the 0s and 1s of electronics to balance out her voice and give the album a singular feel. Informed by Dani's own past, Slappers is full of songs of dislocation. After all, Dani started in Arizona, then spent a long period in California before finally moving to England to work with Matthew Herbert

Darkel - S/T (Astralwerks) New side project from Air's JB Dunckel (aka, "the short one").

Ensemble - Disown, Delete (FatCat)
¡Forward, Russia! - Give Me A Wall (Mute)
Hidden Cameras - Awoo (Arts and Crafts)
Kasabian - Empire (Sony)

Langhorne Slim - Engine EP (V2) Radio Free Chicago's Chief Honky Tonk Correspondent Rory O'Connor gives this one two thumbs up. Check 'em out next month (10/20) at The Troubador with Two Gallants.

Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor (Atlantic) This is such a simple, yet brilliant album title that I can't believe no one has ever used it before (seriously, look it up for yourself on AMG). After a couple of botched record deals, the debut full-length finally arrives for this "Chicago-based Muslim MC."

Mohair - Small Talk (Grunion)
Mos Def - Tru3 Magic (Geffin)

Nina Nastasia - On Leaving (Fat Cat) Working again with Steve Albini, this is Nastasia's first release for Fat Cat after two records and one reissue with Touch and Go. According to the press for the new album, "The Move From Touch and Go implies 'nothing scandalous,' says Nina, 'just moving, the way you move sometimes.'"

Pere Ubu - Why I Hate Women (Smog Veil)
The Capital Years - Dance Away The Terror (Park the Van)
Timonium - In Ives Hall (Pehr)

The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams (Bubbles) The name of this Erand Oye side project is not a joke. I believe it was the University of Oslo that conducted the extensive study and the results actually concluded that Mr. Oye is, in fact, the whitest boy alive in the world today, narrowly beating out the dude that played Napolean Dynamite.