This week marked the release of the Brad Mehldau Trio's two-disc Live set, recorded during the group's weeklong residency at the Village Vanguard in October 2006; The Guardian (UK) gives four stars to the latest album from this "prodigiously gifted pianist" and his trio, offering what audiences have come to expect from Brad, namely "state-of-the-art contemporary jazz piano."

This Tuesday, the Brad Mehldau Trio will release the two-CD Live album. "It's the trio's increasing open-mindedness that distinguishes Live from its previous live outings," says All About Jazz. "Refined simplicity contrasts with sophisticated complexity while spare economy coexists alongside busier dynamics, making Live another exceptional milestone in a career defined by gradual but unrelenting growth and exploration."

Argentine-born composer-pianist Fernando Otero performed at Joe's Pub in New York City last Wednesday, celebrating the recent release of his Nonesuch debut, Página de Buenos Aires, which the New York Times says "could be described as a heroically ambitious tango record, with a scope that reaches beyond the usual connotations of the style."

Watershed, k.d. lang's first-ever self-produced album and her first collection of new, self-penned tunes since 2000's Invincible Summer, is now available in the Nonesuch Store. Another new addition: Kronos Quartet's recording of composer Terry Riley's The Cusp of Magic, with pipa virtuoso Wu Man; the Los Angeles Times says the piece "brims with joy."

Nonesuch is pleased to announce the January 8, 2008, release of the first soundtrack from the critically acclaimed, Peabody Award–winning HBO series The Wire. That's two days after the series kicks off its fifth season. It also marks the first time music from the David Simon–created show has ever been collected and released as an album.

Seattle radio station KEXP has added to this week's list of featured new releases David Byrne's "In the Future" from the reissue of Knee Plays. The album—on CD for the first time—hit stores yesterday, complete with the original 13 tracks plus seven previously unavailable instrumental tracks. You can hear a clip of "In the Future" on KEXP.org or visit kneeplays.com to hear more from the album and check out site-exclusive bonus materials.

In this weekend's Telegraph (UK), Youssou N'Dour speaks with writer Peter Culshaw about the challenges of trying to bridge the sometimes conflicting musical tastes of the West, which often expects music from Africa to be more traditional, and those of his fellow countrymen, who tend to prefer a more modern sound. This can be seen in the title of his new record, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take). Youssou also has kind words for his experience at Nonesuch. Writes Culshaw: "On Nonesuch, he feels that he is competing with fellow label artists such as the composer John Adams or the jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, artists who have 'integrity and respect,' like the label." 

Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take) has earned "wild applause"—the highest rating—from the San Francisco Chronicle. The review  praises its predecessor, the Grammy-winning Egypt, as "a masterpiece in a career filled with them," then names the new album "an immediate Grammy contender in its own right." "Crackling with rhythm and joy," says the Chronicle, "this is world music that truly can be heard, loved and understood around the globe."

Youssou N'Dour debuted on the top of the iTunes UK World Music Album Chart today with the release of his new album, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take). The British press has been singing the record's praises, with the Financial Times, BBC Music magazine, and the Guardian all giving it highest marks. Fans in the UK had a chance to hear tracks from Rokku Mi Rokka all day on BBC 6, which made it the featured Album of the Day.

In today's Boston Herald, Caetano Veloso lays out a complex path of inspirations for his new record, Cê, from Brazilian singers of the 1930s all the way up to the Arctic Monkeys and Animal Collective today, with stops at vintage-era Talking Heads along the way. A still more personal influence on the new sound is Caetano's son Moreno, who produced the album. Caetano performs at the Orpheum in Boston this Friday.

Two lucky Pat Metheny fans will soon find themselves the owners of a brand-new Polk Audio iSonic home-entertainment system. To celebrate the upcoming release of his new record, Day Trip, with Christian McBride on bass and drummer Antonio Sanchez, patmetheny.com announced a contest with the two Polk consoles as the grand prize and signed copies of the record for 50 runner-up winners. Everyone who pre-orders Day Trip from the site is automatically entered to win. 

Youssou N'Dour's latest album, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), hits stores tomorrow, and it's already earning rave reviews. Earlier this month, on NPR's All Songs Considered, Rolling Stone contributing editor Robert Christgau called Youssou and Super Étoile "the best band in the world." It seems the press in London would agree: The Financial Times, BBC Music magazine, and the Guardian's Observer Music Monthly all give the new album their highest rating, five stars, with the Observer calling it "extraordinary" and "a new pinnacle in Youssou's career." In conjunction with the record's release, Nonesuch.com unveils a new mini-site featuring video interviews with Youssou and musicologist Lucy Duran, plus songs from the new album. Read excerpts from the interview transcript here.