As English singer/songwriter/guitarist Lianne La Havas prepares her new album, Blood, for summer release, she has premiered a new song, "Unstoppable." Hear it here and download with pre-orders of the album. Blood was inspired by her Jamaican and Greek family heritage. Lyrically, the songs she wrote are almost all related to "the feeling of who you are and where you come from," she says. Musically, she took inspiration from Jamaica's love of grooves, rhythms, and syncopation. Dancehall/reggae producer Stephen McGregor joined in the making of Blood, as did a rich collection of others.

The Staves' Justin Vernon–produced label debut, If I Was, released last month on CD and digitally, is now available on vinyl. The New York Times says the three sisters bring "angelic harmonies" to the "consistently daring" album. Stereogum calls If I Was "essential listening." The trio, currently touring Europe, has just announced a performance at Rough Trade in Brooklyn on May 11 and will perform at Vernon's Eaux Claires festival in July.

Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record stores, takes place this Saturday, April 18, and included among the special limited-edition vinyl releases are the Robert Plant 10" More Roar, a double LP of Steve Reich's Grammy-winning Music for 18 Musicians, and a Buena Vista Social Club 7" single.

In 2011, The Bad Plus invited saxophonist Joshua Redman to join them for a week of performances at the Blue Note in NYC. They then played a handful of dates before heading into the studio in 2014 to record their debut album, The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, due May 26 on Nonesuch (June 8 outside North America). Pre-order to download the track "Dirty Blonde," written by bassist Reid Anderson, now. Seven of the nine tracks on the album are new compositions by the quartet members who, in addition to Anderson and Redman, include The Bad Plus pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer David King; the other two songs on the album are new arrangements of Bad Plus favorites. The Bad Plus Joshua Redman begins a world tour in NYC June 10.

The Staves' new Justin Vernon–produced album, If I Was, is out now on CD and digitally in the US on Nonesuch Records, with vinyl due April 21. The trio brings "angelic harmonies" to the "consistently daring" album, writes the New York Times' Jon Pareles. "[T]he songs are illuminated from within." "This entire record is essential listening," raves Stereogum. "The Staveley-Taylor sisters possess the kind of voices that make able-bodied writers lose control of their capacity to avoid terms like ethereal, angelic, and otherworldly." The album earns four stars from the Guardian, Sun, MusicOMH, and Daily Mirror, which calls it "ravishing and inspired ... with astonishing vocals ... an unfailingly tender touch, freshness and natural warmth."

Newly formed Congolese seven-piece band Mbongwana Star releases its debut full-length album, From Kinshasa, on May 19 via World Circuit, distributed in North America by Nonesuch Records; vinyl follows on July 31. The band features members of a new generation of Kinshasa musicians embodying the concept of “mbongwana,” or “change.” Along with Parisian producer Doctor L, the band has created a sound that embodies the “smashed-together” nature of the surroundings from which it was born—fusing traditional Congolese rhythms with European post-punk bass and busted electronics from recycled and reconstructed instruments miked and distorted in unexpected ways. Pre-orders include an instant download of the album track "Malukayi (feat. Konono No.1)."

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell's new album, The Traveling Kind, will be released May 12 on Nonesuch Records. Rolling Stone has premiered the title track, which may be downloaded with pre-orders of the album at iTunes and in the Nonesuch Store, where CD and vinyl orders also include an exclusive, limited-edition autographed print. Produced by Joe Henry, The Traveling Kind follows the longtime friends' first duet album, 2013's Grammy Award-winning Old Yellow Moon, and comprises 11 duet tracks, including six new songs written by Harris and Crowell with co-writing by Mary Carr, Cory Chisel, Will Jennings, and Larry Klein. Harris and Crowell will play a series of intimate shows in support of the record this May, including shows in San Francisco, Napa, Chicago, NYC, and Nashville.

The Staves' Nonesuch debut album, If I Was, produced by Justin Vernon, is due out next week in the US. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full all this week via Stereogum. "This entire record is essential listening," raves Stereogum. "The Staveley-Taylor sisters possess the kind of voices that make able-bodied writers lose control of their capacity to avoid terms like ethereal, angelic, and otherworldly. They are simply astonishing in tone, harmony, precision, their ability to weave in and around one another like birds dipping and flitting through the sky."

Buena Vista Social Club’s Lost and Found is out now on CD and digitally from World Circuit Records; the vinyl is due April 21. Coming almost two decades after the release of the original Grammy-winning, self-titled LP, the new album is a collection of previously unreleased tracks—some of which were recorded during the original album’s sessions in Havana and others from the years that followed. Lost and Found also features live recordings from the world tours of Buena Vista’s legendary veterans. NPR calls it "a gorgeous reminder of what made [Buena Vista] so famous to begin with." The Guardian calls it "exquisite."

Trio Da Kali is a group of musicians from the Mande culture of southern Mali who come from a long line of distinguished griots. Formed of voice, ngoni, and balafon, the Trio aims to bring a contemporary twist to ancient and neglected repertoires. Its debut EP is now available digitally from World Circuit, distributed in North America by Nonesuch Records.

Buena Vista Social Club's Lost and Found, a collection of previously unreleased tracks, is due out next week. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen at npr.org. "It was nearly 20 years ago, back in 1997, that the Buena Vista Social Club became an improbable worldwide sensation: a group of mainly elderly (and some younger) Cuban musicians, performing traditional son music for an album produced by Ry Cooder," writes NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas. "If it turns out that this is the year we do say a final goodbye to the Buena Vista collective, Lost and Found provides a gorgeous reminder of what made it so famous to begin with — and what we'll all be missing."

Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Olivia Chaney makes her album debut with The Longest River, available April 28 on Nonesuch Records. On the album, Chaney balances her original compositions with a selection of covers she has newly arranged that illustrate the broad sweep of her taste, from jazz to Purcell to folk. "Her voice holds the purity, tension, dignity and sorrow of a heritage full of songs about lost love and cruel fate," says the New York Times. "Ms. Chaney is thoroughly grounded in the past, from medieval music to [Joni] Mitchell. But in her quiet way, she’s radical." The Longest River is available to pre-order with an instant download of the album tracks "Imperfections" and "The King's Horses."